I thought the first exercise of pointing/naming things in the room was a brilliant low-key way to break the ice effectively because after that, sharing personal things with strangers felt natural quickly. I liked the balance of 'plenary chats', exercises, and breaks, which made both day-long workshop-stretches feel surprisingly integratible. I felt like Ella's own demonstrating of human needs for breaths, breaks, and movement were a wonderful way of setting a group norm/teaching by example. I appreciated their very well explained thoughts and anecdotes as well as the way the personal-political levels were integrated throughout the weekend. I really appreciate Ella's vision of how healthy microlevel relating can be a great resource for communally undertaking change! The workshops (Consent + Harm) together felt very nicely complementary. The exercises were effective in their simplicity and felt very well-aligned with the motivation behind the workshop. 

 

On Sunday I was in a very emotional space and I appreciate the way Ella chose to hold space for this, especially given that they were already doing 200% of their usually shared facilitation work. While I would have loved to attend the workshop while feeling better, the weekend provided a safe experience of 'failing socially' within a bubble with a consent ideology (i.e. learning to express, listen to, and trust each others capacity for participation/presence ).

 

Now that a few days have passed since the workshop I'm noticing I'm feeling more at ease communicating with those already in my community. 

 

- Thirza, September 2024