xchange’s annual workshop on Dec 12th was an inspiring example of what we as facilitators can make possible in the world. I’m grateful for the heartfelt artistry I witnessed and have reflected on core elements below.
But first… let me put into perspective what this team accomplished:
- They had over 200 people
- Engaged on Zoom
- For four hours
- From across the world (Meaning it was 4am for some folks and they stayed!)
At the end of a four hour workshop I’m usually exhausted. At the end of this workshop I felt inspired, peaceful, and deeply connected to the group.
Live Music Performances
You know how one song can change how you feel entirely? Sometimes uplifting, sometimes softening, sometimes eerie. Each musician in this workshop helped us to connect more deeply with our own potential and what was emerging in the collective field:
- J Hobbs welcomed us with warmth and upbeat vibes.
- An incredible singer who’s name I can’t recall sang acapella around the middle. She wove the themes that had emerged into her songs and it was captivating.
- Peter Katz closed off with a soulful and almost spiritual essence.
The musicians had songs prepared but also adjusted on the fly to what they sensed in the group. Improv at its finest! At times the facilitators danced and invited others to join. Usually I cringe a little but the energy was contagious and so I joined in and it took my experience from being a cognitive one to an embodied one.
Mindfulness and Embodied Visioning
Sometimes it was guided breathing. At other times it was elaborate journey visualisations, connecting deeply with possibilities we couldn’t quite put words to.
While we dipped into dialogue and heady spaces, theses moments of mindfulness brought us back to ourselves. They slowed the clock. They created literal space. And in that space a feeling of expansion and possibility emerged. We connected with wisdom beyond the mind’s knowing.
From this exquisite invitation to expand and dream, not only did the outcomes feel more potent, but how we felt at the end was in itself a meaningful outcome. Connected. Creative. Powerful. Calm.
Unanswerable Questions
Influenced by Theory U and many of its original founders, the questions this workshops sparked were excellent. I love how David Whyte puts it:
The marvelous thing about a good question is that it shapes our identity as much by the asking as it does by the answering.
xchange had many such good questions and we were encouraged to be ok not answering some. Some we could only live into. Some that stuck with me:
- What are the qualities, values, ways of being that your highest future is calling you to embody, to become, to fully live out?
- What would you have to let go of in order to bring your vision into reality?
We digested these questions on our own and in dialogue with others.
Facilitators who had done their own work
Lastly, it was clearly evidenced that the facilitators who created this space had begun with themselves. They were the instruments. It was as much about what they said as what their energy conveyed.
We got to experience many different facilitators throughout the four hours. This too allowed for a welcome energy shift and allowed facilitators to play to their strengths.
TL;DR
Wisdom lives in our minds, bodies, and hearts. It also lives between us, we co-create it. The more of each human we can bring into the virtual room, the more powerful our workshops become. And as we reconnect to ourselves, each other, and the world in more wholesome ways, we transform and heal collective systems. Whew, this is why I love facilitation!
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