a practice of returning to our bodies without turning away from the world.

I’m Pen, a qigong practitioner, tarot reader and community advocate based on Birpai Country in Guruk/Port Macquarie, NSW.

Qi By The Sea began with qigong, but over the last few years it has led me to a much bigger question about what it means to stay fully human in the world we live in.

How do we rest without disengaging? How do we take action without losing ourselves? How do we feel anger without letting it incinerate us, or grief without drowning?

Our bodies are not separate from politics, place, work, ageing, care or community. What we have learned to ignore in our bodies is often connected to what we have been taught not to question in the world.

Qigong and tarot are two of the ways I explore that relationship. Qigong brings me back to sensation, movement and place. Tarot gives me another way of looking at what might be going on beneath the surface, and of asking questions I might not otherwise think to ask.

Neither practice is an escape from the world. For me, they are ways of being more present to it, with a little more discernment, agency and imagination.

This is where I share what I’m learning and thinking about along the way, with free community practice sessions and the occasional workshop.🤍