Back to All Events

Sisterhood Tai Chi at Auschwitz: Tai Chi Demonstration and Book Talk

  • Congregation of Temple Sinai 500 Swift Street South Burlington, VT, 05403 United States (map)

About the Authors:

Peter Sternberg is a psychotherapist. His interests include co-leading Elderwarriors Retreats (www.elderwarriors.org) helping organize healing retreats at sites of atrocity around the world, and teaching people to use Council for peer support in troubled times. Peter enjoys pursuing his various practices - most notably, Tai Chi.

Maura Sternberg is a Zen Shiatsu practitioner and the co-facilitator of The Holy Well, a women's health organization. She writes, teaches, practices herbalism, offers bodywork, and facilitates healing ceremonies.

For more information about their work, including photos, please visit: https://www.peterandmaurabooks.com

‍ ‍

 

Wednesday, August 12th

6:30 - 7:00 pm - Tai Chi Demo & Snacks

7:00 - 8:30 pm - Book Presentation

Tai Chi at Auschwitz: An Unexpected Reconciliation Journey

Authors: Peter Sternberg and Maura Sternberg

"Tai Chi at Auschwitz is a compelling and intricate journey: a memoir and a meditation on the challenges and gifts of lighting a candle against the darkness." -Robert Schwarz, Psy.D.

Program Facilitator - Ginni Stern

OPEN TO ALL WITH PRE-REGISTRATION

We invite you into a conversation that meets history with presence, and practice with lived experience. Join Co-Authors Peter Sternberg and Maura Sternberg for an intimate discussion. This gathering opens a space to encounter what unfolds when contemplative practice meets a place of profound human suffering. Through shared reflections, readings, and dialogue, the authors offer a perspective shaped not by explanation, but by experience.

Tai Chi at Auschwitz: An Unexpected Reconciliation Journey is a powerful book written by Peter Sternberg and his daughter, Maura Sternberg. It details Peter's experience of visiting historical sites of atrocity, including the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, while practicing the healing arts of Qigong and Tai Chi.

The book explores profound themes of healing and transformation:

· Intergenerational Trauma: The practice of Tai Chi was used as an embodied method to process deep trauma and transmute the heavy, negative energy associated with sites of atrocity.

· Reconciliation: The journey details Peter's transition from feelings of deep victimhood to states of forgiveness, leading to unexpected and moving encounters with the descendants of perpetrators.

· Bearing Witness: The trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau was initially part of a five-day "Bearing Witness Retreat" organized by the Zen Peacemakers. Sisterhood Member, Ginni Stern coordinated that annual retreat for 22 years.

Please join us for this inspirational evening. For mnore information or questions, please contact Ginni Stern at ginnistern@hotmail.com.

Register by Friday, August 7

Previous
Previous
August 12

Jewish History Book Club

Next
Next
August 14

Kabbalat Shabbat, Kiddush, and Oneg