Shantena Augusto Sabbadini, a teacher from Schumacher College, UK, returned to visit us here at KFBG for a second time. A small reunion was held on 21 October for the previous year’s workshop participants to meet with Shantena. One of the participants had written a story inspired by last year’s workshop, turned it into a small puppet show and performed it during the gathering.

This year Shantena led a 5-day residential workshop titled ‘When Quantum Physics Meets Daoism’ from 23rd to 27th October. There were 18 participants whose experience included staying over at the Green Hub, in the Old Tai Po Police Station, a Grade 1 listed historic building, built in 1899.

Shantena’s workshop covered the fundamental concepts of quantum physics and introduced different quantum experiments which showed that there doesn’t appear to be a neat separation between what we call matter and what we call mind or consciousness: the two are inextricably linked.

A theoretical physicist by training, Shantena made profound connections between quantum physics and Daoism, which in turn he has studied for more than 30 years. He postulated that the first chapter of the classic text Dao De Ching can be read, in his words, ‘as a lucid formulation of the co-emergence of subject and object from the primal totality that Laozi calls ‘the Dao’’. Shantena also led participants in examining various chapters of Dao De Ching to discover the meanings within them, taught participants how to divine using Yi Jing and demonstrated the interpretation of different readings.

During this 5-day workshop, participants experienced many interactive and communal activities in a natural environment such as cooking together, a night walk at Kadoorie Farm and appreciating music on the summit of Kwun Yum Shan, which cultivated an intimate group relationship. The workshop provided a good platform to exchange ideas; participants appreciated the gentle instruction received from our teacher, and shared feedback that the workshop was well structured and thoughtfully organised.

If you would like to join a similar transformative workshop or keep in contact with us, please email us at holisticedu@kfbg.org