Testimonial by Ethan Murchie
About two years ago I got interested in Prana Dynamics. I wrote to Howard and asked him if he thought it was really possible to teach this stuff online. He said something like, “I didn’t think it would be but we tried last year because of the pandemic and you know what? It actually can work!”
I thought that was a very honest answer so I signed up for the second round of the online program. I instantly fell in love with standing and began to experience interesting lessons and benefits.
Howard told us to try to do the exercises with different people and when you find someone it works with keep practicing with that person. I tried a lot of different people before I found someone. Then it worked very dramatically well. Sometimes. Sometimes it didnt work at all. But we saw enough success to inspire practice and soon we had a little group meeting regularly. Progress was slow and steady with an emphasis on slow but enough steady to keep us interested.
When Drew announced that Howard had tasked him with leading some North American workshops I jumped on the chance. Happily, our little study group was all in so our whole team attended. We were not at all disappointed.
Drew Henry taught humbly and openly. He and his assistants Dan and Charles worked hard to transfer the skills. Drew confirmed and reconfirmed that he saw himself as a coach and a senior school brother sharing and enabling everyone to advance in their understanding and skills.
It was very cool how Drew’s language, the way he communicated his experience, being a little different from Howards language, gave us different clues. Or the same clues looked at from a new perspective. Inflation and deflation on a more vertical plan for example, and the bounce of the trampoline and the basketball. I found that in places what I had been doing was subtly off and suddenly it was subtly on. This is the weakness of the online teaching, nothing can replace the experience of feeling the energy.
Drews use of tools is excellent and has added an element to our research that is highly appreciated. Howard demonstrates these things but I did not get the potential through the internet. Using the ball to feel the root, the hula hoop to bypass, the stick to create a tension line, these all provide awesome feedback.
The opportunity to pursue the research by touching and feeling the energy of twenty different people and to watch Drew, Dan and Charles problem solve and teach many individual questions was invaluable. In particular, I can say our skill at feeding and the role of the feeder were greatly improved.
Once we got home we found that our entire group has been changed and our practice sessions have taken on a new and exciting flavour. Before we were very tentative. Now it’s like we know where we are going and can set off in the right direction with confidence. This empowerment is truly a wonderful gift that Drew was able to give us.
Thank you to Howard for sharing your art and for enabling this event, thank you to Drew and his team for sharing their work, and thanks to all the participants who were willing to come out and try this experiment together. Looking forward to future training and evolution.
In peace!