My name is Jake Pinnick and I am originally from the USA. I grew up in a small town in Illinois. I first came to China for the purpose of studying martial arts at the Wudang Daoist Traditional Kungfu Academy under the tutelage of Master Yuan Xiu Gang. I chose the academy because of a 5 year traditional program that was beginning at the end of 2009. This program was designed for foreigners to live at the school and train wushu full-time. I had zero previous experience with anything to do with martial arts, qigong, taichi, meditation, or Daoist culture. I was stepping into a new world, but I was very excited to do so. At 20 years old, in 2010, I arrived in Wudang and began my training. I was late to join the program but I trained hard and approached Shifu about joining the program. I was allowed in and I continued my practice alongside my fellow kungfu brothers and sisters until 2014 when we graduated together and finished the program. As I write this at the end of 2021, it has been 7 years since our graduation and 11 years since I first came to Wudang.