Dynamic Groups, Dynamic Learning Dynamic Courses, Books, Resources and Tours for Healthy Groups, People and Culture with Robin Clayfield

The Planting Festival at Woodfordia in early May was a magnificent event. Robin and her troupe of five friends worked together as instillation artists, ceremony holders and workshop facilitators creating ‘The Sacred Union Labyrinth’ for the festival patrons to enjoy.

They were joined by musicians Andy Copeman and Laurel Hefferon from Awakening Centre in Maleny for the two special Ceremonies. Malcolm Fielding also performed two sessions, one each afternoon, for people to walk at their leisure, with the presence of his soulful sounds.

The theme for the Saturdays Ceremony was ‘Weave Together Selfcare, Earthcare and Positive Action’ where participants wove a wrist band for themselves and walked the Labyrinth surrendering anything that could get in the way of their full integration of the different aspects of self. As they emerged from their sacred walk, accompanied by music, the Ceremony team tied the wrist bands on each person for wearing throughout the festival. This first Ceremony followed a one hour workshop entitled ‘Weaving and Labyrinth Beautification’ where the team taught bamboo splitting and bamboo fence weaving to create a small bamboo garden edging all the way around the outside heart shape and a reed woven edge to embrace the central heart. The result was really beautiful as this photograph shows and the participants loved their learning and experience as did the facilitators.

The Sunday’s theme was ‘Plant Seeds for Your Future’ where everyone walked in a swoosh of energy, opening the possibility of everyone’s needs being met for their future. People got to plant some Marigold seeds into a small pot of soil and walk the Labyrinth again, with the intention and care to support their dreams to manifest.

Please enjoy this delightful snippet of the Sunday’s Ceremony showing beautifully Andy and Laurel’s music, which supports our Ceremonies so powerfully.

This clip created by Andy Copeman.

And a track by Malcolm Fielding playing solo on his beloved Ngoni.

Thanks to ‘The Planting Festival’ for inviting us. A truly fantastic festival.

Robin and Erin recently enjoyed the company of Delvin Solkinson at a special dinner to celebrate his flying visit to Maleny as part of the Visionary Permaculture Pilgrimage he and Annaliese Hordern were organising. The four shared an Aussie style Indian Feast and honoured Delvin’s visit from Canada, especially for the Pilgrimage. Delvin and Annaliese trained with Robin in her ‘Dynamic Groups, Dynamic Learning’ course back in 2011 as part of the inaugural Pilgrimage that they also initiated.

Delvin has produced many fantastic and supportive Permaculture card games, teaching notes and resources which can be found at https://www.visionarypermaculture.com/

He has always had the most honouring respect and words to shower Robin with. Here’s some that arrived recently by email.

“Dear Robin, A thousand blessings of life to your sacred journey through the ever magic. Your shine has uplifted so many of us around the world, empowering us to our potential as teachers, creatives and visionaries. Endless thanks for the countless gifts you continue to give the world community, making highest use of your unique intelligence and precious time in this planetary reality.”

As you may imagine, this brought tears to Robin’s eyes.

By Erin Young, 3 June 2018

The Australasian Permaculture Convergence is a bi-annual 4-day event, creating a hive of connection and sharing for permaculture practitioners, gardeners, thinkers and doers from Australia, New Zealand and surrounding countries like East Timor.

The 2018 Convergence was held in April in Canberra, along the banks of the Murrumbidgee River. Around 200 people converged to share and attend sessions covering various aspects of the field of Permaculture, including school gardens, Social Permaculture and international aid.

Amongst the rich pot of offerings were the contributions of Robin Clayfield and myself, Erin Young, focussing strongly on Social Permaculture elements. We both presented several sessions, all employing ‘Dynamic Groups’ tools to engage and ignite.

Robin’s first workshop included all participants in a session called “Fast Tracking Change with Social Permaculture” and focussed strongly on the conference theme of ‘Connectivity’. Robin craftily drew out collective wisdom on Social Permaculture from the elders of the movement. We then gathered in smaller groups around the sub themes of the Convergence  and chose one which we felt most engaged by. Especially exciting was the challenge to bring something from the small group to contribute to the rest of the Convergence during the time we were together – which most groups took to with gusto. This was a wonderful example of bringing the wildcard into a multi-day heavily scheduled event. The contributions went well, with various gatherings through the week for conversations on the different topics. A really fun contribution was a newly-created song to support permaculture for children.

Robin’s other sessions included ‘Creative Permaculture Education is Positive Chance in Action’, plus a guided session supporting Permaculture Australia’s Directors and Members with future[planning , and our classic final session of ‘Jumping Into Action’, pioneered by Robin and loved by the group. This last session occurs at the end of each Convergence: a powerful opportunity for individuals and small groups to be witnessed in announcing their intentions for the coming two years, jumping off the stage with a big YES to bring it into being. This time also provides a beautiful opportunity to recap on what was brought into action since the previous APC, and space to hear the creative and inspiring projects to which people are dedicating themselves.

I presented a session each day; providing me a great opportunity to more deeply cut-my-teeth in sharing Social Permaculture through the ‘Dynamic Groups’ medium. I was particularly excited to present the daily Folk Forum session – during the free-time break before dinner. For 1.5 hours, people would come to sit in sharing circle. I shared guiding principles for being in the circle, and folks had the opportunity to speak their experiences of the Convergence, while also hearing from others. The Folk Forum provided a vital connection point and feedback loop through the event and I look forward to it continuing at the next APC event.

My three sessions through the scheduled program included ‘Cultivating Your Group Ecology’ – sharing insights to understand the ‘ecology’ of characters that tend to turn up in groups and how to dynamically work with them to have balance, effectiveness and fun. Another was ‘Effective Collectives with Sociocracy’ – sharing the collaborative governance framework of Sociocracy in it’s deep embodiment of Permaculture principles for supporting groups achieve their visions. And my third session was ‘Sharing Circles for Connected Folk’ – exploring the social technology of sharing circles as a valuable feedback loop and vehicle for connection amongst a group of people.

It was also a joy to experience Robin holding her stall, pollinating her valuable ‘Dynamic Groups’ resources to help facilitators, teachers and trainers be further tooled-up for engaging dynamically with their groups.

A highlight was both of us being invited to be on a panel led by Robyn Rosenfeldt from PIP Magazine, entitled ‘Women Working for Change’. Another was having Costa as our MC for the 4 days of the gathering and also the launch of David Holmgren’s new book, Retrosuburbia.

The Convergence was quite akin to being in a bee-hive for 4 days: with enriching connections had between old friends and new. Especially, the event allows people like Robin and I to share our creativity and passion in applying ‘Dynamic Groups’ processes and Social Permaculture; playing an important function in real-life real-time cross-pollination of passionate people. 

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 in conveying her message that she has to be highly congratulated. I am glad we brought her here to Germany after so many years”.

To register or enquire for more info email Robin by clicking here

or Contact

or check out the FaceBook Event Invite for lots of up to date information

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 basis for healthy soil, healthy group culture and happy, engaged members if we mulch and nurture what we have by establishing shared agreements and understandings. What personal needs do we share and what needs do we agree the group has? What values, principles and ethics do we commonly have that relate to the group? These will inform the groups vision, mission, goals and activities and can be continuously referred back to and refined as the group grows and changes? Shared agreements and understandings are like the straw that protects the soil and retains moisture, the green manure and ground cover crops that nourish and make sure everything is covered, the liquid manure that vitalises and ensures the successful germination and growth of the seed.

With these three elements in place the seed, representing the group and it’s ‘Vision’ takes root in fertile ground.

Creative, empowering and diverse processes can be used to work with a group to establish their personal and group needs, values, principles and ethics then come to shared understandings and agreements. The analogy of the seed is part of a meta process Robin is developing called ‘The Vision Tree Process’. The next stage is to explore the Group Vision and the things that help the seed to grow.

The whole process will be detailed in Dynamic Teaching and Facilitation – The Foundations which is mini book one of the series Robin is writing and due out by the middle of the year.

Email Robin to express interest in the book or check out the article about Patreon which is helping financially to support the book writing project.

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 Change’ so, as a female pioneer in Permaculture and Social Permaculutre Robin felt well placed to gather key women from different cultures and backgrounds and address this interesting question. The panel that joined Robin was made up of Starhawk, Vandana Shiva, Rowe Morrow, Robina McCurdy, Padma Koppula and Beatriz Ramirez Cruz and was later joined by Robyn Francis and two Indian Women Farmers who’s names aren’t with us to be published.

Robin began by inviting the audience to stand up, thank each other and acknowledge the positive change they were already involved in creating, even if it were just by being there at the Conference and taking the good energy and learnings home.

Robin then asked the panel to share on three points:

• One way they felt they were personally contributing to change in the world
• Areas where they felt women were leading the change
• Comment about the qualities being modelled by women that they felt were vitally important to positive change

The whole session was inspired by Robin contemplating the theme of ‘Women Leading the Change’ and noticing that a very high percentage of the acknowledged pioneers of Social Permaculture around the globe were women, so they are the ones she invited to join her.

The Indian women farmers were magnificent at modelling the empowerment and passion of women who are standing up in India and now becoming more able to be heard.

Robin ended the session by asking everyone in the audience to contemplate one word that described a quality they heard expressed by the panel that they felt was really important to them. She then counted to three and everyone called them out all at once, inviting more of those qualities in the world, in their lives and in their home communities. A great end to the Conference. Look out for a link that will be available soon of the Live to Air Telecast of the panel session.

The Convergence was held at Polam Farm, a two year old Permaculture designed system that has received much support from volunteers to establish, especially in the months leading up to IPC. For five days 450 people were feed, housed in tents, cared for and given so much access to workshops, talks, panels, demonstrations, traditional living skills, films and networking time as well as many amazing and diverse cultural performances in the evenings.

Robin was kept very busy with offering or being part of many sessions including a workshop on ‘Teaching Permaculture Creatively as a Grassroots Action’ which saw the smallish thatched roof workshop space bulging with about 60 people.

She was on the panel for ‘Open Government and Sociocracy’, was a lead facilitator in the three CoLab afternoon sessions (which drew together those interested in an ongoing collaboration of people wanting to better respond strategically and collectively as a global movement) and also offered the now traditional ‘Jumping’ session as a finale for the Convergence. There is a photo here of Robin and Andy Goldring facilitating the first CoLab session using a ‘web of connection’ and also one of Narsanna, the principal organiser of IPC India, JUMPING his intention for future Permaculture Involvement.