Juan Li began his journey of self-development in 1970, upon graduation from Brooklyn College, in New York. He received a degree in Ancient Chinese History, specializing on the influence of the I Ching on Chinese culture. From 1971 until 1978 he resided in Nepal where he began meditation practice, training in the Dream Yogas and Mantra from a series of Indian and Tibetan teachers. During this period, his main teachers were Lama Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche of east Tibet, Lama Sangye Tenzing of Nepal, Lama Kongtrul Rinpoche of eastern Tibet and Yogi Nitaigiri Babaji of Orissa, India.

In 1979 he began studies with Takizawa Sensei of the Shinto system centered on the sacred mountain of Iwakiyama in Japan. 

It is there that he was introduced to the inner teachings of the I Ching as a guide for the seven stages of yogic practice. During this same period, he began to practice Chinese martial arts with Sifu Kim Ho Chu who taught him two styles of Tai Chi and one of Kung Fu over a period of seven years.

In 1982 he met Daoist Master Mantak Chia in New York, with whom began a long period of learning and collaboration in the editing and illustration of twelve books. In 1996 Juan Li, together with Mackenzie Steward helped write and illustrate, under the supervision of Master Mantak Chia, the book “The Inner Structure of Tai Chi”.
Since 2008 he has been refining the practices on death and transcendence with Lama Ayang Rinpoche, from whom he received in 2009 the transmission of the True Nature of Mind in Bodhgaya, India.

The central practices of Juan Li are the Dream Yogas, Mantra, and the I Ching. Since 1988 he has been structuring a practice program based on the energy and ethical principles of the I Ching. From 1996 he has specialized on the emotional, mental, and psychic obstacles encountered by western practitioners. The emphasis on clarity of mind and level of consciousness instead of seeking short term powers; combined with active altruistic action in the world, he has named ‘I Ching Dao.’ As of 2021, Juan Li teaches fifty-one different workshops of the I Ching Dao Tree of Practices. Many of those workshops have been created for coping with the accelerated pace of change everyone is facing, as well as the needs of an aging and increasingly more frail and vulnerable population. 

Since 1988 Juan Li has been teaching in sixteen different countries of Europe, Central Asia, and the Americas. 
Since 2003 he resides in Spain, from where he has trained a group of instructors on the different levels of the I Ching Dao program. Some of those instructors have created social programs assisting people in need, helping the dying, and healing the environment.