Program Host: Vicki Dello Joio
October 14, 2021
We each have our own story about how our interest in Chinese moving meditative arts bloomed, and how we have incorporated these self-healing practices into our lives. For me, being in the field means working with my strengths and challenges, cultivating and applying important principles and choosing “a way”. As writer Mary O’Malley suggests, sometimes an obstacle is “the way.” This is the case with aging, cancer and other chronic medical conditions, intense emotional turmoil, and those tragedies that we occasionally encounter in living a fully human and deeply connected life with others.
Gary P. Donovan has been studying and practicing Tai Chi for more than twenty-six years and teaching the internal arts since 1996. He earned his modern Tai Chi and Qigong teacher’s certification from the IIQTC at Omega Institute in 2001, and a traditional certification from Grand Master Jiang Jian-ye of Albany, NY in 2004. He has taught over 10,000 classes in Connecticut and Rhode Island before retiring in 2017 to Virginia Beach, VA.
Late in 2019, Gary was diagnosed with aggressive stage 2 bladder cancer. He underwent chemotherapy over several months, and then surgery in 2020. His Qigong and Tai Chi practices helped prepare him for his ordeal and continue to be a resource for his recovery during these difficult, covid times. He is currently back volunteering to teach one of his two classes in an underserved area in the rural part of town.
