A Year Passes…

sam Uncategorized 91 Comments

The Red Tent at Embercombe

I have recently returned from Quest 2013 and so can no longer avoid the fact that it’s now a whole year since I last wrote in this journal. So it’s not quite the source of ‘all the latest news from Living Spirit’, as promised in the side bar and Living Spirit website, unless you take the long view, which I do!

What a year! Taking the Red Tent to Quest last year in late July was followed by a month of incredibly hard work as Sue, I and many wonderful others (including the indomitable Victoria Whelan, who also organised this year’s Quest 2013) entered the final month of organising the West Country Storytelling Festival. So last August bank holiday saw me holding Sanctuary Space again in the Red Tent, this time at Embercombe. We were set up in their circular organic kitchen garden with an entire camp of Wood Sisters – a kind of Heaven on Earth for a few days. Said Wood Sisters provided a wonderful team of volunteers to steward events and hold sacred space in the Red Tent… and also added their considerable creative talents to an exceptional group of women artists who told stories, shared music, meditation and more.

Sue speaks some closing words for the Festival

Within several days of such delights, it’s almost impossible to know what to describe… but a year later my two personal highlights remain, Shonaleigh’s telling of the Whore at the Crossroads and the Wood Sisters Circle. The former was certainly our most popular performance and proved that it is just about possible to pack 60 people into The Red Tent. Given there was then no space, Shonaleigh sat on the floor squeezed in with everyone else and still held us spellbound with her weaving together of the little known Biblical story of Tamar, with stories from her own family’s experience during the Holocaust. The power, authenticity and humility of her presence and storytelling moved me deeply.

My son Tam & local storyteller Clive Fairweather… with hare bone!

I found the Wood Sisters Circle equally and differently moving. As many of my friends know, I’m kind of allergic to ‘expertise’ and the big ego trips that sometimes happen around both the creative & spiritual arts. I love collaboration and the mystery that unfolds when people get together with a generous and honest creative & sacred intention. The Wood Sisters Circle was just such an evening…drawing together those who may not be ‘big names’ but are no less inspiring or skilled. From Maggi’s deep dance opening, through magical music from Abigail, Janne and Fran to the beautifully embodied storytelling of Helen, this was a wonderful evening beneath the giant dragon lantern in the Red Tent.

All the important stuff… good signage and
where to go for food,  toilets & sanctuary…

And afterwards it hit me… in what Universe is it possible to jointly co-ordinate venues or even the entire event for three festivals in one year, while also running weekly groups, retreats and meeting individual clients… and then just carry on? Certainly not the one I currently and somewhat consciously inhabit. I’m willing to acknowledge that I was burnt out… hence radio silence over the last year. Sue has creatively framed her last year as a sabbatical… I think I’d class mine as more of a collapse!

So I have made many changes to my way of working. Condensing and cutting back contact time in group and one to one work to 2-3 days a week, axing admin (sorry blogs) and getting a little more ruthless about not doing so much unpaid work. I also went ‘back to school’ by starting an MA at the Karuna Institute, as part of a long term plan to develop my private practice in one to one therapeutic and mentoring work. This in fact turned out to not be a break (I can be remarkable unrealistic sometimes!) but it has been really interesting to learn about and develop my skills in ‘mindfulness based psychotherapeutic practice’.

So the year turns and Quest returns. It was a great event and I personally loved the dance events and spent several hours jumping up and down like an idiot (and then had to go home and take painkillers so I could sleep…. balance in all things!) Although I felt sad not to take the Red Tent this time, it was also such a relief to just pitch up as a workshop leader and appreciate someone else’s hard work in having done the admin and set up the venue and organised the stewards… Sue and I were free to simply tell stories and guide meditation and enjoy being with the folks who joined us and shared their own experiences, feelings and visions.