I've thought a lot about this next post and the year 2002, likely the most pivotal year of my life. It certainly was for my career as it stands today, though one pivot is always built upon its predecessor. Nevertheless, 2002 is the year, within 2 weeks of each other, I met Gaspar Garcia and Chen Xiao Wang. Clearly, these need to be two separate posts. Because I met Sifu Gaspar Garcia first, I’ll post about him today.

In March of 2002 I had anaphylactic shock from a build-up of allergic reactions to bee stings and food allergies. That is a story in and of itself. Where it fits here is, as with many shocking events for all of us do, it became an opportunity to change my life. At that time, I was living on Whidbey Island and a bit adrift about my direction. I had become involved with a Qigong teacher who was herself a lovely woman with a lot of interesting information, but the organization she wanted to build, and one I was helping her build, had some strong issues I did not agree with. Coming quite close to death made me think hard about it all so I broke from her and my training with that group. It was a painful choice. At that time there were also some difficult issues around my various training groups and also where I was teaching. Looking back, I see it was simply that everyone was outgrowing themselves, but I felt stagnant and isolated. Living alone on an island in the Puget Sound did not help matters.

Many months past like this. I fell into a depression mentally and emotionally and my body was still weak from the anaphylactic assault. It was a messy time and I was a mess. I almost gave up on my direction.

In August I attended a Qigong conference in Portland. Since I was in a great deal of physical and emotional pain, I looked for the gentlest forms of Qigong I could manage. My top student, Joyce Broderson approached me at lunch and said, “I just met someone in the Library. I don’t know what he is teaching, but I’m doing it. I have a feeling about him.” We looked up who he was and what he was teaching. Gaspar Garcia from Spain was teaching The Hands of the 18 Luohan.

The short descriptive paragraph referred to it as “Shaolin Qigong.” I thought there is no way I can do this, but I’m not letting my student have all the fun! Within 2 hours of Gaspar’s teaching the form my back pain was gone (and has never returned) and my spirit was renewed. I abandoned all other plans for the weekend except to teach the form I was contracted to teach, and we all followed Dr. Garcia around like puppy dogs for the rest of the weekend, begging him to teach us more. He did, in the parking lot around the center since all the rooms were taken for the seminar.

I took Gaspar to the airport for his return trip to Spain and asked him how I could continue to study with him. He said, "well, you’d have to come to Spain." 2 months later I was in Marbella showing him my form that I had been diligently practicing for hours a day. He said, “you have no idea what you are doing.” I knew I had found my next teacher. I never looked back.

Over the next 10 years Sifu Garcia and I became strongly bonded as teacher and student. I travelled to Spain, he came to the states, we interacted many times a year during that time. Without a doubt he was one of the top teachers I have ever had. He helped me build my school to what it is today by training my students to be top and mentoring me to be a strong and more resolute teacher myself.

Gaspar’s life took several unfortunate turns toward the end of our time together and I didn’t see him for a few years after our decade long tenure because of that. He passed away a little over 2 years ago. It is a profound loss for many people and for the art.

My training with the Hands of the 18 Luohan and with him renewed and strengthened my body and my spirit and allowed me to go forward with my love of training and teaching in robust and joyful ways that I never knew I could access. As such, that time with Gaspar lies deeply within the bedrock of who I am today.

This photo is from the first time I met him, note Joyce Broderson, right, who convinced me to take this workshop.