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On October 15, the Getting into Action Workshop was piloted here in Tamaki Makaurau, Aotearoa (Auckland, New Zealand).
Twenty participants embarked on a full one-day journey together, with an intention of gaining a clarity, sense of empowerment and connectedness, having tapped into an enduring place of strength and wisdom in themselves.
This newly created Getting into Action Workshop , has been piloted three times; once in California, another in India, and now here in Aotearoa. Facilitated by two Awakening the Dreamer training leaders Carl Chenery and Crea Land, with a support team including Murray, Alyssia, Nikki, Sian and Andre, the day was inspiring for all.
The Day
The venue was the Blockhouse Bay Boat Club, a beautiful building (held above water by massive stilt-like logs), that had slowly crumbled into disarray over time, and was in recent years resurrected by members of the community. As the morning emerged, we were perched above mudflats, and as the day progressed and the tide came in, we were floating above full waters. This visual metaphor of our being together was poignantly surrounding and within us.
The exercises offered in the workshop enabled deep visioning experiences, and similar to the Symposium, systematically carried participants from spaces of Being, through to Knowing, and then through to Doing. In pairs, small groups and whole group activities and discussions, a strong sense of community was being created.
A Social Justice Focus
One of the intentions of the workshop was to highlight social justice issues, and we were fortunate to have a mix of participants from various cultures, including some of our indigenous Maori partners. Here in Aotearoa, Maori are called ‘tangata whenua’, meaning ‘people of the land’. By opening sacred space with a karakia (Maori word for ‘blessing’), we were consciously honouring tangata whenua and thus opening dialogue between indigenous and other cultures—here this is called a bi-cultural experience.
Also, as a pre-reading, we had offered an article called ‘White Privilege: The Hidden Benefits’, an abridged excerpt out of Robert Consedine’s book ‘Healing Our History’. Maori who attended said it was reading this article that inspired them to come along to the workshop.
Participants left with a greater sense of empowerment, and a greater sense of embodiment regarding their next steps in putting their commitment into action—and with the awareness of being instruments for something greater than themselves.
It was truly a divine day.
We see this workshop as a way for people to maintain and deepen their connection with the Symposium, with themselves, and to continue strengthening the sense of interconnectedness in community. Interest from the day resulted in 12 people joining us for an evening workshop that we offered on ‘White Privilege’ as a follow on a few weeks later.
Further Action
An Action Circle also emerged, where six of us connected tonight, sharing and building on the visions that we formed at the workshop. One of our next steps is to invite others to create a network of Action Circles. Together we intend to build community and work toward fulfilling the purpose of the Symposium.
With huge gratitude to The Pachamama Alliance for creating another wonderful motivational tool. It is such a great honour to be in partnership with all of you.
Arohanui ki a koutou (Great Love to you all),
By Crea Land and Carl Chenery
Read more about the availability of the Getting into Action workshop here.
