Welcome to Gathering Essence
We teach Embodied Biodynamic Meditation from our centre in Edinburgh, Scotland. Our teachings draw on the roots of Daoist and Buddhist movement and meditation practices as well as a modern Biodynamic understanding.
We offer regular weekly classes, both in person and online, and run weekend workshops and residential retreats. Our practice combines Daoyin Qigong and Taiji forms with a deepening exploration into the Biodynamic nature of embodied consciousness.
Our aim is to offer a comprehensive toolkit for conscious living that can be integrated into everyday life to nourish and cultivate the body, mind, and spirit.
Our work has the potential to liberate the body and mind of old patterns of behaviour, unprocessed experience, attitudes and conditioning. Over time this allows space for more clarity and insight centred in the present moment. The application of these teachings (Gathering Essence) restores vitality, builds potency, strengthens and regenerates the physical body as well as deepening your direct understanding of Consciousness as a biodynamic unfolding.
We have many years’ experience working with groups and individuals, from beginners to advanced practitioners. We offer a safe, inclusive, and supportive environment in which to explore your relationship to Source and Spirit which is non-denominational and free from dogma.
How it all started…
Tez Sawicki
Founder, Director, Master Teacher
Tez Sawicki is a Master Practitioner in Biodynamic Meditation, Daoyin Qigong and Taiji. His weekly classes, weekend workshops and biannual retreats have been running since 1992 and his ongoing dedication to applying the coherent skills inherent within an embodiment practice is evident in his transformative and powerful teachings.
Tez’s personal practice has evolved over 40 years. After spending 12 years in residential therapeutic and meditational communities around the world he returned to his native Scotland and dedicated his time to refining and cultivating bodymind consciousness skills and started teaching ‘Meditation in Action’ Qigong classes in 1992. In 2007, along with his protégé Ewan Kenny, he created Gathering Essence in central Edinburgh - now a highly respected centre for Biodynamic and Biomechanical meditation and movement.
The Gathering Essence work developed by Tez is a direct path to working effectively with the bodymind, Qi and Shen. His dynamic, supportive teaching style allows his students to deepen their meditational and therapeutic processes, develop sitting and moving meditation skills and create the conditions for deep tissue opening and strengthening. Along with Ewan, Tez developed a style of Taiji, called Spiralling Dragon and couples it with an in-depth Daoyin Qigong Meditation practice called Shen Dao (Shen means Spirit and Dao means the Way of Nature).
These practices create the opportunity to clear stagnant, confused energies and clarify and resolve unhelpful attitudes or beliefs while supporting the regulation of conscious embodied integration that is centred in the Dao.
Tez also works as a Craniosacral Therapist at Gathering Essence and has a degree in Acupuncture. He lives in Edinburgh with his wife and creates visionary art in his spare time.
Ewan Kenny
Director, Manager, Master Teacher
Ewan is an experienced Master Practitioner in Biodynamic Meditation, Daoyin Qigong and Taiji Qigong and is a practising Craniosacral Therapist. He has spent over 20 years working with groups and individuals in therapeutic and meditative contexts. His down-to-earth, inclusive, and warm-hearted teaching style makes his online and in-person classes popular with beginners and more advanced students alike. He is also responsible for the day to day running of Gathering Essence.
Ewan discovered Daoyin Qigong in his early 20s, when he started going to classes with Tez. The power of these profound and effective teachings resonated deeply with him and he was called to develop a greater understanding so began an apprenticeship with Tez in 2001.
From there they developed a great partnership and opened their first dedicated teaching studio in 2007. The opportunity to renovate a larger space next door arose in 2011 and after a substantial amount of work the current Gathering Essence studio was born.
Over many years of working directly with the healing capacity and creative potential of the Dao, Ewan has continued to deepen and refine his understanding of how to liberate more of our own potential and essence from beneath the constraints of our conditioning. He has made it his life’s work to share this understanding with people who have an interest in the power of transformation, healing, and deepening their personal relationship to Source and Spirit. He helps them develop the necessary toolkit & skill base to respond flexibly and creatively to the flux and flow of daily life.
As well as teaching classes and running retreats with Tez, Ewan has worked as a practising Craniosacral Therapist since 1999. He lives in Edinburgh with his wife Emily and three children. When he has the time, Ewan likes playing with sound.