I Am As We Are:
Honouring Lineage through Movement
A weekend of movement, breath, and guided introspection exploring the stories we carry and the lineages that shape how we live, love, and move.
Learn to interpret the language of the body alongside the stories we carry through movement and guided introspection.
Where do our stories come from?
What trajectories are they guiding us toward?
Do they align with our values?
What might we discover, uncover, or recover when mind and body move in alignment?
Join Kian as he leads you through a weekend of experiential practices to align mind and body through movement and introspection as a way to deepen our capacity to learn from and to honour our internal and external relationships.
Over three days, we’ll move through three themes:
Friday: Honouring Our Self
We begin close to home. Breath, posture, and the body’s patterns. We explore what we’ve inherited, what’s been imposed, and what is actually true for us now.
Saturday: Honouring Our Relationships
We expand into the relational field. Conflict and care, internal and external alignment, and how we move in connection with others.
Sunday: Honouring Our Time
We slow down to practice responsiveness, presence, and flexible strength with attention to non-colonial time. We close with reflection on responsibility, protocol, and permission.
What you’ll experience
Expect an immersive blend of:
Breathwork + nervous system training
Mobility, flexibility, and strength practices
Individual, partner, and group exercises
Guided reflection, journaling, and discussion
Restorative evening practices and spacious free time
Kian’s approach weaves movement, presence, and relational awareness, grounded in lineage, responsibility, and the ways our lives are shaped through relationship.
Who it’s for
This workshop is for people 18+, of any fitness level and all abilities. You do not need prior movement experience. Every session will include options and modifications so you can meet your body with honesty and care.
Because space is limited, registration is application-based.
Meet your Guide
Kian Cham is an artist and trainer who interprets life through movement. His background is in martial arts, calisthenics and pole dance. In his younger years, he was a 3-time national karate champion and PanAmerican silver medalist and began teaching karate over 20 years ago.
Kian has taught movement-based workshops in diverse settings across BC including at UVIC, Pearson World College, and at the Unist’ot’en Camp. His written perspectives are featured in books including Joyful Militancy: Building Thriving Resiliency in Toxic Times (Nick Montgomery & carla bergman) and Radiant Voices: 21 Feminist Essays For Rising Up. He has had the honour of sharing the stage as an EMMA Talks speaker alongside Leanne Betasamosake Simpson.
Kian recently completed a collaborative poetry & dance short film (Injury, 2025) - a project that emerged to help process pain and reduced mobility while learning to adapt to cervical spinal stenosis.
Kian believes his capacity to live pain-free as a pole dancer and movement coach with severe spinal stenosis is a result of his practice which focuses on brain and body harmonization; his dedication to creative expression; his work with clients; and growing reciprocity with peers, family and mentors, including those in his queer and trans community. Because of this, he is eternally thankful for all who are a part of his life.
Day One: Friday Sep 25th
Honouring Our Self
As everyone arrives, we take time to settle in, get comfortable, and begin connecting with those around us. The journey starts here.
Check-In/Arrival3pm
Intro's & Intentions4pm
Starting from the Self Part OneHow We Breathe and Who Are We Breathing For? Connecting to Breath to distinguish our true values from values we inherited/ values that are imposed on us.
(Individual and partner exercises, discussion - 1 hour)
5pm
Dinner
6:30pm
Starting from the Self: Part Two
The Language of Posture: What our bodies are communicating to us (simple exercises to relate to our current brain-body patterns and signals including pain, past or recurring injuries, strengths, etc).
7:45 - 8:30pm
Day Two: Saturday Sep 26th
Honouring Our Relationships
Optional silent meditation, silent walk, silent clean/open movement space
8am
Breakfast
9am
Internal and external alignment through love and conflict from a martial arts perspective.
Partner + Group practices
10:30am
Lunch + free time
1pm
Movement Lineage (90 minutes–2 hours)
How our movement reflects the teachers and lineages that shape us, ancestral and adopted. Writing + movement activity.
3pm
Dinner
6pm
Our Homes Move Us: Movement Design (45 minutes)
Seeing movement in our spaces and designing small shifts that better align with how we value resting and living. (Gentle + restorative)
8pm
Day Three: Sunday Sep 27th
Honouring Our Time
Optional silent meditation, silent walk, silent clean/open movement space
8am
Breakfast
9am
Us in Time: Slow Strength - growing our capacity to act responsively with attention to non-colonial time; practicing strength in deep ranges with hyper presence. Learn skills to apply karate principles relating to time to address burn out and reactivity culture.
10:30am
Lunch + free time
1pm
Closing circle: teachings + reflections on responsibility, protocol, and permission
2pm
What you can expect
01 / Optional Accommodations
We have a number of options for accommodations including shared room, private room and private suite, for those who aren’t local and would like to stay overnight. Our home accommodates up to 12 people, is 20 mins from the Nanaimo ferry and 1.5 hours from Victoria.
02 / Holistic Catered Meals
Enjoy nourishing meals and snacks throughout the retreat from our local private chef and caterer.
03 / Support & Inclusivity
We’re committed to a space that feels welcoming and supportive for a wide range of bodies, identities, and lived experiences. Nothing here is about pushing through. You’ll be offered options, encouraged to listen inward, and supported to take breaks or modify as needed.
Pricing
Weekend rate (lodging + meals included)
Accessible: $500
Full: $700
Community Care: $900
Local rate (no lodging)
Accessible: $300
Full: $400
Community Care: $500
If you’re able to choose Community Care, you help make Accessible rates possible.