According to decades of studies, and basic common sense, wisdom is one of life’s most desirable attributes. Wisdom means knowing exactly what to do, and when. Perhaps the single most surprising concept that has emerged from the last few years of my studies of wisdom has been the importance of “subtle power.” For example, acting with a precise sense of your energetic relationship with the world appears to be critical to living a flourishing life.

Our nervous system, our internal energy grid, is essential to detecting and holding this subtle power. And yet the West pays scarcely any attention to deliberately upgrading it. My guest Andrew Markell has discovered through three decades of direct practice and teaching that Yiquan, a Chinese fighting and healing art that traveled through Tibet and was later refined by master Wang Xiangzhai, provides a systematic method for developing this capacity. You can listen to our interview on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.