Get To Know Us

Our Mission

So much suffering arises from separation — from the divisions humans create between self, other, and world. Forest Path Qigong seeks to assist our clients and co-learners in the liberating work of reconnection. We seek to do this by:

Offering a supportive and affirming space for personal development and transformation
Using qigong, breathwork, and somatic healing practices to help harmonize body, mind, and spirit
Promoting ways to experience our connection to our local and global ecosystems and the vast web of life around us
Exploring the links between personal and planetary health
Supporting a beloved community of personal and planetary healers

Our Values

We strive to uphold the following values as we work toward greater personal, community, and planetary health:

Rooting ourselves in an understanding of radical interconnectedness
Providing affordable and accessible content and learning opportunities
Collaborating across differences toward a shared vision of liberation from systems of oppression
Holding ourselves accountable to this shared vision
Promoting ecological awareness and environmental justice
Boosting the contributions of people from marginalized backgrounds
Honoring the cultural origins of the practices of qigong and forest bathing and approaching them with humility, respect, and a willingness to learn

Our Team

We strive to offer unique and meaningful programming that supports the healing of self, community, and planet. To this end, we frequently partner with medical and wellness practitioners, artists, ecology and science educators, environmental justice advocates, and social justice educators.

Bee Buehring

(they/them)

Founder, Qigong Instructor and Forest Bathing Guide

While I’ve been drawn to mindfulness practices and spiritual exploration since my teens, I’ve spent much of my life in a fairly hostile orientation toward my own body. As a queer and gender non-conforming kid, I internalized the sports-related harassment and abuse inflicted by peers and coaches. And, as an adult, chronic pain forced me to realize I was using “fitness” as a weapon against myself. Searching for new, more loving approaches to physical and mental health led me to qigong.

In qigong, I found a practice that combined mindfulness with movement to reduce stress, improve sleep, enhance emotional regulation, increase somatic awareness, and support cognitive functioning. And Taoism, the ancient philosophy behind qigong — with its focus on “flowing, not forcing” and aligning the mind, body, and spirit with nature — reconnected me with the pleasure of wandering along a forest trail.

I’m an educator from a family of educators. Learning alongside others and creating opportunities to explore new ideas and ways of being is how I find meaning. I hold certificates in qigong instruction and Forest Bathing, but my institutional training is in counseling, therapeutic group facilitation, social justice education, and the creative arts. I weave knowledge and skills from all of these areas of study into my work with Forest Path Qigong.

I’m grateful you’ve taken the time to consider what we have to offer. And I’d be honored to join you on your path of healing and self-discovery.

Certifications & Credentials

Qigong & the Chinese Five Phases Teacher (2024)

Mimi Kuo-Deemer

Medical Qigong / Healer Within Practice Leader (2023)

Institute of Integral Qigong and Tai Chi

Wilderness First Aid (2023)

National Outdoor Leadership School

Forest Bathing Guide (2023)

Forest Therapy Hub

Qigong Instructor (2022)

Nick Loffree Bioenergetic Health

A Note on Culturally Responsible Qigong Instruction

I’ve had the privilege of studying with some truly gifted teachers and lineage holders. And I continue to expand my understanding of this healing art form under a variety of teachers, taking care to seek instructors who have connections to qigong’s cultural roots. Even still, I feel it’s important to acknowledge that I come to these ancient Chinese philosophical frameworks and holistic health practices with the limitations of a White person raised within Western, Euro-centric, and Judeo-Christian social-cultural structures and ideologies. While I strive to move with reverence through the world of qigong and pass along what I’ve learned in a way that honors the practice’s history, I am also committed to learning from feedback and criticism. And I humbly encourage anyone who entrusts me as a teacher to supplement their learning with a variety of perspectives, particularly those with cultural ties to the source material.