Keep Coming Back

Workshop with Dan Pienciak in St. John’s, NL, Canada; April 17-19, 2009

By Sheila Leonard, Host, St. John’s, NL, Canada

Dan has become special teacher, mentor, and friend to our growing T’ai Chi Chih community. The event was even more significant this time because several returning participants received referral signatures for the upcoming July training. No one was surprised to find eye-opening ‘Aha’ moments when small refinements made big impacts on how students moved and flowed. Gratitude and amazement from first timers and those returning abounded. One participant described the workshop opportunity as irresistible. Others would surely agree, though it is often hard to put into words how much one has learned. It’s part of what keeps us coming back.

One student said she’d stopped using the instructional DVD partly because she felt that the long pauses were slowing her down. Ironically, she took home the idea of stillness and noted its importance in creating a balance between pausing and moving. These weekends are all about learning, relearning, and un-learning – but always in a positive and non-judgmental atmosphere. While guidance from Dan and me was critical, students have much to learn from each other and they clearly did. The power of a group is remarkable and cannot be overestimated for its ability to affirm, invite, challenge, inspire, and renew. Students left with a deeper awareness of their practice, savoring what they’d learned and eager to integrate it over the months to follow.

While workshops are about enhancing one’s own practice, sometimes, as one participant expressed it, the experience yields an enhanced awareness of the sacredness of TCC and the promise it holds for our world. After one student commented on her own ‘Aha’ experiences after adjusting and refining her movements, another participant added, “And then there are life’s ‘Aha’ moments which come unexpectedly and are welcomed. After all, TCC is about life itself.”