To: The Ixtlan Mailing List
Date: Sat, 10 May 1997 14:30:23 -0400 (EDT)

Mexico City Seminar, April 18-20, 1997. "Six Series of Tensegrity"

To capsulize a seminar afterwards is a bit like trying to describe a dream, one has experiences and impressions the force of which are difficult to articulate.

The Mexico City seminar mirrored the Long Beach Seminar in that Tensegrity has become even more the focus of these workshops. The participants were given a list of 168 magical passes to be taught. Although most of the passes are short, the three days of saturation with the movements in a mass of people striving to apprehend the passes has a deep and moving effect. The participants were more varied in appearance than one sees in the States and I heard that nearly half of them were first time attendees, yet their unbending desire to learn the Tensegrity was tangible.

Florinda Donner-Grau functioned as the ice-breaker. She spoke twice during the seminar, each time for under a half hour. For we Yanks a translation device was provided with a ear piece, as the entire seminar with few exceptions was conducted in Spanish. Florinda was electric! A fiery presence. She introduced the ideas of their lineage to the crowd, spoke about ramifications of the "Series for the Womb" and introduced the Elements and Energy Trackers.

Taisha Abelar also spoke at the seminar. In one of her short talks she elaborated on ideas presented in "The Warriors' Way A Journal of applied Hermeneutics" written by Carlos Castaneda. Her talk centered on the concepts of "intent" and "intentionality". Taisha brings a different mood to the workshops, her force seems to congeal the entire setting- building and participants into so meting which is moved.

Miles and Brandon, two of the Elements spoke. Miles gave a description of what it means to "make one's decision" and the pivotal moment in his life which turned to the Warrior's Way. Brandon spoke of the differences between men and women, and especially man's strange need to expend energy upholding a transparent persona. These talks hit home.

One of the Seminar highlights was Saturday night. The last hour of the session was spent teaching and performing two long passes, one done with the right side and one with the left. These passed were shown bit by bit, wordlessly, until each pass was absorbed by the participants and silently performed.

Taisha Abelar has said that it is possible to use the effect of a seminar to change one thing about oneself. Yet this time, since returning from Mexico, I feel a certain "deglossing" process beginning. There are moments when the gloss that covers behavior and perception is in recession. This is exciting!

Best Wishes,
Lance