Exploring Transition on One Big Map

In January 2012 Naresh and I ran the first Transition in Practice module at Schumacher College. Initially designed to be part of the Economics for Transition Masters, the two week course attracted a mix of holistic science students and global Transitioners as well. For the teaching we developed a big map for the healthy and unhealthy aspects of our human systems, based on Ken Wilbers Four Quadrant, but with two directions of change process between healthy and unhealthy versions of the total human system.

This was an exciting opportunity to teach the Transition model and process in a different and slightly more spacious format than we do on the two day course. We were asked to put together a course which included visits to some of the leading Totnes projects as well as giving a thorough grounding in how Transition works, where it’s got to, its limitations, and how it compares with other social change processes.

In the shade of Plato’s Academy, Transition Training comes to Athens..

Among the ruins in central Athens there are new seeds growing (yes – that’s a squash plant)!

In late September, Naresh and I came to the “cradle of western democracy” to run the Transition: Launch training in Athens. We were just a stone’s throw from the place where Plato once taught – in fact you could see some of the stones of his Academy in the park by the training venue.

Expanding Comfort Zones and Releasing Trauma with the Body

I’m on the mailing list for the “Beyond Awakening” series of interviews with leading teachers, practitioners and writers that are part of a large scale enquiry into the creation of healthy human culture through inner work. A recent post by Terry Patten caught my attention – an interview with Peter Levine, who pioneered new ways of working with trauma based on his observations of how animals recover from physical attack by shaking out stored tension in their body. His question – whether humans have a similar capacity for recovery using the body’s instincts – led to the development of a field of work now highly regarded as a quick and effective method of releasing the effects of trauma and restoring well being.

A Lesson in Stress Management from Den the Dartmoor Pack Pony

On a beautiful afternoon in September I ascended the heights of Dartmoor to spend a half day a Dartmoor pony called Den, and Kerry a horse-whisperer. This was part of a project called “Making it Home”, founded by artist Ros Maynard, using arts and natural horsemanship techniques to reawaken the old tradition of carrying goods on trains of pack ponies –   the traditional means of transport in this part of Devon. If you drive down old lanes with their tall hedgerows you come to little passing places – where two cars can just about squeeze past. These are the places where a single horse or pony with its rider could pull in and let the train of pack ponies carrying goods to pass.