Meet Richard Mieir-King of Mieir-King Kung Fu, Tai Chi and Wellness in Lakewood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Richard Mieir-King.

Richard, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I think you could say that my beginnings in martial arts began, in some regards, before I was born. My parents were in the military and spent some of their time in Asian countries. My mother was part American Indian and saw and felt similarities between her native American background and some aspects of the Asian cultures they were in. During that time, my brother and sister became engaged in martial arts. My parents returned to the USA and I was born shortly after that. I was conceived in Japan and born in Texas. When I was born, I had various health issues. My mother turned to disciplines such as Karate to improve my health. After settling here in Southern California, she found a Kung Fu teacher who became my teacher for a couple of decades. My mother had made him aware of different health issues I had. During my time with him he improved all of those health issues. I also learned the various forms taught in Kung Fu such as Tiger, Dragon, Snake, Leopard and Crane. I also learned some family styles such as Hung, Choy, Li, Fut and Muk. And I learned a wide assortment of weapons. Each stage of my training brought new challenges and difficulties but, over the years, I met those challenges and moved on to new ones. I was also very shy when I was younger but my instructor would assign me to help teach various people, and we also did many demonstrations and functions in and around the areas we were in. These all made me much less shy. I ended up getting my black sash/belt in 1982 and I also began teaching Kung Fu, Tai Chi and Chi Kung at that time. As time went by I also ended up doing seminars and teaching health and wellness classes for businesses, corporations and private groups. My students and I have also performed demonstrations at the Orange County Fair, Pomona County Fair, local festivals and fund raisers, given personal security workshops, and more. So, teaching and the various areas it expanded into kind of took on a life of its own.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has certainly been an unexpected road. My beginnings in martial arts were for health. As a kid, I was more interested in the martial aspects of martial arts, I didn’t have as deep of an appreciation for the health aspects. But there are actually 2 sides of the same coin. I began only thinking of being a student. Then I started teaching looking at it as just a class or 2 I was going to do. That grew to 5 group classes in a week along with several private and semi-private classes and occasional corporate classes. I would say that the difficulties have been when I am asked to do something that I had never done before. As an example, I worked in a medical clinic for a while called Functional Restoration. It is something like a physical rehabilitation program and I taught mediation and breathing techniques as well as certain aspects of Tai Chi and Chi Kung. All of which helped the clients with range of motion and strength. I enjoyed that job and, really, all of the work I have done with students, private and semi-private students, corporate clients, everyone. I’ve enjoyed the learning curves I have encountered when stepping into new ways of doing the work I have been doing.

Please tell us about Mieir-King Kung Fu, Tai Chi and wellness.
Well, what I do is teaching Kung Fu, Tai Chi, Chi Kung, various Asian health forms I have learned that have helped me. I don’t see any of it as a specialty but, instead, many benefits found within a single discipline. It is kind of amazing how it can be generalized to many other things in your life. Form the mental discipline to the physical discipline. How it can be applied in a martial arts type setting but also in personal relationships, in work, in many areas of life.

I have enjoyed helping others take their first steps into martial arts and its disciplines and then leading them into other areas and exposing them to the things they can conquer and then letting them know how they can take that ability and apply in it all other areas of their lives. What I am known for varies depending on which students or clients you talk to. In many martial arts, I am known for my ability to take my knowledge of movement and turn it in to practical combative techniques and applications. And my ability to improvise weapons from common objects.

I have taught many classes and workshops on those subjects. If you talk to people in Tai Chi or some of my health classes you will hear them speak about my ability to teach them things that greatly benefit their health and wellness. I have students that have stopped blood pressure medication, greatly improved balance, pain, and a number of other issues. And all of them generally speak of the fun they have in class and the camaraderie that they share with one another and, among other things, the stress reduction that the classes offer them.

What I am proud of and, I feel, what sets us apart is that we do not have a cookie cutter approach to teaching students. We take into account each students differences and abilities, strengths and weaknesses and invest time in working with those differences rather than trying to drive a square peg into a round hole. Helping them to capitalize on their strengths and fortify their weaknesses, giving them a style that can become uniquely their own. We look at always training with health and wellness and students safety in mind. We are very personal and interested in our students.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I can’t really say I’d have done anything differently. Any mistakes I may have made were also valuable lessons. Any and all difficulties seem to have been a natural part of the design of things. And, the way things kind of evolved before my eyes. So how could I do anything differently? It is like looking at a painting and trying to decide how much of that painting you can take away, or erase, and still be able to recognize the painting. I think you need the entire picture. It seems to me that every step was essential to bring me to the place I am today. I am happy with all of the bends and turns I have encountered along the way.

Contact Info:

• Address: 4333 Ostrom Avenue, Lakewood, California 90713
• Website: www.KingsKungFu.com www.KingsTaiChi.com
• Phone: 562-425-3168
• Email: mieirking@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kingskungfu
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MieirKingsKungFuAndTaiChi
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/KingsKungFu

Image Credit:
Richard Mieir-King, Michael Mieir, Larry Hall, Steve Littrell, Dan Hoo, Ryan Rice, Diane Erjavec, Jim Morris, Ray Mortaloni, Pat Griffith