A Curious Tale, Part 4: Decisions, Decisions

Previously, we’ve heard about how Sensei Tristan and Sensei Peter met, and how they came to the decision to create their Good Morning Good Evening Qigongprogram (part 1, part 2, part 3). What might be surprising is how the program seemed to create itself, simply flowing through them. And how, any one of the countless decisions required in order for this to happen, had the most unexpected and unforeseeable consequences. But that’s the next chapter in “The Curious Tale of The Surfer Dude & the Longevity Sage.”

Decisions, Decisions

After realizing that we have something amazing we want to share with the world, over the next few months we refine exactly what we want it to be.

Sensei Peter and I have a number of preliminary talks over the phone, or through skype or email… but it’s when we get together that the actual program takes shape.

True to his word, Peter comes down from the mountain and visits us in Austin. I get a chance to show him around my martial arts dojo – where we get to work on parts of the program dynamics and HOW we’re going to do what we’re planning.

We know exactly WHAT we want: a quick routine to rev up and store your energy in the morning, and a quick routine to calm and collect your energy at night. Something super-easy for the novice, but super-powerful for even the most advanced practitioner.

But for the most part, the bulk of the course unfolds during my visits with Peter on Mystic Mountain. It’s really a journey of discovery as we let inspiration and our own years of experience guide us, as this unique combination of movements begins to take shape through us.

Have you ever had that happen to you? Where it seems something beautiful and perfect unfolds for you… where it’s not like you created something, but rather you discovered a beautiful flower blooming – waiting to be discovered and experienced.

That’s how it feels to me. The actual CONTENT of the program unfolds effortlessly.

And then, finally, it’s time to think about some of the details. And, as they say, God is in the details.

So the first “detail” decision is WHERE we can meet to film the lessons. Peter and I both want the setting and location to fit the energy and dynamic that we intend for the lessons.

Not to mention the practical considerations like temperature and lighting (since we want to film parts of it outdoors.)

Sabrina suggests a beautiful zen-like area that she is familiar with in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Looking at the location online, it looks perfect! It has beautiful zen-type gardens and other locations that look ideal as a backdrop for our video program.

So great! We have found our location!

The plan is to go there for 5 days and shoot the whole program while we’re there. One of my martial arts students in Austin is a videographer and agrees to shoot the footage for us — driving there to meet us and bringing all of the camera equipment.

Thousands of tiny details line up to be taken care of and then fall into place… but then eventually, we get to Santa Fe… well, the images online really don’t lie. It is GORGEOUS!

What we don’t know… even as we are driving up to the cottage where we are staying… is that this area of Santa Fe is currently the setting of massive wildfires and a huge insect infestation…

But we figure it out pretty quickly.

More on that later… because we really feel the IMPACT of that when we start to film…