LORI FURBUSH
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about

If you scramble about in search of inner peace, you will lose your inner peace.
​​—Brian Browne Walker, Hua Hu Ching, Chapter 46
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Best Qigong Tai Chi Instructor
2025

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Best Qigong Tai Chi Instructor
​2024

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Best Qigong Tai Chi Instructor
​2023
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Lori Furbush, IMTA CMT-P

Lori Furbush works for Kaiser Permanente as a Member Education Specialist and consultant in the Health Engagement Consulting Services. She is the Marketing & Communications Coordinator for Parkpoint Health Clubs. Located in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California, Lori has been teaching mindfulness and relaxation professionally since 2001. She is certified, skilled, experienced, & specializing in:
  • Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
  • Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness​
  • Qigong
  • Yin Yoga
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Lori enjoys adapting these practices for the mainstream public, as well as for specialty populations, leading classes in hospitals, cancer groups, & mental health programs. She creates a relaxed, nurturing space that allows you to cultivate your own healing power and, like the Red Dragonfly (see story on this page), participate in your journey of transition & transformation.

Lori has served two 2-year terms as Chairperson & two 3-year terms on the Board of Directors & currently serves on the Advisory Council for the National Qigong Association. She has created an extensive series of qigong forms called Red Dragonfly Tai Chi Qigong. Lori was voted Best Qigong Tai Chi Instructor in the North Bay in the 2023, 2024, and 2025 North Bay Bohemian awards.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction MBSR

  • Certified Mindfulness Teacher - Professional Level, International Mindfulness Teachers Association, 2021
  • Certification in Advanced Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness, David Treleaven, 2021
  • ​Certified MBSR Teacher, UCSD School of Medicine, 2020
  • Qualified MBSR Teacher, UCSD School of Medicine, 2019
  • MBSR Advanced Teacher Training Intensive, UCSD School of Medicine, 2019
  • MBSR Teacher Training Intensive, UCSD School of Medicine, 2017

Qigong & Tai Chi

  • Certified Level III (500 hrs) Qigong Instructor, National Qigong Association, 2011
  • Certified Wudang 18 Taijiquan, Master Zhou Jinbo, Wudangshan, China, 2013
  • Senior Trainer, IIQTC, 2012
  • Certified Primordial WujiGong Instructor, IIQTC, 2012
  • Certified Qigong & Tai Chi Instructor, IIQTC, 2011
  • Certified Integral Energetics Leader, IIQTC, 2011
  • Certified Tai Chi Easy Practice Leader, IIQTC, 2011
  • Certified Bagua Xundao Gong, Master Wan Su-Jian, Beijing, China, 2008
  • Certified Level II (200 hrs) Qigong Instructor, Qigong & Daoist Training Center, 2004-2007
  • ​Chairperson, National Qigong Association, 2014-2018
  • Board of Directors, National Qigong Association, 2013-2019
  • Creator, Red Dragonfly Tai Chi Qigong

Yoga

  • ​Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT 200), Yoga Alliance, 2004
  • Certified Restorative Yoga Teacher, Jillian Pransky, 2014
  • Insight Yoga Training, Sarah Powers, 2013
  • Certified Yin Yoga Teacher, Erin Fleming, 2009
  • Certified Acu-Yoga Teacher, Acupressure Institute, 2005
  • Certified Integrative Yoga Therapy, Home Study, 2002-2003
  • Yoga Teacher Training, Namaste International, 2001

Reiki

  • Certified Reiki Master Teacher, Usui Shiki Ryoho, 2006
  • ​Certified Reiki Master, Usui Shiki Ryoho, 2004
  • Certified Reiki Level I & II, Usui Shiki Ryoho, 2004

The Red Dragonfly Story

​The dragonfly is a symbol of transformation. For their first two years, they live in the water as a nymph. They then go through a metamorphosis and learn to live in the air and fly. Thriving in locations where there is warm sun (yang) and cool water (yin), they represent balance and adaptability. If a dragonfly visits you, it is a reminder to release past illusions and open yourself to enjoy the bright new moment.

One summer, Lori had an incredible bonding experience with a red dragonfly in her backyard. She was sitting outside after lunch one day playing her Native American flute, when a bright red dragonfly hovered in front of her and appeared to be listening. Whenever she stopped playing, he would zoom right in front of her face, as if to ask for more. This went on for half an hour.

Even more remarkable, the dragonfly returned to the same place at the same time each day, waiting for a concert. He would fly or sit close by and enjoy, sometimes even lighting on her finger and allowing her to "pet" him (see video). He still visited even when she offered no music. This continued daily for the entire summer until the cool of the autumn came.

On her Qigong retreats around the world, Lori is often visited by red dragonflies, usually at a particularly auspicious moment. After a day of rich healing and blessings with a Q'ero priest in Peru, all the other retreat members walked back on the path, but Lori chose to walk up a hill. When she reached the top, still filled with wonder from the shaman's work, there sat a red dragonfly just for her...as if to say "yes" you are on the right path. And in Kyoto, Japan, in the midst of throngs of people visiting a temple, one hopped right up on her finger and did not want to let her go. She had to nudge it off of her hand and catch up with her group.

Lori feels her gift is guiding her students and clients through all kinds of transitions and transformations, symbolized in the ever-changing life of a dragonfly. She has created an extensive series of forms called Red Dragonfly Tai Chi Qigong, a flowing blend of Qigong and Tai Chi movements, which she currently teaches in her Qigong classes.
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