for staying human in this world

I’m Pen, a qigong practitioner living on Birpai Country in Guruk/Port Macquarie, NSW.

Qi By The Sea began as a place to share qigong, but over the last few years the practice has led me to a much bigger question: what does it mean to stay fully human in the world we live in?

How do we rest without disengaging? Take action without losing ourselves? Feel anger without letting it consume us, or grief without drowning in it?

I’m increasingly interested in qigong not as an escape from the world, but as a practice for staying in relationship with it.

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

Qigong brings me back to sensation, movement and place. It helps me notice when I’m bracing, shutting down or turning away, and gives me a way to practise presence, discernment and agency instead.

For me, this is where personal practice and collective life meet. What I feel in my body is shaped by what I am living through, and what I am living through is never only personal.

Here I share what I’m learning, practising and noticing along the way, with free community practice sessions and the occasional workshop.🤍