Dave Mai: Finding Balance with Rock Climbing
True Calling Grants Participant
Producer/Director:
Dave Mai
As any passion-seeker knows, one cannot be in a continual state of flow and productivity. We need diversions, we need challenges, we need physicality, and we need human relationships. We need to find balance. But what does it mean to find balance? Can one stay in a state of balance, or is it an act of continual adjustment to find momentary balance?
Kai Saunders strives for balance in his life as he practices his craft and pursues his passions. He is a tattoo artist and a mountain climber from British Columbia. Kai has been climbing for most of his adult life, and he loves what the climbing lifestyle has to offer; adventure, challenge, and variety. It is a sport wherein all of the roadblocks and challenges are contained within the self, and so any success can be considered a great personal achievement. Not unlike the art of tattooing.
Kai discovered his calling as a tattoo artist when he first had one of his own designs inked onto him by another artist. He saw that some of what he loved about climbing was echoed in his career; adventure, challenge, and variety. He now tattoos in Kelowna, BC, which is only a short drive away from some of the most dense and spectacular sport climbing destinations in Canada. In fact, Kai grew up in Penticton , BC, home to the Skaha Bluffs—where Kai still returns often, always looking to improve his game and get to the next level.
Moving from the precise, small movements necessary for being an in-demand tattoo artist, to the expansive physicality of climbing, Kai finds similarities and differences in the opposing challenges. Kai discusses what aspects of his life need to be considered in his quest for balance, and how he knows when something needs to be adjusted.
Whether he’s precariously clinging to the face of a cliff or creating a tattoo design for his client, Kai is always looking to better himself in the process.
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