I was awestruck by the bond that had been evolving with Karina Epperlein over the past six months as she taught me the principles of T’ai Chi. Most helpful was the standing meditation and the ‘catwalk’, a very slow walking exercise that began to teach my right leg to move without dragging the foot or rolling the hip so acutely as it had. In exchange I tutored her on doing her own camerawork on a film about an Armenian woman who survived the Ottoman massacres of 1915-18. My time with Karina became a meditation on friendship. It began as a gift from the depths of compassion when Karina realized that she might be able to help me on my healing journey. I hadn’t seen her since finishing the camerawork on her film Voices from Inside, two years earlier. Now, in our early meetings she taught my body how to begin communicating with its damaged parts again. She also began to help me sharpen my perception about the road ahead in the healing process, reminding me continually that I am moving to a new place in my life, not returning to where I came from, despite my constant determination to do so. Whenever she said she could come by to give me a lesson I planned that day so there would be no interference. I made sure the door at the bottom of my long stairway was unlocked at the hour I expected her. Our exchange grew more fascinating the more time we gave to each other. Photo by John Knoop