Recently I was invited to share my Voice Ecology work as part of an inclusive dance festival in Krzyżowa. It was the 6th edition of this festival and it is a wonderful event for young people of all different abilities from different countries to meet and explore their creativity together. It's important to mention that there were also many young participants who were refugees as a result of the Ukraine conflict.
One of the exercises I often invite people to explore in the workshop (inspired by the work of Joanna Macy) is to complete open sentences with a tree. The first is to say out loud and then finish "Something I'm grateful for in my life right now is ...", and the second is "Someth
ing that breaks my heart in my life right now is...".
One girl from Belarus, who was doing this exercise a little way off from me started crying quite strongly. I had a strong realization of just how her experiences were something completely beyond my understanding.
As she was doing this exercise, I was also doing it, with a leaf that was growing in the grass next to me. I asked if the leaf could give me some advice and what came to me was:
"The rock doesn't need to understand the water in order that it can help the river's flow".
I think that is some of the best advice I've ever had, and I'm happy to share it with you.