The Path of the Four Elements

Participants should be able to connect individually to the four basic elements and to the emotions resulting from them.

The exercise can be implemented in several ways. However, it is important to take some conditions into account:

  1. participants should walk through each station alone
  2. before the trail, we can prepare the exercise by sitting in a circle, listening to soothing music, possibly supplemented with an art activity (painting, coloring, drawing)
  3. participants start individually on the path from the big circle and they return there
  4. while the individuals are at the station, the other members of the group can receive a short thought-provoking, inspiring text every few minutes in addition to the music
  5. when the individuals return to the group, we can ask them to write about their experience a short poem

The success of the exercise depends on the openness of the participants, so the trainer must strive to create this safe space for the group.

Setting your Intention

The purpose of Setting Your Intention is to clarify, both within oneself and within the group, what each person’s aim is.

Dreaming Circle

The Dreaming Circle is one of the essential skills of Dragon Dreaming. It is the process by which, in a win-win way, the project of an individual becomes the project of a team. In the Dragon Dreaming pathway, this is the first stage. The next stages then are the planning, the doing and the celebrating, which are not in our focus in this description.

Working on a project that has been started by someone else always generates less personal motivation than working on a project collectively owned by a group. And yet every project is always started as the dream of an individual. But, all too often the dream is not shared. And yet as Carl Gustav Jung and Australian Aborigines knew, we rarely ask, “where do such dreams come from”. Failure to share our dreams in an appropriate way is one reason why 90% of all projects get blocked in the dreaming stage. It is easier to work on “our project” than to work on “his project”, and yet every project starts as an idea of one person. How can this apparent paradox be resolved? 

Catherine Baldwin calls this first process “calling” or “casting the circle”. This is the first stage in converting an individual intention into a collective one for Dragon Dreaming, and is a process by which “project ownership” is transferred from the individual to the group. Rather than maintaining a sense of possession, the group becomes custodians of the collective dream of the project. But to do this it needs a “Dream Team”, an initial circle group that can be drawn from friends, family, colleagues, neighbours, acquaintances, or people you have identified because of their possession of special skills, who come together to share a dream.

Metaphoric Cards

There are different types of Metaphoric Cards. In general using cards is a way for people to exchange feelings, fantasies, and ideas within a framework that protects privacy and vulnerability. In this game everyone wins. Each deck can be used on its own or in conjunction with any (or all) of the other decks, like building blocks for creativity. Unlimited variations are possible. Easy-to-follow instructions for play and work are included with every deck.

Deep Listening

The originator of Deep Listening, Warren Ziegler, describes six modes of Deep Listening. An experienced listener can weave them together or dance between them, for the beginner it can be good to practise them one at a time. They are:

  1. Be silence – Do not respond in any way to the talker, either with words or with body language. Look away. No eye contact. This is not something you do, not a task but a state of being. Thus, be silence throughout your whole being.
  2. Give attention – This is an early form of the sixth mode, emptying. Focus your entire self on what the speaker is saying, to the exclusion of all else. Their words are the only reality.
  3. Be empathic – This is a grand act of the imagination through which spirit lives. Enter the talker’s story and live it as your own. Feel it in your body, your mind, your spirit, as if you were living her story with her.
  4. Be non-judgmental – A difficult practice when the talker offers images (values, ideas, intentions) in conflict with yours! But essential if you are to allow the other to come to the fullness of their images before judgement is rendered, whether their own judgement or yours.
  5. Nurture – This is an advanced form of being empathic. Enter into the talker’s story and help them search for elements they may have missed. Remember: it’s their story, not (yet) yours. Ask a question only if you must ask it in order to clarify what the speaker means – a ‘compelling question’. 
  6. Empty’ – Put to one side (‘park’) your present: your longings, knowledge and experience, hopes, dreams, problems, visions. When you do that, you will find your way to deep listen to your creative side without any limitations. Basically you’re in meditation mode, focusing not on your own breathing or your mantra but on the words of the speaker.

Reflection Fishbowl

After a program, course, or project, the organizing team can use this method to reflect on each person’s roles and effectiveness. Reflection Fishbowl is a powerful tool for internal use amongst a team that has worked closely and trusts each other.

System map

This method is based on a systems thinking approach to problems. It is particularly useful in the case of sustainability since dealing with modern global problems always involves complexity. Systemic approaches helps to see a bigger picture and understand the connections among environmental, social and economic aspects, creating the possibility to not compromise any of them while planning problem resolution.

Systemic Consensus

Systemic Consensus supports decisions as it leads towards constructive behaviour of all those involved, without being dependent on their good will.

Systemic Consensus is a participatory, solution-oriented, efficient, fast and sustainable tool/method that….
– disintegrates classic loser thinking
– looks for the path of least resistance
– focuses on the ideal balance of interests
– as an optimal approximation to group consensus it is thus widely accepted by the group
– dissolves existing disputes
– promotes the creativity of everyone involved
– is thus a very good problem solving method!

Risk assessment

Way of Council

The Way of Council is an ancient and modern practice, a structure for holding conversations, where each participant truly listens and truly shares. From waysofcouncil.net : “Council offers a way of communicating that encourages attentive listening, as well as honest and compassionate expression. It makes room for new insights and understandings, wisdom in decision making, and healing. As a personal practice, a group process and a life-pathway, council is an intrinsic ingredient of our education at any age and especially important for families, guides, teachers, therapists, caregivers or anyone whose work involves groups.”