We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jacob Glassmeyer a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jacob thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

I was personal training at a facility and was doing quite well. The caveat though is that I would be there from early AM to late PM helping others take charge of their lives for better health and no time for myself. The money was good since I was one of the top trainers but inside something was missing. Let us go back in time, I started martial arts 40 years ago when my father was fed up with me doing my kicks and punches through the house, so I began my training at the YMCA in TaeKwonDo, a popular martial art from Korea. I have studied and taught multiple styles of martial arts but none so much as TaiChi.
Back to the present day, I was becoming burned out with personal training and around that time I received an email from the clubhouse at the location I was living stating TaiChi was ending in July. I anxiously went to class to meet the teacher and after a couple of classes, I was hooked.
My teacher told me after months and months of studying TaiChi the only way to get better was to teach others. He said “In others, you will see the mistakes you are making” so when one teaches, two learn.
I was still in personal training but the urgency in me to share TaiChi with others was far greater. The defining moment was when I discovered how TaiChi is so versatile and reaches so many more at once than being just a personal trainer. Don’t get me wrong, being a personal trainer has been and is a very rewarding career but for me, now TaiChi is the best discovery of my lifetime.
As I advanced in my learning so my teaching improved as well. Today I am an International teacher, ranked as a Master Instructor, and have been inducted into the USA Martial arts Hall of Fame. Sharing my life’s purposeful passion brings me greater joy than the career path I had in personal training and I continue to make advancements in my career as a Shifu of TaiChi. I continue to look for opportunities to share this incredible ancient martial art that has become the world’s oldest form of group exercise and healing. My life statement is One life, one body, make the most of both and this I live every day.

Jacob, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a US Army veteran, 2x cancer survivor, author, and accomplished, multi-award-winning instructor of Tai Chi and Qigong with 40 years of experience in martial arts and 30 years in the fitness industry. I have the honor to transform individuals, companies, and communities through movement, meditation, and renewed mindsets with the ancient disciplines I share.

I got into the discipline of martial arts as a young man but TaiChi you can say found me decades later. I had been interested in this internal martial arts for years yet never could find a teacher. Now I am known as Yourtaichiguy throughout the world and after my class I will be your taichi guy always and this is how you find me throughout social media.

The main information I want others to know is TaiChi is a healthy way to release stress and has been clinically proven to improve the overall health of the practitioner. I have a passion for my military veteran family and those with disabilities. I want them and you to know my life statement to live which is One life, one body, make the most of both.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

If I could go back in time I would choose the same profession and all the good and not good that has come with it. I am truly at peace with the journey I have traveled and proud of the business, career, and profession I have created, and am loving every step of the journey.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Sharing this story of resilience could fill a book but I will abbrev it to the best of my ability. The year was 1995 and I was diagnosed with testicular cancer shortly after my fiance left me and before my dog was poisoned and died. My mother who died of cancer was the same age as I was when diagnosed. I never knew my mother but have characteristics of her according to my father and grandmother. Mentioning my grandmother she passed away before I had the chance to tell her I had cancer because I was going to the hospital for chemotherapy due to the reoccurrence of the deadly disease.
I held my college grades up, and worked three jobs as my world fell apart around me. I would take a week and a half off every three weeks to spend it in the hospital for treatment and recover afterward at home.
I apply this life challenge to everything that may be an adversity to me and ask “Is it worse than the cancer, no, nothing I have experienced since has been worse than having cancer twice. To that I persevere, heal and march on.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.glassmeyerhealthandwellness.weebly.com
• Instagram: Yourtaichiguy
• Facebook: Yourtaichiguy
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobglassmeyer?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_contact_details%3BNzySdB5nRqOq1jXa6OSJPA%3D%3D
• Youtube: Yourtaichiguy

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