NOTES FROM NORTHEAST FACILITATOR CALLS
NE Facilitator Call – May 14th, 2018
Agenda:
Information on using Zoom
Introductions – Name, Gender pronouns, Where you reside or are currently connected, Your experience with WTR.
Centering practice
Council Rounds (2)-
Challenges you face in doing the work or that you see within WTR communities
Ways that you would like to have support around doing this work or ways that these calls can support you in the work that you are doing?
Future calls – Open discussion (Timing – Monthly/bi-monthly, Format, Openness of the group)
Closing Song/meditation/words
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Notes from Call
Challenges:
– How to plan a one day intro workshop that is meaningful – while people are so thirsty for it.
– How to authentically offer something that is useful.
– How to work well in a team. Making that relationship authentic and growing
– Growing edge piece – Oppression showing up in WTR spaces, leaning how to respond in the moment
– How people in WTR groups continue to replicate systems of oppression
– People not being taken care of when little things continue to happen
– Confusion about how to remain open minded to people who are not completely aligned with issues around oppression
– People not being allowed to speak; How to allow people to share their stories
– How to be open minded to other people’s view without being contaminated by it.
– The challenge of knowing how to be there skillfully
– How to support learning
– The balance between Gaia and oppression work, setting up a space to hold that complexity
– How to hold issues around ageism, deep listening, drawing on other’s perspective
– Challenge around modern versus post-modern identities
Requests for support:
– Would love to hear other’s people’s experience in one-day workshops
– Working in a team, exchanging resources for practices, agendas – possibly a google group
– Talking about current challenges
– Having meaning conversations about power/privilege and oppression in WTR
– Talking about the balance between Gaia and Justice issues
– Finding support in the WTR community, ways for people to connect
– Trying to find ways to connect up with WTR communities
– Growing together in awareness, sharing stories
Discussion about this Group:
– Best to meet once a month
– Open to anyone who is actively engaged in facilitating WTR or bringing WTR into their community, fledglings welcome
– Having an topic in advance –
– Purpose: Facilitation issues/supporting WTR communities/supporting fledgling facilitators
WTR NE Facilitator Call – June 11th, 2018
Joseph, Aravinda, Paula, Carol, Marcia, John, Anne
Centering Practice lead by Aravinda
The Bike Rack:
-Practice a difficult situation (role play)
-How to share brain food/Seeing with Fresh eyes during a 1-day workshop
-How to integrate talking about oppression dynamics into WTR spaces
-Incorporating WTR practices into other situations
-How to explain the Work to people who are new to it in a quick and insightful way (for event organizers and for possible participants)
Open Discussion:
-How to share brain food/Seeing with Fresh eyes:
Aravinda – Had tended to pack too much in when sharing this part, has no trimmed it down a bit. Shares: Different way of seeing oneself in the world (from outside the world to inside the world). Contrasting world view.
Also, world as separate building blocks versus world as flow through of matter, energy and information. (power over versus power with)
-Will sometimes bring in the different way of seeing time (caught in present time versus time as surrounding us – ancestors and future beings). Will sometimes move into a deeptimes practice
-Tries to keep it succinct.
-Realizing that people take it in in different ways and so some folks will be open and some won’t.
Paula – Question? What would it be if we did the practice first and then the teaching after that? Is it possible to experience these concepts without the intellectual framework? Feeling it on another level. Mirror walk?
Joseph – Liking this idea and wishing there was an exercise that showed the different views of the world that was more movement based
Anne – Still a fair amount of talking even without sharing the brain food all that often
Paula – Curiosity around the 3-stories of our time leading off the “going forth” part of the spiral?
How much framing to do before engaging into the experiential exercises? How much framing versus letting folks engage in exercises and explaining later?
Doing an interactive piece around the “three stories of our time” – as a way for people to experience this.
-Examples are really helpful to share with people (can save time)
-How to integrate talking about oppression dynamics into WTR spaces
-How to bring in these concepts while still realizing this is not anti-oppression training, how to delivery the Work in a way that is not unconsciously oppressive and also, time is at a premium. How to integrate it in a short amount of time.
-Transparency around naming dynamics/evolution/time limitation
-Setting up greater safety with guidelines. (perhaps putting in mechanism when harm happens) Providing an opportunity for noticing harm and not leaving people on their own
-In framing – looking at how oppression has shown up and modifying framings to be less harmful
Aravinda- Offered to share document around different oppression dynamics that show up
Helps to have several on the facilitation team, also liaison person between participants and facilitation team
Sarah Thompson quote – “While we are all in this together, we are in this differently”
How to acknowledge difference and welcome everyone as best you can
Canticle Farm Welcome – Seems to be well-received, people have asked for a copy of it