Teja Bell, Rōshi (老師) Teja Fudō Myōō

Throughout his lifetime, Teja Bell has devoted himself to the Dharma and the Dao, integrating qigong, martial arts, and healing energy practices into a unified path of embodied awakening. He is a lifelong practitioner and teacher of Aikido (6th-degree black belt) and Chinese internal arts, with a special emphasis on the healing and restorative dimensions of qigong and meditation.

Rōshi Teja is a recognized Zen master in the Rinzai Zen lineage and the 84th ancestor in his Zen heritage. He teaches and leads retreats and trainings internationally, and has been a regular visiting teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center since 1999, offering over 150 retreats alongside teachers in the Vipassana Insight Meditation tradition, including Jack Kornfield and Trudy Goodman. He leads annual in-depth study and teacher-training programs, as well as residential and online classes, daylongs, and retreats.

A Lifetime of Cross-Tradition Practice

Teja’s path of integration began in 1965 when he started studying martial arts—Judo and Kung Fu with Tatsumo Makami—bridging Buddhism and the Taoist traditions. His training expanded to include yoga, meditation, and Theosophy. In 1971, he began Aikido while earning black belt ranking in Tae Kwon Do Karate under Grand Master In Mok Kim (9th degree). By 1975, he was studying Yang style Taijiquan and qigong with Li Leita, a lineage master in the Yang tradition, as well as many Neigong systems and the esoteric martial art and meditation system known as Liu He Ba Fa.

Concurrent with his Taoist qigong and martial arts training, Teja trained across all three major Buddhist traditions—Theravadin, Mahayana Zen, and Tibetan Vajrayana. Beginning in 1969 with Zen texts and spiritual teachers, he eventually met Rinzai Zen Lineage Master Rōshi Junpo Denis Kelly of the Hollow Bones Zen Order. After four years of intensive training, he was ordained as a Zen priest, and Rōshi Junpo later conferred upon him the transmission of Zen Master.

In the Vajrayana traditions, Teja has received teachings and empowerments from great teachers in the Gelugpa, Nyingma, and Kagyü lineages, including advanced retreats in Trekchö, Tögyal, Madhyamika, Pöwa, Tsa Lung, Chöd, dream yoga, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen, as well as other Bön and Vajrayana Buddhist practices with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.

Bringing Practice to All

As a student of renowned Aikido teachers including Robert Nadeau Shihan, Frank McGouirk Shihan, Frank Doran Shihan, and Terry Dobson Sensei, Teja created advanced training programs for students preparing for black belt examinations and developed children’s Aikido programs that have been adopted internationally. He also created “Reduced Impact Aikido,” a low-impact form that allows individuals to learn and embody Aikido’s principles and apply these skills to leadership and personal life—without high-falls or other demanding aspects that might otherwise be barriers to practice.

Today, Teja continues to study, practice, and teach qigong, healing arts, and martial arts with select teachers. He offers classes, daylongs, and retreats in qigong, dharma and meditation, Zen, Aikido, and non-dual integrative process and embodied leadership.

Teja is committed to the lifelong pursuit of these evolving teachings and disciplines, and to their ethical, empowering transmission—offering the essential qualities of these traditions for the benefit of all.