Visiting the UK: Storytelling, Dancing, Social Transformation and wonderful Nature

End of June I returned to the UK to visit friends and a couple of interesting events, such as the story telling weekend in Embercombe which I wrote about earlier, a 5 day retreat in East Sussex called Bodysong: Dance, Bodywork and reunion with the Feminine and a weekend with Don Beck and Spiral Dynamics in Action to create a vision for an Integral Brittannia.
I also took the chance to take some time off from London, visiting a friend in Shropshire and going camping in Wales' stunning Nature.


View Part II: UK in a larger map

Exploring ShinSomatics in East-Sussex
A friend of mine introduced me to various somatic practises who are coming from performing dances and bring a more feminine approach to body work, e.g. Sondra Fraleigh's work in Somatic Movement Tharapy and Education and ShinSomatics (in contrary to other somatic practises coming from the more masculine traits of martial arts - mainly Aikido).

I got hooked very quickly. The promise of the retreat, to tune in to my intrinsic creativity, connecting with powerful femal energy, deepen my mindbody wisdom through an embodied experience of the natural world, healing dances and an experience of transformation through gentle hands-on bodywork was definitly something I didn't want to say no to...Having been there, I am now considering to pursue this work further to become a certified practitioner myself.

Coming straight from the beautiful spot in Devon, I arrived at the rolling hills of the South Downs in Firle, East Sussex. The old house we gathered in, was right next to the famous Charleston Farm, which used to be a meeting place for artists and intellectuals such as Virginia Wolf and known as the Bloomsbury Group. Our Georgian country house called Tilton House, had its own very fitting story to tell. During the time of the Bloomsbury group gathering, it was inhabited by a famous balley dancer Lydia Lopokova from Russia, who was said to sometime be watched dancing naked on the loan during full moon.

The week was in particular special as it gave me a new experience of sensing and comprehending through the body which is rather hard to conecptualise or articulate in words. We didn't move or exercise a lot but it seems the subtle movements and hands-on work had quite an effect on all of us - organising and reorganising the body. Early evenings we were exhausted and to bed early every night. Coming out of the week I did feel I got a lot more sensitised to different people's body presence and energy, allowing myself to be more intuitive with others and more present.

Being back in London, at Don Becks grand seminar, I found it rather tiring to only operate from the head again, looking at theories, discussing big issues and sitting back to back in a room facing a lot of monologues. Shropshire and Wales were a welcoming change and seeing Snowdonia's National Park totally exceeded my expectations! The pic below with the lake is at Tal-Y-Llyn and the camp I stayed at was called CWMRHWYDDFOR Farm Camp!!! Any ideas how to pronounce that?

Moko in Wales from mokoflip on Vimeo.

Storytelling as a vehicle for transformation

I went to a story telling weekend in Embercombe, hearing and telling stories in Nature and around the fire place. Mac the founder of Embercombe is a true master at storytelling and I learned a lot of ancient beautiful English myths.

Telling stories, personal but also stories of others can be a very compelling way to express where what you care about, where you come from, paint a picture of what you envision could be created to engage people, open their hearts and minds

Stories – as a seed for transformation - e.g. encouraging people to move from a consumer society to a citizens sustaining life society. Changing the stories by which we define ourselves (e.g. around scarcity and security) can change the human nature. Asking oneself what story am I part of? What story is unfolding or better do I want to see unfolding? Am I telling the story of tragedy or comedy? The outcome will be different depending on whether my energy and storytelling goes into the one or the other.

Positive empowering stories will also impact your energy and being. Storytelling in the end is so much about being in the moment, present and connected to really express your authentic self. In the end the content matters less than the very special place where the story comes from.

“Who you are speak so loudly that I cannot hear a word you say”

Some story telling tips:
- An exquisite example of a bigger picture is more powerful than the full story (being concise)
- Always speak from your heart and authentic self – it’s not a performance
- You determine the pace and rhythm of your story
- Know what message you have for your audience
- The more personal the more universal