Ecodharma courses, workshops and support in Spanish
Since January 2016, Ecodharma has a team dedicated to bringing Ecodharma’s work to people and communities engaged in social change activities in the Iberian peninsula. The variety of courses Ecodharma offer and the number of people collaborating with us has greatly increased since our first course 7 years ago. This new Spanish-speaking team has emerged naturally from the interest of people living in Spain who share Ecodharma’s values and have personally experienced the power of our courses.
First Course – Collaboration for Social Transformation (‘Colaboración para la Transformación Social’)
‘Collaboration for Social Transformation‘ was the first course we ran, and it took place in June 2016. A combination of elements from two of Ecodharma’s renown signature courses – ‘Tranformative Collaboration‘ and ‘Sustaining Resistance, Empowering Renewal‘, the new course was especially designed for people living in the Spain, with the objective of reinforcing the effective work already being done here.
Participants mainly came from Catalonia, but also from Madrid, Zaragoza, and one all the way from Greece! In the course, we explored the indivisibility between our ‘inner work’ and external action. Our main preoccupation was how to nourish well-being, personal resilience and a wider culture of care in the context of the social justice and solidarity work we do, considering the power we have (or not) in the groups we belong to. Overall the course was a success. We all learned a lot, and not just about the material, but about adapting and creating new exercises and methodology appropriate to the cultural context, as well as our own team process, and how to work best with the group. Some things, we’ll repeat, other things we’ll do different, and there will be future courses!
Next Activities
The next ‘Transformation for Social Collaboration‘ course (in Spanish) will run from June 30 to July 9 2017, and meanwhile we keep at it. In November, the Iberia team held a 2-day workshop, ‘Tools for Sustainable and Effective Activism’, in Madrid. Not only was the workshop well attended, it was a diverse group of people who learned a lot, and got great value out of meeting each other too. There are murmurs of more workshops in Madrid in 2017, and these on top of three more in Catalonia and Valencia early next year.
Building Another World
Over the years, the Ecodharma courses run at the centre have been received with interest and appreciation, and our reputation has grown such that we have also received invitations to facilitate sessions (in Catalan and Spanish) from groups based in the peninsula. The requests mainly have been to help groups and communities work in effective and healthy ways in these trying times, while also learning how to better juggle work, family, community, activism and the other demands of everyday life. Ecodharma has been able to respond to some of these invitations, but not all, and that’s why this new Ecodharma Iberia team is such good news.
Who are we
The Ecodharma Iberia team first met by taking part in different courses and projects at the centre. We are facilitators and colleagues, as well as friends committed to doing deep work together to bring out the best in ourselves, so in turn, we can help others do the same. Our involvement goes beyond facilitating Ecodharma courses in Spanish; we also participate in the life at the centre more broadly: we grow our skills by taking other courses and retreats at Ecodharma, manage related projects, spend time at Ecodharma doing volunteer work, and living at the centre.
You, Social Change and 2017
We understand deep social change also requires us to change ourselves and our way of being in the world. Otherwise we end up repeating the same old mistakes from the past.
- What do you think?
- What experiences have you had with these topics?
- Would you like to know more?
Here are possible ways we can help –
- A day workshop open to the general public exploring these topics
- A bespoke consultancy session for a group or community already working together
- The next ‘Collaboration for Social Transformation‘ course at Ecodharma Centre 1-10 July 2017
- Advising and support from a distance (telephone/email) – because we believe we are the leaders we’ve been looking for, but sometimes we also just need a little help
We use a “pay what you can” system, asking that people/groups requesting workshops cover the travel expenses of the facilitators doing the event, and then, whatever is within your means, a donation to Ecodharma Centre so we can continue to develop this work.
To wrap up now and this year, we thank you for reading this, and ask that you share it with others because together, we are stronger.
ecodharma 