I inadvertently traversed a lifetime journey of shifts, changes and transformation in the space of a mere three and a half days thanks to the Presencing Foundation Program (from the Presencing Institute, a not-for-profit entity affiliated with the Massachussets Institute of Technology).
Having been an avid reader of the Theory U books by Otto Scharmer, I came to the program thinking ah yes, I know this stuff. It will be great just to have everything reinforced. I might learn something new, and I’ll get to expand my networks.
The truth was, it was all of this, and so much more.
In fact, words don’t almost cut it. However in the true spirit of Theory U, it may be possible to convey what happened using images, feelings and metaphors. So here goes.
Doing the Presencing Foundation Program (PFP) was very much akin to walking the Camino de Santiago, an 800 kilometre pilgrimage trail across northern Spain. It seems almost accidental that I should choose the Camino as an apt analogy for the Program. More so because both my son and I embarked on the Camino together, and almost mysteriously we signed up for the Presencing Program together, accompanying each other again on what would prove to be another epic journey.
At the start of every walk on the Camino, we would silently slip out of a sleeping town, jackets warmly zipped up against the cold of a Spanish autumn morning, passing the lone street cleaner, and the occasional early morning worker.
The PFP was held in Fremantle, Western Australia and a 7am start was called for. Living a 45 min drive from the port city meant arriving just as dawn was beginning to break over the Indian Ocean. We made the most of free parking available right at the edges of the port city. The 15 minute stroll into a still slumbering city was reminiscent of the towns that Benn and I set off from. Hands stuffed into pockets to ward off the nip of a freezing morning, we would occasionally nod to the small group of construction workers who were just starting to gather for work.
On the Camino you walk the journey with complete strangers from as far afield as Korea and Latvia. On the program, after three and a half days I still hadn’t met all of the 90 people who had made the journey to Fremantle. They hailed from Switzerland, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, New Caledonia, and of course, all parts of Australia.
When there was no imperative to walk with others on the Camino there were hours and days spent in complete solitude. Reflection and contemplation became the norm. Things that were hazy suddenly became clear. Landscapes, trees and surroundings popped out in startling high definition quality hues. Words spoken by strangers gained a strange sense of lucidity and weight. Food and the soft, delicious Spanish red wines added to the sense of wellbeing.
As it was with the Program when all of us would gather in the early hours of the morning and sit in silent meditation in readiness for the day. Our minds would still, the body would calm and the strange peaceful quality of a hall filled with people generating positive levels of goodwill and nature, created a heightened sense of awareness that stayed with us throughout the day.
There was a time when we would venture out for a solo walk to commune with nature. It was a subliminal experience. In the limestone cliffs of Fremantle, I tilted my head and heard the long, haunting call of whales reverberate softly through the rough-hewn walls. I made my way down to the water. Perched on some rocks, I watched the Indian Ocean roll in quietly, felt the silken breeze lift my hair and the warmth of a winter sun touching my skin. The waves rose and fell, and almost subliminally my breathing tuned in with nature’s rhythms. The crystal clarity of nature’s natural liquid was all encompassing in my vision. I saw nothing else. My body gave in and my heart expanded, naturally and joyously. There was nothing more to do except to just be.
At the end of a long walk, Camino pilgrims would sup with other pilgrims, exchange stories and tell of things they had seen and changes they had experienced. A warmth and a camaraderies would develop. During the PFP, our lunches and dinners were spent with each other doing this very same thing, and mysteriously, bonds would grow and ties were made, hinting of things to come.
The more you walked the Camino, the more in tune you became with your body. Walking 25 to 30 km a day became natural. The mind stilled and became in sync with matter. During the Presencing Program we learnt a special body movement technique called Social Presencing Theatre (SPT). Arawana Hayashi, founder of SPT and eminent member of the Presencing Institute Team took us through the steps of dropping out of our overactive minds, and gently coaxed us, to stop and respond to what our bodies were saying instead.
The shifts were profound. Many of us spoke of almost reverently of unexpected insights that illuminated the way forward during these moments when a group of people would ease their way out of stuck positions and into movements of hope and optimism. The structures that were enacted, the hope that emanated from the future positions we created spoke of a deeper longing of what was possible.
Often the long walks on the Camino would include walking with the same person for a couple of days. There is something curious about telling complete strangers about close, personal matters of the heart. On the Camino you cultivated an ability to listen intently. Sharing with strangers is easier because there is no judgement, no desire to instruct. There is no vested interest on their part.
Likewise the during the Program, when each of us moved into the same group for a coaching circle, it created a sacred space where unspoken desires were shared, deep-seated fears of failure were willingly aired, and a powerful sense of belonging was created. During these moments, the others would act as coaches to a case giver and practise deep levels of listening. Advice was forbidden. Instead feelings, images and metaphors were served up in profound ways that moved the case giver.
My offering was often drawn as images and while these often looked child-like, the case giver would gaze upon my pictures in curiosity before a powerful response was evoked. From a face etched with pain and sadness, a dawn-like lustre would creep over their visage, and I suddenly understood that a thousand pieces of spoken advice would not have been as valuable as what I had given them from my heart.
It was no different when it came to my turn. I knew I wanted to say something but I wasn’t sure what it was and where it would come from. So I let it come, allowing my essence to emerge as it so chose. And as I finished speaking there was silence.
Then the images, feelings and gestures came. Soft as butterflies in intent, but bullet-like in impact. Me as mother, me as daughter, responsibility and guilt. A fragile ballerina seeking to be replaced by a vivacious jack-in-the box. An acknowledgement of the introvert when the extrovert now reigned. A calm resignation yet a sense of boundless energy.
The floodgates crashed opened. I covered my face and wept inconsolably. Big, racking sobs that seemingly came from nowhere surged to the surface, and it flowed from some region deep inside. The last time I cried so hard was when I arrived in a new country nearly thirty years ago.
The beautiful, compassionate women in my circle held me strong in their collective embrace. Thank you Kate, Claire and Julie. You were magnificent. Not once did you physically touch me but the eminent warmth and powerful enfolding of my sorrow within your positive, radiant energy field was enough to hold me up even as I plunged deeply into a lamenting wail of all that was and was not.
Creating change, says Otto Scharmer is only possible when you work on creating the inner change. He quotes Bill O’Brien, past CEO of Hanover Insurance who said, ‘The success of an intervention depends on the interior condition of the intervenor’.
Over the course of four and a half days the Presencing Institute Team took us through a deep dive into the interior, and they did it entirely through the U process. We learnt to co-set our intentions and to go forth into the world with that intention firmly held. We saw the need to co-sense, to go to the edges of the system (or the self) in order to allow our highest future possible self to emerge (presencing) and from thereon, it was up the U in order to crystallise our intention by acting quickly and naturally. The process requires an activation of deep levels of listening and the cultivation of attuning ourselves in empathy with those who needed a generative space of dialogue.
What was formed during the Presencing Foundation Program was in essence, a safe container where we could give ourselves the ok to let it all go. I reached a realisation that if we are to find our true Selves, recognising the voices of judgement, fear and cynicism that dominates most of our thinking, is a prerequisite to taking part truthfully and authentically in Life, as if the only thing that mattered was the Now. For it is only in the present moment, through the act of being present could we allow the very best of our future to emerge.
Theory U is an awareness-based systems change framework. It proposes that for real change to occur, the individual, the organisation and the system must be able to turn the camera back on themselves and perceive that they are part of the eco-system; that we collectively contribute to the way the system is. A shift of consciousness is required if we are to shift things.
Tending to the inner Source is the precise moment of inspiration when you connect with your highest possible future Self. This is the moment of Truth, the time when Presencing occurs. A part of the future is already operating in the Now. In order to reach the stage of presencing, Otto spoke of the need to move ourselves from the pattern of downloading past patterns and instead, make the leap to performing from the WHOLE. To do this, we must attend to consistently keeping our minds, hearts and will open to what is seeking to emerge; and to be consciously aware of the opposite of presencing. Absencing occurs when the closed will, the closed mind and the closed hearts effectively perpetuates fear, hate and ignorance.
So why did I liken the Presencing Program to the same level experience of walking one of the oldest pilgrimage trail in the world? The Camino was physically demanding and mentally challenging. More profoundly, it was spiritually uplifting.
There was a strong sense of all three elements during the PFP. I was physically exhausted from long days that stretched from a 5am crawl out into a cold morning, to a 10pm finish when I would finally sink back into a warm bed. My mental faculties were stretched to the limit in terms of what I was learning and absorbing. And my spirit? Well, it got broken up, broken down and more significantly, broken OPEN in an unexpected encounter with the essence of Source.
Reaching the end of the Camino de Santiago was less about the destination than it was about the actual journeying. Along the way, both on the Camino and on the Presencing Program, I met people who were vastly different to me. My fellow pilgrims consisted of capable septuagenarians, young playful students, serious meditation teachers and daring adventurers. The young and old were there; as were families of mothers and sons, aunts and nieces.
In the midst of the PFP, I found myself amongst devout religious groups, caring social workers, astute businessmen, dynamic leadership consultants and innovative government officials. From their twenties to their seventies, they were mothers and fathers, carers of earth and heart, musicians and singers, vegans and vegetarians, athletically inclined and the market strollers.
Here’s the thing. We were all different, yet our differences made no real difference. For what stood out in the end were the similarities. We were together in intent and purpose. Searching for a deeper truth, seeking to understand our Work with a capital W, letting go the old way of being and letting come the future of Me, and the future of Us.
Thank you, Asia-Pacific Presencing Team for bringing this enriching program to our part of the world. I could not have thought that a sacred pilgrimage could have been emulated in this way. But you did it and I am deeply nourished for the second time in my life.
Footnote: The Presencing Foundation Program was brought to Perth, Western Australia in July 2018 thanks to the Centre for Social Impact, University of Western Australia.
