Go Wu Wei

Claus Sørensen joins us to trace his journey from banking and martial arts into a lifelong practice of Chinese medicine. We dig into the distinction between modern TCM and classical Chinese medicine — and why a symptom-chasing approach so often misses the root causes behind chronic illness in modern patients. Claus explains how stress disrupts the body's natural pivots, how he teaches students at his acupuncture school to grasp the deeper logic underneath the technique, and why acupuncture is best understood as a reset that helps patients learn to sustain healing themselves.

Simon shares his cross-cultural path into well-being and unpacks Wu Wei — the art of effortless action — as an antidote to a life of constant stimulation and over-consumption. He opens up about the founder stress that pushed him into a silent retreat, why chronic sleep loss quietly erodes cognitive function and long-term health, and how small rituals like tea can retrain presence in daily life. From there, Simon walks through building the flagship Wu Wei retreat in China, expanding into longevity travel and health diagnostics, and how he's working to make deep East–West exchange more accessible. A conversation for anyone rethinking what it actually means to invest in their well-being.

Chapters:

00:00 Opening and Simon's cross-cultural path into well-being

01:36 Why more consumption doesn't create flourishing

03:18 What is Wu Wei and how does Simon define it?

05:14 How founder stress led Simon to silent retreat

10:21 Why constant stimulation is making modern life less present

16:23 Are most people actually sleep deprived rather than insomniac?

20:35 The hidden health costs of chronic sleep loss and stress

22:34 From personal experiment to building Wu Wei retreats

25:10 How rituals like tea help train presence in daily life

29:46 A holistic view of health, stress, and the nervous system

31:53 What happens at the flagship Wu Wei retreat?

36:24 Expanding into longevity travel and health diagnostics in China

41:33 Making the retreat accessible and deepening East–West exchange

45:51 What should listeners take away from the retreat experience?

49:56 Retreat timing, how to learn more, and final reflections on investing in well-being