Mindfulness on the Mountain

Ryan Black has always had a deep passion for martial arts and their relationship to contemplative practice. As a young man in his twenties, he was stationed in Japan where he served as a Deep-Sea Salvage and Recue Diver in the U.S. Navy for many years. While there he immersed himself in Kendo (Traditional Japanese sword fencing) and Zen practice.  Before moving back to the United States, he was the first foreigner in Southern Japan to reach Master-level in Kendo.

In his desire to advance on his contemplative/martial arts path, Ryan spent over a decade training in the original martial art of Tai Chi (t'ai chi ch'üan) under Grandmaster Yang, Jwing-Ming of YMAA in Boston. Ryan also received his formal training in mindfulness facilitation through Vanderbilt’s Osher Center for Integrative Medicine where he has served as a teacher for Osher’s Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program.

 Founder and Master Instructor of Nashville Tai Chi and Wellness, Ryan has been teaching both group and private lessons in Tai Chi, Qigong, and Meditation in the Nashville area since 2017. He regularly does Tai Chi demonstrations and workshops for the Chinese Arts Alliance of Nashville (CAAN).

Kenneth Robinson has worked for more than thirty years in the healing arts. He began as an addictions counselor, then as director of a family counseling center, and for the past twenty-five years as a body-oriented therapist and teacher.  Throughout that time he has been a student of meditation and yoga, and for four years studied Alaya Process, a transpersonal approach to healing.

Kenneth received a Master’s degree in Counseling and Education from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in 1977. He received his Master’s in Theological Studies from the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University in 2007. He is a member of the Nashville Psychotherapy Institute and past chair of NPI’s Diversity Committee, which offers educational programs for the membership that promote diversity and multiculturalism.  He also holds membership in the United States Association of Body Psychotherapy.

Beyond his practice, Kenneth is a poet, musician, and founding member of the music group Chant Ram. The music of Chant Ram leads kirtan, a form of meditation through music that allows participants to move to open-hearted awareness and self-expression through sound.