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Flow of Day 1
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Story of Day 1
by Nam Taro (Apprentice) It was 1:30 pm. We were still rushing to finish the last bits of preparation before everyone arrived. I could feel sweat dripping down my forehead while my mind was surfing through the various small and big things I still need to get done. My heart was pumping. There was a mixture of feelings from each of us: excitement, anticipation, confusion, hope, ease… And yet, the previous day of preparation has built within us the capacity to witness and hold space for each other with intention.
It was 3:30. The usual quietness of the past few days in Bai Dinh Hotel was slowly replaced by greetings from the reception hall and the approaching steps of people arriving at their rooms. There was a hint of awe and curiosity in the air as people were welcomed by the grandness of the place, the surrounding beauty of Ninh Binh’s natural beauty and the “sudden strangeness” of a new journey unfolding: Who are here? What am I going to learn and experience? What is going to happen? Some of us were familiar with the Art of Hosting Training before, coming back to the place felt like coming home. Some of us were new to the place, even new to the country, and only heard about the training from someone else. It was 4:15. The training venue was already occupied by people cluttering in small groups - the ease and the unease of being in such a big crowd of almost 90 people. I saw people smiling. Some were hugging each other as they met again. Some were wandering around the hall, gazing at the hanging lanterns of vibrant colors over their head, some were silently observing in a corner of a room, some were eager to get to know someone new and some were already settled in their chairs in the big circle we already set up in the other room. |
It was 4:30 when we were officially welcomed. It was a huge circle of people sitting and breathing into each other’s presence. There was tenderness and anticipation as people got used to a different way of gathering here in the Art of Hosting Training: We could see each other eye to eye. The circle has embraced us with another “sudden strangeness”.
It was not long until everyone was invited for a quick round of icebreakers where we had a sense of where each of us was coming from. Voices shouted across the room: Ho Chi Minh! Kien Giang! Quang Nam! Ha Noi! India! China! Singapore! France! Cambodia! Japan! Australia! - It was just enough to appreciate the thread of curiosity that connected us from such different places. Now, if you are new to the Art of Host Training, please move here. If this is your second time, or third time, or so on… please move here. Let’s talk with someone you don’t know about why you are coming to this training!
I sat with a friend who has been in the same field of practice with me for some time and really enjoyed the brief conversation we had - the warmth of meeting each other again and the eagerness I could see from his eyes. He had some challenges in walking around for the past few weeks and needed support, but I was glad to see how much aliveness and energy he brought to me and everyone else.
As the circle rebalanced itself back into order and attentiveness, Trang and Huan began to share stories that led them to call for the Art of Hosting Training this year. One thing that was distinctively clear was the yearning to get back together in practice, in community and in quality conversations with Huan’s story about a young monk. With Covid-19 still looming in the background, the past 2 years were a shock to most of us - putting nations into a global disruption of physical & mental health alongside our economies. The clear uncertainty that we were all invited into called for a different way of working, living and being together as Trang slowly closing the poem “Nothing Left” by Bobby Lefebre:
…And together in this sudden strangeness,
radical imagination will run wild;
tomorrow being built today. \
Today, as we began to sit intentionally in circles with each other. We reminded each other of the importance of our core circle practices: Listen with attention - Speak with Intention - Take care of the group’s Wellbeing. We listen so that we can understand and connect with the person who speaks. We speak with relevance from our integrity and our genuinity. We are aware of the impact we have on the collective with regards to time, energy and intention - and make choices that care for the whole. In each small check-in circle, we were invited to share our intention for ourselves as well as the intention for others.
The question about the “intention for others” surprised me, honestly. I couldn’t come up with an answer right away - some participants shared as the talking piece landed in their hands.
A powerful question could shift perspectives. The check-in question pointed us all into the experience of being in community. We didn’t come here just to consume knowledge, we are here to contribute back in relation with others.
Thus, two more principles were introduced to help the big crowd shift its mindset towards “community”: Ask for what you need, offer what you can, while inviting openness and curiosity.
These community principles lay a solid groundwork for our continuous practice throughout the training, which we call “four-fold practice”. What strange words! But they make sense as these practices don’t come in a linear way but weave into each other. The four-fold practice is a door-way to hosting and harvesting conversations that matter, a lifelong commitment to growth for each of us as practitioners as well as an entry point for participants to assess how they want to participate in the training:
How do I host myself when I am in conversations with others? How do I respond to my own needs? Do I take care of my own needs or do I speak them out, letting my needs be taken care of by others?
What does it mean to be a good, constructive participant of a circle/a process?
What does it take for me to host others well? What courage do I want to take and try out in this training? And what does it mean to co-create with others?
We ended Day 1 with a lot of questions that shaped our intention. A huge crowd flocked to the sign-up matrix to write their names to become a host for some activities in the coming days. This was the challenge they wanted to take on - becoming a part of the training process for others while receiving the opportunities to be coached. Some decided to let themselves “be hosted” - wanting to just be in the company of others and contribute through their presence.
When there is nothing left to do but live,
simply show up;
that has always been enough.
(Nothing Left by Bobby Lefebre)
It was not long until everyone was invited for a quick round of icebreakers where we had a sense of where each of us was coming from. Voices shouted across the room: Ho Chi Minh! Kien Giang! Quang Nam! Ha Noi! India! China! Singapore! France! Cambodia! Japan! Australia! - It was just enough to appreciate the thread of curiosity that connected us from such different places. Now, if you are new to the Art of Host Training, please move here. If this is your second time, or third time, or so on… please move here. Let’s talk with someone you don’t know about why you are coming to this training!
I sat with a friend who has been in the same field of practice with me for some time and really enjoyed the brief conversation we had - the warmth of meeting each other again and the eagerness I could see from his eyes. He had some challenges in walking around for the past few weeks and needed support, but I was glad to see how much aliveness and energy he brought to me and everyone else.
As the circle rebalanced itself back into order and attentiveness, Trang and Huan began to share stories that led them to call for the Art of Hosting Training this year. One thing that was distinctively clear was the yearning to get back together in practice, in community and in quality conversations with Huan’s story about a young monk. With Covid-19 still looming in the background, the past 2 years were a shock to most of us - putting nations into a global disruption of physical & mental health alongside our economies. The clear uncertainty that we were all invited into called for a different way of working, living and being together as Trang slowly closing the poem “Nothing Left” by Bobby Lefebre:
…And together in this sudden strangeness,
radical imagination will run wild;
tomorrow being built today. \
Today, as we began to sit intentionally in circles with each other. We reminded each other of the importance of our core circle practices: Listen with attention - Speak with Intention - Take care of the group’s Wellbeing. We listen so that we can understand and connect with the person who speaks. We speak with relevance from our integrity and our genuinity. We are aware of the impact we have on the collective with regards to time, energy and intention - and make choices that care for the whole. In each small check-in circle, we were invited to share our intention for ourselves as well as the intention for others.
The question about the “intention for others” surprised me, honestly. I couldn’t come up with an answer right away - some participants shared as the talking piece landed in their hands.
A powerful question could shift perspectives. The check-in question pointed us all into the experience of being in community. We didn’t come here just to consume knowledge, we are here to contribute back in relation with others.
Thus, two more principles were introduced to help the big crowd shift its mindset towards “community”: Ask for what you need, offer what you can, while inviting openness and curiosity.
These community principles lay a solid groundwork for our continuous practice throughout the training, which we call “four-fold practice”. What strange words! But they make sense as these practices don’t come in a linear way but weave into each other. The four-fold practice is a door-way to hosting and harvesting conversations that matter, a lifelong commitment to growth for each of us as practitioners as well as an entry point for participants to assess how they want to participate in the training:
How do I host myself when I am in conversations with others? How do I respond to my own needs? Do I take care of my own needs or do I speak them out, letting my needs be taken care of by others?
What does it mean to be a good, constructive participant of a circle/a process?
What does it take for me to host others well? What courage do I want to take and try out in this training? And what does it mean to co-create with others?
We ended Day 1 with a lot of questions that shaped our intention. A huge crowd flocked to the sign-up matrix to write their names to become a host for some activities in the coming days. This was the challenge they wanted to take on - becoming a part of the training process for others while receiving the opportunities to be coached. Some decided to let themselves “be hosted” - wanting to just be in the company of others and contribute through their presence.
When there is nothing left to do but live,
simply show up;
that has always been enough.
(Nothing Left by Bobby Lefebre)
Principles of Being Together
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Teach: Fourfold Practice
Further resources: The Four-Fold Practice Video
