Paul's qualifications and experience:

• ITEC certified sports massage and injury therapist (Level 4)
• London City and Guilds certified mechanical engineer (four-year apprenticeship plus two-year improvement training)
• Completion of 3,000 hours of instruction with meditation master Bruce Frantzis and one of only 12 senior qigong, tai chi, bagua and Longevity Breathing instructors, including—
  • Becoming one of only five senior bagua zhang (Level 2) instructors/re-certifiers, and learning all eight bagua palm changes directly from his teacher in private lessons over a period of 17 years
  • 175 hours of instruction in qigong tui na and energy healing techniques
  • 200 hours of instruction in the Water tradition of Taoist meditation
• Training 2,000 students, assisting his teacher in instructor trainings and mentoring students to become teachers, including more than a dozen who have achieved Level 2 instructor certification in qigong, tai chi and bagua and now teach themsleves
• Personally training senior executives from major international corporations, athletes, musicians and medical doctors, as well as other healthcare professionals of both allopathic and alternative backgrounds for nearly two decades
• Training in judo (two years), Shaolin Long Fist kung fu (two years) and Yang style tai chi (five years)
• Living in nature and totally immersing himself in the practices of the neigong system over a six-year period
• Certification in HSE-approved first aid administration

Professional organisations:

• The prestigious Sports Massage Association (SMA)
• Tai Chi Union of Great Britain (TCUGB), Senior Instructor Level

Paul's teacher certifications in the Energy Arts System include:

• Bagua Zhang Level 2 instructor and re-certifier
• Wu Style Tai Chi Short Form Level 2 instructor and re-certifier
• Wu Style Tai Chi Long Form instructor
• Gods Qigong Level 2 instructor and re-certifier
• Energy Gates Qigong Level 2 instructor and re-certifier
• Heaven + Earth Healing Qigong Level 2 instructor and re-certifier
• Dragon + Tiger Medical Qigong Level 3 instructor and re-certifier
• Longevity Breathing instructor and re-certifier

Learn more about and schedule recertification testing with Paul by clicking here.

Read more about Paul Cavel:

• Training History
• His Story
• Teacher
• Personal Trainer
• Sports Massage Therapist
• His System
• Watch Qigong, Tai Chi + Bagua Videos

Paul Cavel's Training

Paul began his studies in the internal energy arts with tai chi chuan in 1987. Two years later, he began focusing deeply on qigong and, later, bagua zhang as taught by his teacher, Lineage Master Bruce Frantzis, after realising his teachings encompassed the whole of the neigong system—the Chinese science of energy flows and the 16 essential components necessary to generate internal power for ultimate health and vitality.

In 1994, Paul stepped up the intensity of his training by moving to California, where he lived and studied privately with his teacher for 15 months. It was during this time that Paul received a solid grounding in bagua zhang—the pinnacle of internal arts training and his passion—fusing previously learnt neigong into the eight bagua zhang palm changes, especially the Bagua Single Palm Change, of the original Pre-birth bagua school.

After leaving California, Paul began teaching qigong and tai chi energy exercises, bagua walking meditation and Longevity Breathing therapeutic techniques with the encouragement of his Teacher Bruce. For nearly two decades, Bruce has personally trained Paul in the core material from which the internal arts are powered, including private training in all eight bagua zhang palm changes, commonly referred to as the "Eight Mother Palms."

A Twist of Fate Leads Paul to Tai Chi

By his early twenties, Paul was in poor physical and emotional health. He suffered serious injuries from a bad motorcycle accident that left him limping and unable to carry out normal daily tasks with ease. The pain affected him deeply.

He found himself depressed and sitting on the edge of a sea cliff contemplating his future. As a storm came in, something inside him just let go.

As he sat there, he began to notice how his body would automatically shift in the wind to maintain his balance. He didn’t have to think about it. As he further observed how his body adjusted to the storm, he felt he was tapping into something deep inside of himself, and blending with the natural elements that encompassed him.

The questions then arose:

How can I access this relaxed power at will?
How can I blend with the natural ebb and flow of life?

After several hours, an answer emerged: Tai chi.

Paul had heard about tai chi from a friend, but wasn’t exactly sure what it was and certainly had never practised it. Still he followed his intuition and attended his first tai chi class shortly thereafter. Upon completing his second class, he knew he would practise tai chi for the rest of his life.

Over a six-year period, Paul lived in nature to develop his internal arts practice, finding that being totally immersed in the energies of the planet was a tremendous support to understanding complex layers of internal neigong content and how they intertwine to create seemingly superhuman results in mind-body-energy.

For the first nine years, he practised many hours each day, focusing on fundamental exercises of the neigong system since accurate, consistent and dedicated practice of these threads is the only way to build the foundation and skill set necessary to advance to the truly inspirational material that has the power to set free the human spirit. (Learn more about the origins of neigong science that underlies Paul's teachings by clicking here.)

In time, neigong-infused tai chi, along with qigong, bagua and meditation, helped Paul to heal his injuries. After this tuning in and stabilisation period, he began strengthening his body, energy, emotions and mind to take on the greater challenges of rooting out the spiritual malaise he felt inside himself. He has completed more than 3,000 hours of instruction with his teacher in qigong, tai chi, bagua, Longevity Breathing, qigong tui na and energy healing techniques, and Taoist meditation.

Paul continues to train with the intent of deepening his knowledge of and skill in the neigong system, especially his passion: practice of bagua zhang—the original art form designed to realise the teachings of the I Ching (Book of Changes), which is documented to have existed for at least 4,000 years.

Paul Cavel, Teacher:
Training along the Exercise Therapy-High Performance Continuum

Paul says frequently that there's nothing in the world he could think of better to do with his time than teach people ways to overcome obstacles—in body, mind and energy—that prevent them from achieving the results they want in life. He is a natural-born teacher, and his training as a mechanical engineer in the 1980s has given him the unique ability to deconstruct, analyse and rebuild in endless variations complex neigong threads that help students move towards ultimate health.

Paul has trained 2,000 students in the Energy Arts System in weekly class, seminar and retreat formats. He also regularly assists his teacher in international instructor trainings. He particularly enjoys mentoring students to become teachers, and has worked closely with more than a dozen instructors who have achieved Level 2 certification in qigong, tai chi and bagua and now offer internal arts courses throughout Europe themselves.

Paul perfers to teach in-depth courses to weekly classes, so he offers regular, one-day seminars in Kentish Town, London NW5. He also teaches in Brighton and York, UK, throughout Germany and an annual island retreat in Crete, Greece to help students reconnect with the natural environment as part of their training.

Paul Cavel, Personal Trainer

Paul offers personal training for serious students and people who are looking to gain a healthy and sustainable edge—whether for business, sport or any aspect of life.

His clients include senior executives from major international corporations, athletes, musicians and medical doctors, as well as other healthcare professionals of both allopathic and alternative backgrounds. Some have maintained a training relationship with Paul over many years, a few for almost two decades, because of the high-performance results and stress-relief benefits they achieve with his support.

Paul attributes his success in helping his clients to the depth, range and power of the material he has to offer, as well as his approach to one-on-one training. He designs a programme with the needs of the individual in mind—without any formula or template strategy for accomplishing desired goals. He says that taking into account the factors that make a person unique and what each person hopes to achieve is as important as the theory and tools any teacher might have to guide people towards positive change.

Learn more about how you can achieve your goals with personal training from Paul by clicking here.

Paul Cavel, Sports Massage Therapist

After years of teaching internal arts for health, fitness and power development, Paul's model began to shift. He saw that many lifetime martial artists and other athletes were no longer training to achieve high-performance results, but rather to heal their bodies from injuries sustained from their sport.

In tandem with this trend, he also noticed an influx of students seeking a system that could help heal their bodies from repetitive strain and chronic conditions as a result of compounding tension from high-pressure careers, stressful life events and use of technology.

After researching ways to better help these students/clients, along with continuing training with his teacher in qigong tui na bodywork techniques, he found that sports massage and injury therapy encompassed study of ailments as a result of both impact-force trauma and repetitive-strain behaviours. So he set out to become certified as a sports massage therapist, where he would be educated about the anatomical structures involved and physiological mechanisms at work, as well as effective treatment strategies to design exercise-therapy programmes that can make a real and lasting difference.

He now offers treatments in conjunction with a training protocol of therapeutic qigong exercise to help students/clients heal and strengthen their bodies to prevent future injury.

Integrated Mind-Body Solutions

To learn more about how Paul's programme of courses can help you, click here.

Or see for yourself, and watch Paul's qigong, tai chi and bagua videos by clicking here.