You know it’s a memorable day when—before breakfast!—you’ve been charmed by Chinese folk music, laughed and hugged with wellness professionals from Spain, South Africa and Australia, tasted the power and focus of a martial arts kata or two, soaked up the delicious undulating moves of the Gyrotonic® Expansion System and been profoundly humbled by the courage, wisdom and love of Augie Nieto, who is living with ALS.

It was in Scott Cole’s Qigong Wake-Up Call session that I first heard the Chinese music (it turned up again later somewhere else). Before I knew it, I’d joined in the class, easing into the day the gentle way, “not doing,” just letting the energy of the body wake up naturally. Scott cued us to feel the balance of strength and fluidity, masculine and feminine, hard and soft. Little by little we let go, sank deeper and shook ourselves loose. I had to leave for a while but when I stopped back at the end of the session, they were doing partner work, and I could tell people were happy. “All that time on the plane yesterday I thought I was going to die,” somebody whispered—this was taking the kinks out better than a massage. When class ended, there were dozens of pairings as attendees shared contact information, struck up friendships, made arrangements to meet for lunch. That’s what happens here, I thought—that’s what the IDEA convention is all about.

Later I spent some time in Vincent Macagnone’s Gyrotonic session. Vincent and his brother Billy are New York Italian (with accents to match). With all the wavelike motions in this movement system, it seemed fitting that we were meeting in a semicircular space with the San Diego water visible through the windows. I followed along as participants curled, arched, tilted and spiraled their way through the sequences, the sounds of their “ocean breath” audible in the room. I wanted to jump on the equipment and have a go myself—I just know my spine would have loved it.