This email is a little long and a bit different than usual, Today is a special day for me and I decided to tell you why.
Exactly four years ago, on the morning of June 30, 2017, I woke up with back pain and a stiff neck. The mattress that I had inflated the day before to full lungs was deflated. The pillow instead, very swollen.
It was the second day of the Being Gathering, a Portuguese festival focused on personal growth and alternative practices. The best festival I've ever attended, and in this wonderful place, a memorable meeting was the best thing that could have happened to me.
In fact that morning, I drowsy arrived at the tent where there was going to be a Cacao ceremony, and from the edge of the tent I saw her, and I remained speachless. A dear friend of mine joined me, greeted me and said - What is this face, have you seen the holy Mary?.
It's a beautiful video, but if it's too long you can skip at minute 6:40
I didn't have time to joke, I was in a state I knew well and didn't like.
"Have you ever seen someone you find so beautiful, so fascinating, that you feel blocked? Such a strong desire to get to know her, but a pervasive sense of fear of ruining everything if you dare to take even a small step?"
"Of course it has happened to me, and how many of those people are just a face, an empty feeling in my memory, and nothing else."
"Thank you" I said without thinking, as I walked towards her with determined but trembling steps.
She sat with her legs crossed and her back straight with a sense of peace and lightness as if waiting for the cocoa ceremony to begin was the most beautiful thing in the world.
A big breath, I was almost at her side. The last few seconds to fish out something clever to say to her in the ocean of dumb phrases in my mind. When the guy who was sitting next to her starts talking to her.
"S**t!"
And with a turn worthy of a dancer, I disguised the miss and sat silently next to her as if nothing had happened.
"OK, as soon as the moment is right I go", I told myself, and after a a couple of minutes that felt like hours the moment arrived.
A gentle tap-tap on her shoulder and she turns around.
" Oh my God, how beautiful is she? C'mon focused!"
"Hi" I ventured.
"Hi" she answered gently.
That was the beginning of the beginning, which then continued with various other adventures and misadventures, an emotional rollercoaster.
Because behind that kind and serene face I soon discovered a lioness with an overwhelming strength and determination.
Above is the official video of the Being Gathering 2017, and a little after the middle, around minute 6.40 there is us, secretly filmed a few hours after that first meeting.
Today Tania my partner, we have a beautiful baby boy (Kalei) who will be 2 years old in August and we live in Portugal, Alentejo to be exact.
These days she is busy learning everything she can about how to build a yurt from the materials we have around us. It will be a challenge, but she has decided that she wants to live in a yurt, and now who's going to stop her?
In the meantime she's designing, cutting, dismounting and reassembling, I'll be in Italy and other countries where the struggle of life continues but in a playful and conscious way: the Playfight.
And you might say "what does all this story have to do with Playfight?"
It has everything to do with it! In fact, the ability to navigate fear, stay alert, seize the right moment, act on impulse with awareness, and above all create an authentic, human, deep connection is exactly what we do in our events!
"So will I find my Tania too?"
Who knows! It certainly wouldn't be the first love story to be born from a Playfight. See Ambra and Fabio, who met in the 2017 immersion (good year!) and are now enjoying the little, adorable Zoe 💕.
Looking forward to experience deep connection!
With gratitude,
Matteo