Eco-Relational Meditation coLAB for ARTists
Co-Stewards: Ilaria DiStefano, Andrea Rodericks, Hilary Bradbury
... Tuesdays at 17.00 UTC, i.e., Noon New York, 5PM London.
We're exploring and expanding personal, relational, and systemic spaces of "Power With."
Logistics for coLAB
Save 45 or so minutes for these weekly relational meditations on Zoom. Register to receive the call in information. We change up the types of meditation - sometimes an eating meditation, sometimes a movement meditation, etc. Expect to receive timely reminders.
Co-creativity flows from relational meditation.
Ilaria writes in reflection on our previous coLAB:
"Using the pronoun we, I honor the voices of the participants and our shared experience. With my heart full of gratitude for the fellow relational meditators who joined us, the beautiful field that was co-created over the weeks, and the extraordinarily generative space which is AR+, my words feel like a celebration of our journey together.
At our sessions, first through noble silence practicing different meditations in stillness, and sometimes with (gentle) movement, we cultivated attunement to the “I” space, the “We” space, and the “space between us.”
We practiced centering ourselves, first, and from a centered presence, connecting with others. From this opening to the broader field of awareness. Inquiring into our personal and shared experience of “now,” we co-created beautiful relational poems, completed creative inquiries, metaphorically dancing together within the present moment of interdependence.
We also struggled with, and giggled about, how difficult it can be to be present to oneself without losing the connection with others, and to be present to others without losing the connection with oneself. And we were amazed at how generative such moments of communion can be. In our shared presence, (sometimes with lawn-mowers outside our windows while simultaneously Tibetan bells were ringing the sacredness of our practice), inner revelations, mutual support, and creativity could manifest abundantly.
We were surprised by the learning about ourselves that emerged in the practice, and by how those could change our being in relation with others. We were touched by the level of an unfamiliar but comfortable kind of intimacy and group coherence that is created by meditating together for so brief a time. It was a wonderful way of knowing and caring for each other.
After each session, we could each go back to our day inspired, nourished, and engaged by our experience, wishing for that to ripple out in other relationships and co-creations."
Co-inquiry at the heart of co-creativity
AR+ likes to offer meditation spaces that are accessible regardless of your familiarity or practice with mindfulness. We have even stumbled into our own format with its inclusion of moments of attuning to others you’re with. You get a taste of that in the video snippet at the top of the page.
Imagine then…what difference could it make to begin your next group meeting with a brief relational meditation?
In the calamities we are living through, it is essential and urgent for us to nurture our capacity for centeredness, deep human connection, and co-creativity. Relational meditation is a wonderful way to do so.
From our gratitude and appreciation for our practice together, emerged the desire to extend the invitation to relational meditation to everyone involved in collaborative endeavors. This coLAB provides a space for the practice of transforming human relational darkness into light. We learn about co-creativity through practice together. We liberate through welcoming, along with our joys and appreciations, those shadow parts of us so easily triggered in relationship.
We are stimulated by the creative potential of the practice, curious about new experiments that might integrate different kinds of relational meditation, and about their application for innovation in our environments.
Steered more by silence than thought (for once!), we remind ourselves - In a circle of likeminded/ kindminded friends - that without knowing our own embodied truth there can be no sustainable creativity. We also remember that without humor there may be no point.
Our invitation is to those who are up for:
- practicing integrated intelligence as a mindful, heartful and artful ARTist,
- co-inquiring at your developmental edge into the (dis)connection between your creative purpose and your co-creative accomplishments,
- unveiling, exploring, and getting muddy at the junction of how we practice power, caring and mutuality,
- experimenting with more (re)generative and integrated ways of practicing power and caring,
- experiencing more choicefulness, connection and stakeholder satisfaction in transformative co-creation...
We invite you to use this link to register your space.
By invitation only ...
Building on weekly relational meditation, in a monthly, coLAB, some of us will explore mindfulness and its impact across multiple scales in a creative way. We will examine how mindfulness practice in our lives, and in our work as ART-ful researchers, makes a difference. Each session will engage with a distinct mindfulness practice or tradition. We anticipate existential questions will carry us on a trajectory from the personal, to the group, to society.
While we’re having fun, each session will engage with some serious questions. How does mindfulness help and hinder transformational change?A key inquiry is how to better bring the “spiritual” or contemplative meaning making to our action taking within our transformations efforts. This is all the more pressing as questions of meaning and purpose (interspiritual, individual and communal) are rising just as formal religious community continues to decline.
Focus: What – if anything – do we engage with to orient ourselves to the sacred (however that’s defined) and what are the implications, for our world, of not adopting such an orientation?
Our proposal is also to treat this coLAB as a collective mindfulness project to be written up and published together. What will we learn by engaging together in creative practice? What alignment will we discover between the personal and the social spheres? What will change in the way we understand our spiritual/contemplative practice? And what gift will this particular journey give us? Your insights and participation will be our data and your playful contributions will help build an understanding of this field.
We know that all the best inquiries are filled with mystery and so they should be. We invite you to join us on this journey into the heart of mindfulness practice, to experience its power and potential, and participate in this exquisite process of ‘reveals.’
The monthly coLAB sessions are 75-90 mins.