Day 0:

ARRIVALS AND PREPARATION

In the previous days of preparation, trainers were setting the working spaces: the venue and the natural places around, where some activities would be hosted and the nature would be our companion.

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The inside working space was ready for participants to arrive.

We welcomed 23 new faces coming from so many places, sat all together and imagined our names as sounds of the nature representing who we are and what brought us there.

DAY 1:

After a nice breakfast, first day started. We gathered to start our journey. That morning was all about getting to know each other and building group connection with the movement of our bodies.

After some performances to build trust, understanding where did we come from and our common interests, we gave space to our team and program introduction.

We created a community contract to co-live and co-learn together the upcoming days, transforming fears into needs and expectations into intentions.

The first afternoon we had a very special mission. Participants discovered some treasures of the island to better understand where we were, finding information about history, traditions and geography of the village of Isora, using creativity they collaborated between each other to complete the tasks.

We finished our journey diving into the basis of Nonviolent Communication,

And mindful eating introduced us to the sensing and observation process.

As a very end to our daily exploration, we used learning journals to sit and reflect with certain questions given by the trainers to keep the track of our learning process, needs and intention.

DAY 2

On day 2 we started with the exploration of our 4 basic senses, leading us to the elements of Nonviolent Communication: observation, feelings and needs through our sensory perception, in nature.

From imagining going to a very new planet and discovering it for the first time, distinguishing between observations and judgments.

– How do I open myself to perception and observation of others?

–  How opening to perception and observation I become aware of the needs of myself and the nature?

To learning the NVC vocabulary of feelings and needs through our bodies and theater improvisation.

Finishing with discussing and recognizing strategies we use for satisfying the need for connection.

Which were shared in a form of short dramatic performances.

We said goodbye to the day with time for self reflection.

DAY 3:

This day was dedicated to the topic «me in communication with others». We started exploring the Higher Senses through small group discussions, practicing perception of thoughts, emotions and intentions by listening and observing our partner’s voice tone and body language in different proposed situations.

This introduced us to continue to empathy guesses practices. In trios, we were listening to a personal story while the rest of the group was focusing on feelings, needs and observations. This allowed us to improve as listeners and to experience how it is to be listened when the person we talk to consider our feelings and needs in the communication process.

After long journeys of intense activity and learning, we had some time for processing and digesting,
finishing the day we sat by the stars, finding the connections of how they mirror our human nature.

DAY 4:

Our topic of the day was <<me in the community and the planet>>. In the times our project was happening, COVID-19 pandemia reached Europe and uncertainty started to affect the group and the development of some activities as they were planned in the beginning. At the same time it was a great opportunity to apply Nonviolent Communication in this real situation.

We dedicated the first part of the day to connect to our bodies by spontaneous dancing, with the purpose of liberating from tensions and practicing presence and attention.

Then we did a Nonviolent Communication check in with our thoughts of the moment, connecting them to our feelings and needs as well as practicing the last step of the NVC process: Requests. We thought about strategies and ideas on how we could satisfy our current needs due to the situation, making one list with requests to ourselves and another one with requests to the group.
Opening this space for honesty and listening between each other, as well as being able to express our needs using the model of NVC made us feel safe and more connected between us to face the current situation.

In the second part of the day we went for a mindful hike to the National Park of Teide. There we had the opportunity to put into practice what we were learning about The Senses and the steps of NVC the previous days. We observed nature, noticing how it mirrors us and how we can mirror it, reflecting about the nonviolence in the natural world and our approach towards the planet.
We finished the day by practicing empathy through body movement in pairs, integrating the “me – the community – the nature” in our experience.