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04/24/2002 Archived Entry: "3/7/02 Workshop Agenda"

This morning it is a challenge to do my half-hour of writing, as I am under pressure to finish, or begin, a draft agenda for the next Creating Our Future Memorial Weekend Workshop. There will be a board meeting in two hours and fifteen minutes, and I have not yet begun, or begun in a way that has been satisfactory.

However, what I have found in my spiritual practice is that there is only one way to do something every day, and that is to do it every day. It is true that I have not been writing every day, and have kept writing almost every day. In general, I have found that when I have taken up a new habit or practice, which we (students of Yogi Bhajan) usually undertake for a minimum of forty days, I have to do it every day to keep it going. If I stop for a day, thinking, "well I will start again tomorrow," I generally have found that I do not start again, or that I start and stop, until it is no longer going.

The thing we are trying to resolve for the workshop is tricky. We anticipate having 200 plus participants, with more than 10 presenters. The workshop goes from Friday night through lunch on Monday. The workshop objectives are as follows:

• Create a healing and transformative experience for all participants, an experience of renewal and regeneration.
• Be able to leave with a clear sense of being part of a growing and supportive community
• Tap our collective wisdom through interactive dialogue between workshop leaders and participants, in both plenary and small group sessions.
• Meet and network with old and new peers and associates
• Enhance our understanding of how to conduct campaigns and actions consistent with our core beliefs.
• Hang out, relax, hike, swim, chant, meditate, sing and dance.
• Create a sacred space, which we will long remember.
• Feel inspired to live our lives and do our work from our highest most complete self
• Play a significant role in developing, enhancing & supporting a community of spiritual activists

There needs to be a balance between time spent with presenters and time for workshop participants to interact with one another. Last year, we mostly had panels, with 3 to 5 presenters on a panel, giving the presenters 15 to 20 minutes each to make their presentation. After the panels, we would break into smaller groups, giving participants the opportunity to select which presenter to be with. There would be several of these breakout sessions, providing the option for participants to stay with the same presenter, or go to a new one each time. This time, we are thinking of not having panels, of giving each presenter time to speak to the whole group by themselves. But now that I am thinking about it, I think we will stay with the same format. It really worked well enough last time. The alternative I was considering was to have each presenter speak, then break into smaller groups, which would discuss what was said. Too cumbersome, and not everyone would wish to do it.

There are other factors, as well: there needs to be time for people to share what they are working on; to break into groups by subject or area of interest; to break into groups geographically (to provide a means of follow-up when they return home). And, of course, we have to provide the magic that turns the event into a transformative experience for all concerned. Being with the presenters has a balance to it as well. Most people come because of the presenters, but they also come because the kinds of presenters define the nature of the event. When you have Ram Dass & Julia Butterfly at an event, certain expectations are generated. Then, again, most of the people who attend have been making a significant contribution, of service to the collective good, and have something to say. They need a space to say it in, to be heard, and to be able to spend time with others who share the same interests.

In many workshops and conferences I have attended, the most significant experiences I have had, have been networking with peers during lunch, on breaks, or, all too often, just outside the room(s) where the scheduled sessions are taking place. We intend to shape the workshop in such a way, that space is built into the fabric of the process for that kind of networking to take place.

There, I have, as it were, had my cake and eaten it too. I have done my thirty minutes, and have made some significant steps towards working on the agenda. "Both and" rather than "either or" is my preferred option in most cases.

Back in 1970, very shortly after I met Yogi Bhajan, we were attending a "Holy Man Jam" at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Many different spiritual leaders were present. It was a great event. At one point, Yogi Bhajan was speaking to a group of around 200 people in an auditorium. I had only known him for a couple of months. He is in the middle of his lecture, when I began to hear a great deal of noise in the entryway behind the auditorium. It was the kind of auditorium that had three aisles to access the seats, and double doors in the back of the room for each aisle. The people were laughing and shouting. It felt very disruptive and disrespectful to me. I got up to try and stop them. Yogi-ji said, "sit down Baba." So, I sat down. He stopped what he was saying, and began to lead a powerful rhythmic chant, everyone clapping their hands to the beat. When the people burst into the room, they took seats and began to chant as well. After a little while, he said, "inhale!" which everyone did. Then he said, "relax." There was a moment of silence, after which he went on with the lecture. No resistance. He just took the energy and used it to create more energy. It was a good early lesson.