Dynamic Groups, Dynamic Learning Courses

Not long now till Robin’s next ‘Dynamic Groups, Dynamic learning’  creative teachers, facilitators and group leaders course to be held at her home community of Crystal Waters Permaculture EcoVillage using the community village area, kitchen, deck and dining room facilities in amongst the beautiful 640 acre property. This will be her first Dynamic Groups course back in Australia after successfully leading four of them across Europe last year. Here is a quote from one of our Permaculture Elders, Declan Kennedy, 83, from Lebensgarten EcoVillage in Northern Germany after he participated in (as well as organised and hosted) the six day course. “This course is a must for people trying to facilitate events in a democratic/sociocratic way. The toolbox is extensive and helps the facilitator do his/her job thoroughly, deeply and with fun. Robin walks what she talks during the course of the course. She is so quietly and humourously skilled …

A healthy, solid and nurturing foundation is important for any group to grow and achieve it’s vision and purpose. Beyond our groups, organisations, teams, businesses and workplaces, we  can also say the same thing for relationships of all kinds – with our partners, family members and most importantly, with ourselves. Imagining that we are a little seed with so much potential. Imaging our group or organisation as a seed looking to plant itself somewhere that will support it to grow tall and strong and produce great abundance. Where to start? With our needs – our personal needs and the needs of the group. This is foundational, like the sub soil beneath our feet. Add a rich layer of top soil to mix with and enrich the subsoil for essential grounding and solidity through exploring and naming values, principles and ethics that group members feel are important.  We now have the …

The IPC in India recently was a feast of colour, culture and fabulous Indian cuisine with interesting presentations, much networking and diverse learning opportunities as 1200 people from over 70 countries gathered for the week near Hyderabad. The two day Conference was held at an agricultural research college on the edge of the city and was brimming with Indian farmers. 350 people had travelled around the globe to be be part of the event and other came from all over India. Robin set up a small stall with her books, card games and resources and get to be set up in between Indian seed sellers and traders of Indian crafts and baskets. She also made a valuable contribution to the Conference by presenting a panel titled ‘Are Women Leading the Change’ as the finale program item for the weekend. One of the sub themes of IPC was ‘Women Leading the …

Group Agreements and how to navigate this successfully with groups of all sizes and persuasions seems to be a hot topic at the moment. It’s important not just for community group, organisations, learning and education group and businesses but also for anyone in a family or relationship who values clarity and shared understandings. Robin has fielded several questions from interested people over recent months about this topic or people have asked for more guidance about her ‘Group Agreements Icon Set’ that she uses in her courses and with groups. Now the interest will be taken into a Q&A Zoom session for an hour of exploring together with any of the Patreon Patrons who would like to join, contribute, question and unravel this essential topic. The session will be on Tuesday 23rd January at 7am Qld, Australia time (so people from Europe and UK have a chance of joining). Learnings and contributions …

The Patreon Platform that Robin launched late last year, with much help and support from Erin Young, is slowly building and showing that it will be a great support for getting the ‘Dynamic Teaching and Facilitation’ book series written and produced. There are now 26 of you wonderful people, most of whom have done Robin’s ‘Dynamic Groups, Dynamic Learning’ training, who are supporting her through Patreon. THANK YOU. Together you are contributing $544 per month which is just $56 short of the first goal of $600 per month. Robin said that “when we reach our goal of $600 that it will enable a percentage of the administration and social networking support required for the project to be engaged”. Erin is already working to support the project and will now begin to gain some ‘right livelihood’ for her efforts and Robin will get more support from her as  they get closer …

Robin’s Sacred Union Labyrinth design is now know to many, having been created as an art and ceremony instillation at Woodford Folk Festival in Queensland these last five years. Robin woke up in a huge rainstorm one morning in January 2011 with the image in her mind. She attributes Labyrinth maker Mark Healy as being a spark of inspiration for her to conceive this design. Here’s a link to the Sacred Union Labyrinth page on FaceBook Labyrinths have appeared throughout history in many cultures and many forms. Perhaps the easiest to make and use is a simple spiral design which turns out is the predominant labyrinth type at Damanhur in northern Italy which is a federation of communities with a spiritual basis. They have created underground temples carved our of the hills and an abundance of stone spiral labyrinths above the cave systems, some of which are open to the …