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Sept 29, Oct 27, Nov 17: "A New Story" Series

9/15/2014

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How to face the global mess we're in and co-create a new story for humanity

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Unify Toronto Dialogues invites you to series that will inform, empower, and help equip you to play your part in bringing the next society into being.

This moment in history is unique. We're the first generation to feel the impacts of climate disruption, mass species extinction, peak oil, and global economic crisis, not to mention the nuclear age. And we're the last generation that can do something about the mess the industrial age has left us in. 
Luckily, the study of evolution shows us that species can make transformative adaptations when faced with a crisis. So, this is the time to write a new story of what is possible for humans, and we are the people to do it.

Here's an alternative to denial, overwhelm or despair: join us for this series. In supportive community, let's admit we've never been here before and don't know what to do. From that fertile place of humility, let's listen together for practical and collaborative ways forward.

6:30 - 9:00 pm on these Monday evenings:
- Sept. 29 (College & Spadina), Oct 27 & Nov 17 (St. George & Bloor)

Suggested donation $10-20/session.

Register here for any or all sessions

Foundation (Sept. 29)
What is this unprecedented moment in history?
What are its challenges and opportunities?

We explored these questions through powerful videos, dynamic group processes, and active conversations, using top-quality materials from the Awakening the Dreamer Symposium (and its youth adaptation, the Generation Waking Up Experience, or "WakeUp" for short). We looked at what's meaningful and possible for the world right now and our role and best contribution to the thriving, just and sustainable future we want to see.  

Whether you made it to our session or not, you can watch the Symposium online on your own time or buy the DVD. If you feel inspired you can help host a WakeUp or Awakening the Dreamer Symposium for your friends, organization or community. GenUp and the Pachamama Alliance give you everything you need.  You can contact us to bring us in, or facilitate it yourself!
 
If you want to go deeper into these questions, sign up for the Game Changer Intensive. This seven-week online course by the Pachamama Alliance educates, inspires and equips you to be a pro-activist leader and a game changer in your community. The next one starts in January. 

And if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the uncertainty of the times we’re in, you might enjoy this 2.5-minute video of Joanna Macy. 

Facilitators: David Burman, Natalie Zend, Rebecca Dehmassi and Mickey Juranka
Snacks provided by Manjit Dali Mann and Rebecca Dehmassi, support with set up by Bethany Zack.
 

Deepening (Oct. 27)
What are our inner responses to this global crisis?
How can they empower and enliven us to be the change?

In this session, we delved into Joanna Macy's The Work that Reconnects, a theoretical framework for personal and social change as well as a powerful set of group processes for its application. This work is about finding, and offering, our best response to the crisis of sustainability unfolding in our world. It offers tools that help us face the mess we’re in, as well as find and play our role in the collective transition, or Great Turning, to a life-sustaining society.

In the realm of this work, there is much more available for you to explore if you're curious. Joanna's latest book (co-authored with Chris Johnstone), Active Hope, guides you through the process, with exercises you can do on your own or in a group. Her book, Coming Back to Life, which has just been republished in an updated edition, empowers you to share the work with groups. 

If you want to live (or relive) the Spiral of the Work as a 10-minute daily practice, here's how you can do it. 

If you're looking for a simple way to continually open to your dark and light feelings about the times we're in, you might enjoy the simple practice of "Breathing Through," which you can do in the midst of your daily life. In this 10-minute video, Joanna guides you through the practice.  

And if you want to explore this work more deeply, set up an "Active Hope" reading group with your friends. This can become a shared process to deepen community, support each other and become more resourced in addressing concerns about the world. This online guide will give you all the resources you need. Contact us if you'd like support in this.

Facilitation by Natalie Zend; snacks and flower arrangements by Zora Ignjatovic; welcoming and space holding by Jessica Vogt and David Burman; facilitation support by Susana Ochi. Sponsored by the Transformative Learning Centre or TLC (with thanks to Edmund O'Sullivan, Blake Poland and Natalie Abdou).

Moving Forward (Nov. 17)
What would a sustainable, fulfilling future look like?
What can we actually do to bring it about?

In this final session, we will focus on envisioning a fun, beautiful future society in harmony with the natural world. We'll explore tangible feet-on-the-ground actions and vote-with-your-wallet strategies for co-creating a future worth looking forward to. The session will be inspired by Kaia's latest book, Visions: Co-Creating Our Future.

Facilitator: Kaia Nightingale   
Join us also for another session with Kaia on November 15 1-3 pm, co-sponsored with Transition Toronto: "Toronto's Future Environment: How Good do you Want it?" She will recap findings of the recent "A New Story" Summit at Findhorn, and look at how we can develop new, post-carbon stories for Toronto. It will be worth attending both of these complementary sessions on Kaia's first speaking tour to our city! RSVP here for Nov. 15.
Register here for any or all sessions

Testimonials about similar events with series facilitators:

"I finally know I could make those changes in my life that I have wanted to do for so long."
 
"Inspirational. Transformational. Meaningful and so supportive. I feel empowered."


Series Facilitators

David Burman 
(Sept. 29)

A founding member of Unify Toronto, David has been facilitating  Symposiums since 2009. In 2013 he helped train 20 young people as facilitators of its youth adaptation. In addition to active involvement in social justice and ecological issues, David is a dentist by day, a lecturer in Aboriginal Health by night, and a potter on the weekends. 
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Kaia Nightingale
(Nov. 17)

Kaia, MA Psychology, cofoundedTransition Ottawa and is part of a team developing a local alternative currency. She is an urban sustainability practitioner, speaker, writer, workshop leader and group facilitator. She has just published Visions: Co-creating Our Future, a global energy descent and environmental clean-up plan focused on creating a fun, sustainable future. 
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Natalie Zend
(Sept. 29 & Oct. 27)

Natalie, MA International Affairs, is a trainer and facilitator with 15 years' experience in international development and human rights. She is a trained facilitator of the Awakening the Dreamer Symposium and a member of the international Work that Reconnects Facilitator Network. A founding member of Unify Toronto, she co-hosts the Unify Toronto Dialogues.
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Aug 25 2014: How Nature can Sustain and Guide us in Our Change work

8/25/2014

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A feet-on-the-ground exploration in High Park hosted by Mark Hathaway.

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This month, Unify Toronto Dialogues took it outside into nature. 

Our August session took advantage of the glories of the season by taking the dialogue out-of-doors, and expanding it to the more-than-human world. 

Together we connected and engaged with the wider Earth community to find energy, insight, and guidance for our work to bring about a life-sustaining society. 
Through experiential practices, we opened our hearts and senses to the wisdom present all around us in the more-than-human world. We also explored where to find the voices of nature in the midst of the city and dialogued about how nature inspires, sustains, and informs us as we endeavour to transform ourselves and society and restore ecological health. 

About guest host Mark Hathaway:

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Mark is an adult educator who researches and writes about the interconnections between ecology, economics, social justice, spirituality, and cosmology. Mark worked for many years as an ecological and social justice activist. After completing his degree in math and physics, he lived in Peru for eight years where he helped co-found a small non-profit working in alternative literacy and leadership training using popular education. More recently, Mark has worked with ecumenical social justice coalitions, interfaith ecology initiatives, and in the eco-justice and partnership work of The United Church of Canada. He is currently completing a PhD in adult education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (University of Toronto) where his research focuses on transformative learning, worldviews, and the cultivation of ecological wisdom. He also teaches an undergraduate course on ecological worldviews. With Leonardo Boff, he co-authored The Tao of Liberation: Exploring the Ecology of Transformation (Orbis Books, 2009), a broad synthesis covering such diverse fields as economics, ecopsychology, cosmology, and spirituality in the search for wisdom to address the challenges of the times we live in.
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July 28 2014: Be the Story of Positive Transformation

7/28/2014

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Ryan Genereaux, actor, singer, dancer and all-round inspirational performer moved us in ways we never expected, challenging us to become the change.

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In this fun, interactive session, participants expanded their capacity to embody a state of being that creates inclusiveness, empowerment and connection.

We explored ideas that energized a relationship with the contrast we experience in our personal lives and as part of a movement toward greater support of life on this planet. We explored ways to uncover and express our values and relate to them in a way that supports their manifestation. Through exercises, we anchored the association of personal values, global vision, and embodied manifestation. Multiple senses were engaged to clarify a reality in which respect for the earth and unique, creative expression manifest in individuals, systems and projects that benefit everyone involved.

Every step is the destination...every point is the path. Make a point to step into the path as creator and adventurer. You and I are perfect as the center and beginning of this story we are living. You and I are expressions of unconditional love in this journey we are being.  - Ryan Genereaux

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About Ryan Genereaux:

Ryan is a physical actor, singer and sound improviser, dancer, multi-media artist and inventor. He embodies inclusiveness in his speech, his actions and his vision. Empathy, compassion and creative freedom are at the core of his life force. He encourages all to realize that anything we desire is possible and the journey starts with the adventurer, accepting where they are. He has been a regular at the Unify Toronto Dialogues.

Monday, July 28, 2014
6:30-9:00 p.m.
Doors open at 6:00.

OCAD University 
100 McCaul Street (Dundas & University)
Lambert Lounge
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Unify Toronto at the Permaculture Living Convergence

12/1/2013

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Sunday, Dec. 1 2013 4:30-5:30 p.m.
Permaculture GTA Headquarters
160 Bartley Avenue, Toronto

In our hour-long workshop, we explored what would keep us involved, sane, and sustained as we participate in creating the new story of a just, sustainable and thriving human presence on the planet. An exercise from Process Work took us to a place of deep intuition and earth connection very quickly. Then we harvested the wisdom that we each received through the exercise. It was rich and nourishing and left us feeling more resourced for our change work.  
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