Dennis Mace is relocating his massage therapy practice, & Tetana Adkins Mace is launching her Mental Health Practice at Phoenix Rising Therapy PLLC! 🐉🦅
Bagua Zhang Massage Therapy 🐉💆🏻♂️👐🏼
Dennis Mace, LMT will be relocating his massage therapy practice starting in September 2022!
In addition to being the Bagua Zhang Instructor at MaceMartialArts, I am also a Licensed Massage Therapist, available by request at Be Well Massage Spa in Mukilteo, WA.
Over the years, I have discovered how incorporating Bagua Zhang principles into my massage therapy practice has helped enhance effective treatment work, as well as having a more rejuvenating experience both for my clients and myself.
My Bodywork Style: my goal is to connect with each client’s particular needs to help support your process of healing and relaxation.
My approach and modalities of practice integrates a seamless flow of Myofascial Release, Swedish Massage, Lomi-Lomi, Tui-Na, Deep-Tissue, Thai and Sports Massage, so that I can help release deeper tension and pain in a way that feels both soothing and rejuvenating.
I completed my massage therapy training with honors at Everest College – Seattle in 2010, specializing in Sports Massage.
More recently, I expanded my healthcare training by completing an intensive 100 CEU medical massage course, Advanced Pain Management Therapies, from Living Metta (February through June, 2022).
If you need to relax and ease some pain, request Dennis Mace when you schedule your appointment with me by contacting the
To schedule an appointment for a massage with me, please call or text the Be Well Massage Spa at +1 (425) 381-3866.
Phoenix Rising Mental Health Therapy 🦅💫
Tetana Adkins Mace, LMHC, Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Reiki Practitioner and owner at Phoenix Rising Therapy PLLC
My wife, Tetana Adkins Mace, LMHC is starting her own Mental Healthcare practice — Phoenix Rising Therapy PLLC — we all have challenges, and sometimes expert therapy is what we need to heal from traumatic experiences and insight to help us break through what’s holding us back.
Tetana is accepting new clients at this time for mental health therapy, Reiki and other healings, if you are interested please see her website Phoenix Rising Therapy PLLC.
Phoenix Rising Therapy PLLC
Mental and emotional trauma affect our bodies, just as physical trauma can affect our mental and emotional well-being.
We will be collaborating and discussing this topic in more detail in future articles and classes, stay tuned!
Accepting New Bagua Zhang Students at the Mace Martial Arts WuGuan! 🐉
Bagua Zhang Demo video from June 2022
We have space for a couple more in-person students for group classes at our new WuGuan, message us if you’re interested in learning Bagua Zhang Kung Fu!
Please RSVP to all classes you plan to attend, to confirm location and schedule.
Space limited to 5 students per class for in-person training — please message ahead to confirm your spot!
We also have times available for private lessons if the group classes do not work for your schedule.
For students joining remotely via Zoom, we can host classes for up to 100 participants on our Zoom account.
At Mace Martial Arts, we value the sanctity of all life, celebrate diversity, cultivate peace and justice, and accept students who are interested in learning how to improve and protect themselves. We have a zero-tolerance policy for bigotry and will reject any potential or current student who bullies or discriminates against others based on ethnicity, religious beliefs, or gender/orientation.
While going over martial applications practice earlier this year, one of my students asked a good question: do we step backwards in Bagua Zhang?
Technically and strategically, the answer is no — in Bagua Zhang, we learn how to pivot around oncoming attacks, turn aside or around to flank and generate turning force, then continue flowing and moving forward.
Circular Stepping in Bagua Zhang solo forms practice starts counter-clockwise, then changes to clockwise, changing back and forth, mirroring cycles of transformation in nature.
But Bagua doesn’t go backwards. Why?
Several martial arts systems incorporate backwards stepping and movements to draw an opponent off balance. While this tactic can be effective, it is always risky to give an opponent your ground. In combat, when one of the combatants is stepping backwards, it’s often because they’re injured, reeling and trying to disengage — this is usually the beginning of the end of the fight.
But in Bagua Zhang training, the concept is to adapt to situations and challenges and keep moving on, going with the flow, taking ground without hesitation or breaking momentum or strength.
Whirling Step
In our branch of Bagua Zhang, we practice a rare stepping method called Whirling Step, which utilizes wrapping and sweeping techniques when turning and changing directions — then continuing to forge ahead to take ground and new opportunities.
This applies to more than just self-defense and combat strategy.
Like cycles of seasons, patterns repeat, but time keeps moving forward, as our planet Earth keeps spinning forward, around the Sun, as our solar system spins along the outer rim of the Milky Way Galaxy…
🌎💫🌌
The past is a memory, the future is a dream, but the present is a gift. 🎁
If we think about the past too much, be it from grief, trauma, or longing for glory days, we stay stuck in the past, and stagnate. Reflecting on our experiences is necessary to learn from them, especially with our traumas and losses — yet to heal and grow, we must stay present to face our challenges, embrace opportunities and forge ahead. 🐉
We’re Moving! 🐉
Speaking of forging ahead, we are moving!
After 3 years in Shoreline, our family has sought opportunities further North, and we are in the process of moving into our new home in Everett, WA.
I will be taking time off from teaching over the next month to rebuild our WuGuan at our new home. There’s a lot to do!
Starting in January 2022, Bagua Zhang classes will be resume at
Towns at Riverfront
(Please register for classes for address)
Everett, WA
United States
Stay tuned for updates and class start dates!
At Mace Martial Arts, we value the sanctity of all life, celebrate diversity, cultivate peace and justice, and accept students who are interested in learning how to improve and protect themselves. We have a zero-tolerance policy for bigotry and will reject any potential or current student who bullies or discriminates against others based on ethnicity, religious beliefs, or gender/orientation.
After over a year of social distancing to curtail the pandemic, we will finally resume in-person classes at Mace Martial Arts on April 24th, for students that have received their completed COVID-19 vaccinations!
This will include private lessons as well as small group classes.
I received the 2nd dose of the Pfizer vaccine today — my Easter Sunday present!
All students that plan to attend in-person training must confirm by showing a copy of your completed vaccine record card before you can attend class. Students must wait to attend in-person classes until 2 weeks after your COVID vaccinations are complete.
We will finally be able to practice applications and partner drills for practical timing, sensitivity and skill development!
I am very excited about training in-person again and looking forward to meet new students and finally see familiar faces in class!
Remote Training Still Available: I will continue to broadcast the group classes live remotely on Zoom, so that students that are unable to come to class, whether they haven’t received the COVID-19 vaccination yet, or are too far away, or don’t feel comfortable yet to attend in person, can still follow along online.
This Remote Membership will give you the ability to continue training by following along with our regular group classes, and see us go through exercises, forms, applications and partner drills live. Since I’ll be focused on teaching students that attend classes in person, instead of monitoring Zoom, I will be available to answer questions after class from both in-person and remote students via via the discussion board on our members-only Mace Martial Arts private chat group.
The Remote Membership will continue to be half the price of the in-person monthly Membership, but will still give you the ability to keep training with us and access to student resources at Mace Martial Arts.
At Mace Martial Arts, we value the sanctity of all life, celebrate diversity, cultivate peace and justice, and accept students who are interested in learning how to improve and protect themselves. We have a zero-tolerance policy for bigotry and will reject any potential or current student who bullies or discriminates against others based on ethnicity, religious beliefs, or gender/orientation.
Please share with anyone you know that might be interested in joining our classes!
Throughout the Universe, energy tends to move in spirals, naturally forming matter into spheres.
The polarity of opposites creates vortexes throughout nature — from galaxies, the movement of solar systems and the gravitational fields that create planets, hurricanes and typhoons, tornadoes, are also seen in the eddies in the currents of wind and waves. Reflected even in the growth of plants, DNA strands, and in molecular and atomic structures, the swirling patterns of the Golden Mean and Fibonacci’s Curve are omnipresent throughout the universe.
Taoist sages recognized these patterns as well, and these universal truths are reflected in Bagua Zhang, the “Eight Trigrams Palm“, a refined and formidable martial art founded on an ancient practice of meditative circle walking. The goal of this ancient circle walking practice was to increase vital energy and find attunement with the energy of the universe and enlightenment.
The Sacred Spiral is reflected not only on molecular and cosmic levels, but also in the structure of our muscles as they dynamically curve around our bones, and even in the muscle fibers themselves, like rope, or cable. Bagua Zhang systematically uses these structures in our bodies to naturally develop strength, health and maximize expression of power. Bagua Zhang emphasizes circularity and the principles of spiraling and the dynamic sphere more than any other martial art, for:
structure and fluid expression of force,
health and strength development,
strategies and principles of application in self defense, and
energetic dynamics for alchemical internal cultivation.
More specifically, in Bagua Zhang training, the Spherical Structure is expressed in each of its foundational principles:
Moving from Center – with gyroscopic Centrifugal and Centripetal Force, going with the flow with continuity and non-resistance.
Opposite but Complimentary Force and Movement – this unifies the whole body, for maximum expression of power. Bagua is the most ambidextrous martial arts system, emphasizing training both sides of the body bilaterally.
Maintaining bows and curves in the body and limbs – stretching open like the arches in bridges, and bows in archery, it also applies to powerful stances and footwork, and efficient expression of force through the body, arms and hands.
In striking along straight lines, the force spirals like drilling.
In circular strikes and kicks, the hands and feet cut in elliptical arcs from one’s center.
In grappling, the arms & legs coil and wrap the opponent’s to counter, lock and sweep.
In throwing, body and hands spiral in elliptical arcs to disrupt balance of the opponent.
Energy flows in a torus spiraling around the body, as in all magnetic and gravitational fields. The Intrinsic Life-Force Energy (Qi) naturally flows to and from spherical, spiraling fields, or centers in the body – expanding (reeling outward) and contracting (reeling inward) vortexes — understanding this dynamic maximizes efficient force with minimal effort – conserving strength by utilizing the power of spherical structure and stability. Bagua Zhang’s emphasis on these coils and spirals naturally increases the practitioner’s vitality. The rigorous and balanced training stimulates the mind, increases strength, flexibility and dexterity, while also cleansing impurities, and promotes healing on physical, emotional and spiritual levels.
Bagua Zhang is truly a profound, life-changing holistic method of self-cultivation and self-defense, and why I am so passionate about sharing this amazing, life transforming practice with as many people as I can.
This new schedule will provide us the opportunity to create more instructional video and written reference material of the Mace Martial Arts curriculum for my students. We are also seeking a more stable indoor location for our classes. Stay tuned for more details!
This will also free up time for private lessons —
Private lessons now $80 per hour, and $240 for a package 4 private lessons
— please *Contact me* to schedule times to continue your training.
