Hello Hedge Schoolers,
A huge thank you to those who replied to last week's inquiry. Tom, Shebbie, Lara, and Bart, you have gifted me much inspiration this week and provided a sharpness to the vision I have for Hedge School. More to come on this in the coming weeks.
For this week's inquiry, I'm speaking to the power of community to hold us in these tumultuous times. And these are tumultuous times. Times with an edge that is cutting many deeply.
So when the strain of the weight we carry threatens to crush us, where, who and what do we turn to for support?
This episode is dedicated to the spaces, places, and people who have held me when life has threatened to swallow me whole.
Shambhala Warrior
At the start of 2020, I was two months into being alcohol-free. Covid was looming but no one could foresee the impact that it would bring. The absence of alcohol stilled the waters of my own mind and provided tremendous clarity. But with that clarity, came a comedown. The GABA pathways of my brain desensitised over time due to regular drinking struggled to reset. This led to anxiety and the dark clouds of depression. My amazing doctor flagged this as a journey I would need to travel through and recommended finding a community or coach that would help hold me. Jiro Taylor was the first person I thought of. Jiro has been a constant companion in my own personal journey over the last five years. I called him straight after that appointment for the possibility of 1:1 coaching.
But he had bigger plans...as he always does.
Those plans were Shambhala Warrior, a brotherhood of men dedicated to becoming the Elders required to help this world move through these tumultuous times.
I have been in that container ever since speaking my truth to a community of brothers who find themselves at the same crossroads in their lives. The truth found in the tilling of my own soil has led to a deep remembering. A deep remembering that I came to existence in this form with a mission. A mission to help guide souls through the dark times of their lives, to stand up in their own grief, and to speak alive the songs that reverberate in their bones. When Kev died, I sought the embrace of my brother in every experience I chased myself through. And Kev always led me to brotherhood. He always led me back to Jiro. Back to brotherhood. To the energetic role, I was born into. And found myself in. A big brother.
Each week I speak with brothers from across the world and am brought alive in the sincerity of speaking to men who do not dismiss my gentleness. Men who see me as a soul who lives to see others. I am forever grateful that the Universe nudged me with subtlety towards this beautiful space. I am forever different. And dedicated to wrapping my arms around brothers who look to stand up in their lives as creators, fathers, sons, husbands, partners, or whatever role calls their soul alive.
Flow Genome Project - Kokoro
Jiro came into my world through the exploration of flow. The state where we are completely merged with the magic of moments. The times where we forget all we hope to be and just merge with the experience of being. Exploring Flow led me to Jamie Wheal and the Flow Genome Project. The Flow Genome Project is an organisation dedicated to helping people heal by embracing the ecstatic and doing so in the reverie of community. Such explorations have led to meeting some of the most amazing human beings. Home Grown Humans, who live to hold their hands out to others to help them stand up in their own grief and live into their magical gifts. I have worked with FGP for a number of years now and have completed every program they have put out in the world.
At the start of 2019, I headed to the Redwood forests of California to participate in their Coaching Certification program. It was here that I met my Boat Team (as well as so many other beautiful human beings). A Boat Team is a Navy Seals term for a small group of humans who leave no one behind. My team was made up of legends from Australia, USA, and Japan. Our connection is still alive in the souls of every member of that team. A team we called Kokoro, which is Japanese for “connecting mind, body, and spirit.” I still speak regularly to members of Kokoro. We celebrate each other. Support each other. Cry on each other's shoulders. This is not a team of individuals. This is a unified soul experience where we are forever different for meeting.
Life needs more Kokoro.
Syntropic World
The weave of Kokoro, in particular Benny Wallington, led me to Syntropic World. A movement started by Chief Steward, Christine McDougall, Syntropic World is dedicated to helping build new human endeavours for a world with a future. The Masterclass circles I have had the privilege of being a part of having left me inspired, unified, and equipped with a new way of meeting the world. Artisans, change agents, coaches, conscious business model builders, regenerative artists, the list goes on. An inspired collection of spectacular human beings who are coming together to be greater ancestors. Path builders for new ways to meet this world. I am forever grateful for the wisdom and craftsmanship that has woven its way through me as a result of being held in this community.
Not many people know this about me but I regularly seek powerful female wisdom keepers to apprentice to. I am at my current school because I sought to work and learn from an amazing human being, Deb Sukarna. I have always felt more seen in the eyes of the feminine. The balance of fierceness, empathy, vision, and care has been my blueprint for learning to lead in this lifetime. And I am forever grateful.
Where are you held?
So my question to you is this, do you have spaces, places, and people to speak through the energy that moves in you? Do you have spaces, places, and people to drop your guard with and speak from the core of you?
If not, I encourage you to journey along the path to find them. Personally, I find that I seek spaces that can hold dissonance with the reverence it deserves. I seek places that call for me to speak from the heart. I connect with people who are not afraid to be fallible. Not afraid to show up as they are, not as a projection or veneer. These compass points have led me to the most amazing communities.
And I am forever grateful for being seen, heard, and witnessed.
I'd love to hear about your communities. Drop a comment below or reply to this email.
Till next week,
Steve
The Community Weave: Spaces To Witness And Be Seen