The Source : Connecting with the Here and Now.
Do you ever get the feeling that your mind is like a cluttered desk, which could do with a good clearout? Does it sometimes feel that your body is just a glorified taxi, which takes your overloaded brain from A to B? At the end of the day, when you try to sit down and relax, do you find it impossible to switch off and just be? Why does doing nothing seem so difficult?
In our superconnected times, a prevailing paradox is that the more we rely on technology for communication and information, the less integrated we become on a physical level. Our relationships with ourselves, each other, and our surroundings are becoming more virtual and disembodied. What can be done to return to a more holistic state of being and doing, whilst remaining in our brave new technoworld? How can we re-member ourselves, and is there a point anyway?
At the Source, our main preoccupation is getting people connected; with themselves, with each other , and with their environment. How do we do this? By creating space for awareness. In our ongoing work in the field of leadership development and training, we have identified a recurring theme from feedback we receive, namely how much more energised and alive people feel after a creative hands-on session; whether it be music, movement, visual art or storytelling. It is this feeling of being grounded that we take as a platform for authentic self expression, and for developing trusting relationships, as we recognise both our uniqueness, and our common humanity.
Through the creative and experiential process, we invite groups to embark on a journey into the interior. Initially, this requires a still mind and an awake body, so to that end, we employ a simple, yet powerful series of exercises to suspend our rational thought patterns, to let go of our preconceived ideas, and to connect with the here and now; just a group of bodies breathing in the present. From this still point, we can begin to integrate our minds and hearts with our bodies, then with each other, and our environment. This is a place of remarkable creative potency. Sportsmen describe it as ‘being in the zone’. The Japanese call it ‘Sartori’, a state of being, where nothing is happening, but the potential for action is ever present. In their book ‘Presence’, Peter Senge, Otto Scharmer et.al describe this in developmental terms as ‘Theory U’.
In relation to this work, we have just completed a course with a colleague of theirs, Arawana Hayashi, which is called ‘Embodied Presence Practice’. We are planning to continue working with Arawana in the future, and in the meantime, are happy to acknowledge her important contribution to our understanding of this crucial area of our own development.
Thursday 10 May 2007
Wednesday 9 May 2007
Brighton May 2007
Making space for awareness
There are fundamentally two different ways in which we create new things. The first approach is where we reach out to the world and actively seek new ideas. In our fast-moving, downloading culture, there is a strong pressure to decide what we are looking for and then to apply our focused attention on the world around us in order to find it. But this ‘will-based’ or driving process can have the effect of placing a limit on our degree of openness to what else might be present. As a result, what we think is ‘breakthrough’ may only be ‘repackaging’, leaving a great deal of potential unmanifested.
The other way to create new things is to let the world come to us. This mode of creation is in harmony with the world. It involves us being completely “present” and feeling and sensing everything which is happening, so that we can really sense all the opportunities there are for creation.
This introductory three hour workshop is an opportunity to experiment with ways in which we can develop a greater capacity for creativity, by taking in more of what our environment has to offer, so that we allow the world to come to us. Sometimes, the most ordinary is also the most unique.
Participants in the workshop will be able to share some new techniques from ‘Embodied Presence Practice’ developed by Arawana Hayashi. Arawana is a dancer, choreographer and a Shambhala senior meditation teacher. She is currently working with Otto Scharmer at the Presencing Institute in the USA. She looks at how embodied practices can be used to bring about profound change for some of the most pressing social and global issues.
The facilitators at the Critical Incident, Amy and Chris, will be sharing some of the basic practices which can enable individuals and groups to increase awareness and widen their window of perception, so that they are better able to sense what is emerging in their environment. The session will start on an individual basis and, time allowing, be extended to whole group sensing. Simple movements will be used. No dance background is needed. We consider participants to be co-creators.
‘Your state of consciousness determines how you act in the world and interact with others.’ Eckhart Tolle, ‘New Earth’, 2006.
The facilitators
Chris Tero is a qualified dancer, mover and musician. He freelances in corporate, higher educational and entertainment fields.
Amy Barnes is a facilitator, Gestalt coach and trainer. She freelances in corporate and further educational fields.
Amy and Chris are working together to develop Embodied Presence Practice and to see how it may be used in the service of bringing greater awareness, integration, connection and wholeness to individuals and groups.
The beautiful picture was taken in Hawaii by our great friend and collaborator, Simon MacCarty.
Interdependence Day October 2007
Some quick thoughts for Interdependence Day. I would love to get attendees involved in a piece of co-creation so that we embody the essence of our 'interdependencies'. Here's what I wrote last Saturday on the boat in Southampton:
Potential titles: Moments/ Emergence/ Emerging landscapes; The dance between; Connecting to the field; The making of us
We are a working group that is interested in the process of how we sense our own emergence, how we contribute to the energy of a given ‘system’ or ‘field’, how we connect with that energy and what happens when we do. We feel that experiencing these processes might help us co-develop answers on the most pressing questions for actors within that field.
We are interested in exploring the process and dynamics of ‘interdependence’ and it’s relationship with independence within a given ‘system’ or ‘field’. We do this by inviting everyone in the system or field to participate in a series of simple movements ‘sets’ so that we are better able to access a direct, felt sense of how interdependence happens. Post movement, the group will have an opportunity to explore whatever emerges. We feel that this awareness could provide us with useful insights as actors and contributors in any given system and compliments the insights generated by objective research.
Our approach is based on the work of Arawana Hayashi’s ‘Embodied Presence Practice’, Otto Scharmer’s ‘Theory U’ and ‘Presence’ in helping to bring about profound social innovation, Gestalt, meditative practices and the principles of Open Space Technology.
Chris Tero is a musician, facilitator and qualified dancer, Amy Barnes is an organisational coach, facilitator and trainer. They are working together to develop ‘Embodied Presence Practice’ and are actively looking for ways in which this type of approach could be used to help individuals and groups.
Potential titles: Moments/ Emergence/ Emerging landscapes; The dance between; Connecting to the field; The making of us
We are a working group that is interested in the process of how we sense our own emergence, how we contribute to the energy of a given ‘system’ or ‘field’, how we connect with that energy and what happens when we do. We feel that experiencing these processes might help us co-develop answers on the most pressing questions for actors within that field.
We are interested in exploring the process and dynamics of ‘interdependence’ and it’s relationship with independence within a given ‘system’ or ‘field’. We do this by inviting everyone in the system or field to participate in a series of simple movements ‘sets’ so that we are better able to access a direct, felt sense of how interdependence happens. Post movement, the group will have an opportunity to explore whatever emerges. We feel that this awareness could provide us with useful insights as actors and contributors in any given system and compliments the insights generated by objective research.
Our approach is based on the work of Arawana Hayashi’s ‘Embodied Presence Practice’, Otto Scharmer’s ‘Theory U’ and ‘Presence’ in helping to bring about profound social innovation, Gestalt, meditative practices and the principles of Open Space Technology.
Chris Tero is a musician, facilitator and qualified dancer, Amy Barnes is an organisational coach, facilitator and trainer. They are working together to develop ‘Embodied Presence Practice’ and are actively looking for ways in which this type of approach could be used to help individuals and groups.
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