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 is a Master Practitioner in Biodynamic Meditation, Daoyin Qigong and Taiji and his weekly classes, workshops and retreats have been popular for decades. His transformative and powerful teachings are testament to his ongoing dedication to applying the skills inherent within an embodiment practice.
Tez’s personal practice has evolved over 40 years. After 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. He taught ‘Meditation in Action’ Qigong classes until 2007 when he and Ewan opened Gathering Essence in central Edinburgh, a dedicated centre for Biodynamic & Biomechanical meditation and movement.
The work of Gathering Essence is a direct path to working effectively with the bodymind, Qi and Shen. Tez’s dynamic, supportive teaching 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 Tez’s teachings in the late 90s and they resonated deeply with him. He began an apprenticeship in 2001 and together they developed a partnership and opened their first dedicated teaching studio in 2007. The opportunity to renovate a larger space next door arose in 2011 and 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 made it his life’s work to share the power of transformation, healing, and deepening personal relationship to Source and Spirit. He helps his students 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 been a practising Craniosacral Therapist since 1999.
He lives in Edinburgh with his wife Emily and together they have 3 grown up children. When he has the time, Ewan likes playing with sound.