Was at Chattarpur Self Healing meet last month. It was a gathering of people who are interested in alternate ways of healing. Some of us were having the planning discussions before the meet and we talked of how the day will be for all of us. We agreed on having open space where people share their knowledge, ideas or host conversations during the meet.We talked of having a films every day, I felt that, we who are part of the hosting team should not fill all their time. I have seen meets where there is a time table and they are busy the whole day and when we talk of break so many people jump at the idea and enjoy it. Some times I feel they feel a sense of freedom from a structured day which is not in their control. So when the idea came of having film screenings every night I felt that we can ask them but should not keep it as a scheduled thing. Around the third day some one got Mahesh Bhatt’s film on GM foods and screening just came up.Last year, during the self healing meet there was music every day and along with that there used to be a meeting so people had to sit for the meeting at night. I was for doing least scheduling by the hosts as I feel people have to have time for themselves to meet and talk to others or just go for a walk or do nothing. I felt tat if they want music they will have it some how or the other. But, then eventually, every day some people would come out and begin to sing and would go on till 3 in the morning.
There were lot of kids this time in the meet. Chunchun and Rohit have taken a break from school. Lucky, a local boy, also has walked out of school. These three along with Ankit and Hari were a great group and were doing lot of cooking too. Keshav, who is around 9 has also taken a break from school as his father wanted him to, even though he is not very convinced. He was spending a lot of time with all the other kids. I had spoken to Daulat of this meet and asked him to come over for the meet. He is not really working on ‘healing’ but is doing organic farming. I feel that itself has a lot to do with healing.
Keshav’s father Shyam ji wants to move to a farm and Keshav is against farming and moving to a village. Daulat and keshav began on making a tree house with Chunchun, Rohit, Ankit, Hari and Lucky. In the process Daulat and Keshav became great friends and Keshav insisted that Daulat coming to his place. Shyam ji was happy that Keshav who is against farming has a farmer friend and now after the meet Daulat has gone to Keshav’s place to meet him and help them on their farming project.Interestingly, I became unwell so I went on a one day water fast. So my session in the self healing meet was on fasting without talking about it as everyone knew that I was fasting. While I was lying in the room, Manisha and Shilpa who are working on Reiki did a session on me. It put me to sleep and that too a deep one. Then came Samrat who is into yoga and does great yoga sessions, he is good at connecting the mind and body in yoga and also talks about the deeper meaning of yoga. He gave me a session on ‘yoga nidra’, its like a meditative sleep and he took me to a zone where he asked me to meet the people with whom I am angry and then asked me to forgive them. It was a good session and I had another deep sleep. Then came Ram and gave me a ‘Jin Shin Do’ session. It’s like massaging session with focus on some kind of acupressure points. That too was relaxing and it gave me another deep sleep. While all this was happening my fast was also on and by next morning I was fine.
Ira a friend from Ukraine who is a walkout from architecture also came here. She is working on organic architecture. When there was some conversations before the meet some one from the hosting team expressed reservation whether it will be the right thing for her to go for a self healing meet(as the person thought that she is into architecture and had not talked about healing). While she was there we worked on making a rocket stove of clay which is fuel efficient. I would say it does the job in less than half the wood as compared to the conventional wood stove(chullah). In the process I learnt a lot about mud house building, like what is the proportion of mud, clay, cow dung, straw, etc. Its was my second project with her(had made some clay benches) and finally we managed to make the mud structure which didn’t finally crack after drying. We also went to check a brick kiln nearby to see the combinations of clay and sand and got a feel of the soil that is used for making bricks.
While she was there she too fell sick and was having high fever. She went on a four day water fast and healed herself. Its interesting that some one had commented that it wont be useful for her to go to self healing meet, but I feel that she got the maximum from the meet. She also had conversations about self healing and fasting with my friend Vinita who has a great understanding about self healing.
Shikshantar has been hosting gatherings with other groups and individuals. There has been one on natural farming, self healing, zero waste, artistic living and families gathering. To me personally this was a mix of all the meets as everything was there. Of course self healing was more but the presence of children made it different. It almost looked like a families gathering meet which has the most organic pace till now. I saw it as the maturity of the meet and people were able to do things on their own with least facilitation. We would just meet for a short time in the morning and people would write down what they wanted in the open space and according to me that would be enough.
Another great thing of this meet was that we had almost all organic food. I feel it’s a big achievement for a self healing meet to provide organic food. I appreciate Sanjoy, Damyant, Deshraj, Kanhaiya Kaka, Ravi and others for turning their 40 acre farm to fully organic in almost a year. They have made a nice vegetable garden which supplied organic veggies for the meet. For me that was the biggest achievement of the self healing meet. The open space was also pretty open and I feel we moved a step forward in self designing. I later came to know that some people were not happy with the level of ‘self-design’ as some one said that they didn’t know whom to ask if they had any questions. I think in a certain way it is also a strength as so many times moment we enter meeting space we come to know who is the ‘head’ there even though they might talk of horizontal structures, etc.
I am also aware of Fukuoka’s ‘do nothing’ farming methods, he talks of not doing the unnecessary. He believes that tilling is the most un necessary thing and weakens the soil and then we need fertilisers(organic or chemical ones). The first thing he eliminated was tilling. He also says that a farmer has to work on the field but in its spirit it should not more than a bird which works to look for its food. He also says that there is a difference between ‘do nothing’ and abandoning.
I would like to take the spirit of his idea and apply it to community building. But different people will have different notions of ‘do nothing’. What is a ‘truly self organized do nothing space’ for me might be seen by some one as a space where nothing much is happening and there is a lack of effort. But then we can try best to meet at some common ground.I do feel there is need to work on bringing people together. I would once again take the help of Margret Wheatley's line that "what we need is not critical mass but critical connections". She feels that interesting things are already happening but there is need for them to come togeather. But the question is how it happens. For me its not 'what' we do but 'how' we do it. I feel as hosts of such gatherings we need to make a space where people can come together and the space and their interactions will make some things emerge on their own in organic ways.
Also what stops us the fear of chaos. When we were having the introduction Ram had said that each person will give their intro in groups of two and then we will all come in bigger circle to give our introduction. As the intro round started people began forming all kinds of groups of twos or fives of eights. Some were moving from one group to other. They were deeply engrossed in their conversations that me and Ram felt that there was no need to call them all in a big circle and break their intensity and no one came and asked us as to when the group will meet in a big circle and the conversations gently faded into dinner.I also feel that we have the need for naming things and unless that is done we feel that things are not happening. Its like the fact that learning happens all the time but its the school which names the learning that people feel that learning is happening only there. Most of my learning has happened when i have been in conversations and spaces with people where we chose to be and very rarely in structured ones. Just like the idea of cafe conversations. To what extent can we create cafe conversations in workshops is a question for me. Or, can we create a cafe and then cafe conversations will emerge on their own. I would like the idea of 'kitchen conversations' or 'farming conversations' where people have interesting dialogues while cooking or farming. Can we have them in a room or isn’t it better to be in a space for cooking or farming and then conversations will emerge on their own. The question is to what degree can our simulations become real.
I feel the right expression in hindi for ‘do nothing’ would be ‘sahaj yoga’. The bauls in one of their songs ask “why is it so difficult to walk on the sahaj (simple) path”.
I am not saying that this(self-design) is the only way but right now but I am more committed to doing experiments in these ways of organising. I know it is difficult for me to do it and I need a lot of un learning as I have grown in such structured spaces like school but I would like to see such experiments flourish and be with people who want to do things in these ways. Just as they say in some book titles that ‘revolution will not be televised’, or ‘revolution will not be funded’ i feel we can also say that revolution will not be 'organised'(in the conventional sense of organising). It will emerge like natures design principle of self operating systems where there is a synergistic dance of different elements of nature….
There were lot of kids this time in the meet. Chunchun and Rohit have taken a break from school. Lucky, a local boy, also has walked out of school. These three along with Ankit and Hari were a great group and were doing lot of cooking too. Keshav, who is around 9 has also taken a break from school as his father wanted him to, even though he is not very convinced. He was spending a lot of time with all the other kids. I had spoken to Daulat of this meet and asked him to come over for the meet. He is not really working on ‘healing’ but is doing organic farming. I feel that itself has a lot to do with healing.
Keshav’s father Shyam ji wants to move to a farm and Keshav is against farming and moving to a village. Daulat and keshav began on making a tree house with Chunchun, Rohit, Ankit, Hari and Lucky. In the process Daulat and Keshav became great friends and Keshav insisted that Daulat coming to his place. Shyam ji was happy that Keshav who is against farming has a farmer friend and now after the meet Daulat has gone to Keshav’s place to meet him and help them on their farming project.Interestingly, I became unwell so I went on a one day water fast. So my session in the self healing meet was on fasting without talking about it as everyone knew that I was fasting. While I was lying in the room, Manisha and Shilpa who are working on Reiki did a session on me. It put me to sleep and that too a deep one. Then came Samrat who is into yoga and does great yoga sessions, he is good at connecting the mind and body in yoga and also talks about the deeper meaning of yoga. He gave me a session on ‘yoga nidra’, its like a meditative sleep and he took me to a zone where he asked me to meet the people with whom I am angry and then asked me to forgive them. It was a good session and I had another deep sleep. Then came Ram and gave me a ‘Jin Shin Do’ session. It’s like massaging session with focus on some kind of acupressure points. That too was relaxing and it gave me another deep sleep. While all this was happening my fast was also on and by next morning I was fine.
Ira a friend from Ukraine who is a walkout from architecture also came here. She is working on organic architecture. When there was some conversations before the meet some one from the hosting team expressed reservation whether it will be the right thing for her to go for a self healing meet(as the person thought that she is into architecture and had not talked about healing). While she was there we worked on making a rocket stove of clay which is fuel efficient. I would say it does the job in less than half the wood as compared to the conventional wood stove(chullah). In the process I learnt a lot about mud house building, like what is the proportion of mud, clay, cow dung, straw, etc. Its was my second project with her(had made some clay benches) and finally we managed to make the mud structure which didn’t finally crack after drying. We also went to check a brick kiln nearby to see the combinations of clay and sand and got a feel of the soil that is used for making bricks.
While she was there she too fell sick and was having high fever. She went on a four day water fast and healed herself. Its interesting that some one had commented that it wont be useful for her to go to self healing meet, but I feel that she got the maximum from the meet. She also had conversations about self healing and fasting with my friend Vinita who has a great understanding about self healing.
Shikshantar has been hosting gatherings with other groups and individuals. There has been one on natural farming, self healing, zero waste, artistic living and families gathering. To me personally this was a mix of all the meets as everything was there. Of course self healing was more but the presence of children made it different. It almost looked like a families gathering meet which has the most organic pace till now. I saw it as the maturity of the meet and people were able to do things on their own with least facilitation. We would just meet for a short time in the morning and people would write down what they wanted in the open space and according to me that would be enough.
Another great thing of this meet was that we had almost all organic food. I feel it’s a big achievement for a self healing meet to provide organic food. I appreciate Sanjoy, Damyant, Deshraj, Kanhaiya Kaka, Ravi and others for turning their 40 acre farm to fully organic in almost a year. They have made a nice vegetable garden which supplied organic veggies for the meet. For me that was the biggest achievement of the self healing meet. The open space was also pretty open and I feel we moved a step forward in self designing. I later came to know that some people were not happy with the level of ‘self-design’ as some one said that they didn’t know whom to ask if they had any questions. I think in a certain way it is also a strength as so many times moment we enter meeting space we come to know who is the ‘head’ there even though they might talk of horizontal structures, etc.
I am also aware of Fukuoka’s ‘do nothing’ farming methods, he talks of not doing the unnecessary. He believes that tilling is the most un necessary thing and weakens the soil and then we need fertilisers(organic or chemical ones). The first thing he eliminated was tilling. He also says that a farmer has to work on the field but in its spirit it should not more than a bird which works to look for its food. He also says that there is a difference between ‘do nothing’ and abandoning.
I would like to take the spirit of his idea and apply it to community building. But different people will have different notions of ‘do nothing’. What is a ‘truly self organized do nothing space’ for me might be seen by some one as a space where nothing much is happening and there is a lack of effort. But then we can try best to meet at some common ground.I do feel there is need to work on bringing people together. I would once again take the help of Margret Wheatley's line that "what we need is not critical mass but critical connections". She feels that interesting things are already happening but there is need for them to come togeather. But the question is how it happens. For me its not 'what' we do but 'how' we do it. I feel as hosts of such gatherings we need to make a space where people can come together and the space and their interactions will make some things emerge on their own in organic ways.
Also what stops us the fear of chaos. When we were having the introduction Ram had said that each person will give their intro in groups of two and then we will all come in bigger circle to give our introduction. As the intro round started people began forming all kinds of groups of twos or fives of eights. Some were moving from one group to other. They were deeply engrossed in their conversations that me and Ram felt that there was no need to call them all in a big circle and break their intensity and no one came and asked us as to when the group will meet in a big circle and the conversations gently faded into dinner.I also feel that we have the need for naming things and unless that is done we feel that things are not happening. Its like the fact that learning happens all the time but its the school which names the learning that people feel that learning is happening only there. Most of my learning has happened when i have been in conversations and spaces with people where we chose to be and very rarely in structured ones. Just like the idea of cafe conversations. To what extent can we create cafe conversations in workshops is a question for me. Or, can we create a cafe and then cafe conversations will emerge on their own. I would like the idea of 'kitchen conversations' or 'farming conversations' where people have interesting dialogues while cooking or farming. Can we have them in a room or isn’t it better to be in a space for cooking or farming and then conversations will emerge on their own. The question is to what degree can our simulations become real.
I feel the right expression in hindi for ‘do nothing’ would be ‘sahaj yoga’. The bauls in one of their songs ask “why is it so difficult to walk on the sahaj (simple) path”.
I am not saying that this(self-design) is the only way but right now but I am more committed to doing experiments in these ways of organising. I know it is difficult for me to do it and I need a lot of un learning as I have grown in such structured spaces like school but I would like to see such experiments flourish and be with people who want to do things in these ways. Just as they say in some book titles that ‘revolution will not be televised’, or ‘revolution will not be funded’ i feel we can also say that revolution will not be 'organised'(in the conventional sense of organising). It will emerge like natures design principle of self operating systems where there is a synergistic dance of different elements of nature….
hi shammi,
ReplyDeletethanks for the blogging... good to read your thoughts, felt bad about missing the self healing meet... next year.
divya