The Current Situation
Totnes offers a wealth of healing and psychological therapies, and groups, providing a wonderful diversity of approach and focus. The Heart and Soul group has drawn on the skills, commitment to the transition process, and contacts, of many of those practitioners.
- We have been able to invite talks from international and local writers, teachers and poets to challenge and inspire us, people such as Marianne Williamson, Joanna Macy, Drew Dellinger, Tim Macartney, Alistair Mackintosh, Starhawk, Peter Russell, to name but a few.
- We run experiential workshops, along the lines of Joanna Macy’s Work That Reconnects, to explore and express some of the range of feelings that come up when we fully allow ourselves to face the reality of climate chaos and oil depletion. Also
- We continue to hold meetings to explore what needs to be done and to examine how we work together (and how we might make meetings as effective and enjoyable as possible)
- We hold outdoor celebrations to mark the seasons and festivals
- We have explored different ways of structuring discussions of controversial subjects to widen the voices that are heard – including “Fishbowl” discussions, forms of indigenous council and representing future beings and non-human life forms in the debate.
- Some people have formed into small, self-facilitating “Home Groups” – where ideas, information or skills may be shared and support, of an emotional or practical kind.
- A “Mentoring service” to build resilience is offered to Transition activists by trained counsellors. One to one sessions provide the opportunity for a non-judgemental and confidential space in which to express and explore issues within the work they do, and its relationship within the rest of their lives.
- A Heart and Soul meditation group has met regularly for more than a year.
The local context of Totnes offers many spiritual resources in a wide range of settings. There are the more traditional – several Christian churches and the presence of other mainstream religions such as a Contemporary Jewish Group – to a whole spectrum of other outlooks. There are followers of Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Sufism, the Bahá’i Faith, Earth-centred spiritualities based on indigenous beliefs from this country or further afield, and Jewish synagogues and Muslim mosques in neighbouring Plymouth. Some communities such as the Quakers act as bridges promoting interfaith exchanges and explorations.
Since the creation of the Dartington Estate by the Elmhirsts, guided by the Indian poet Tagore, Eastern philosophies have been influential in the area, starting with Schumacher College on the Estate. Sharpham Centre and The Barn foster Buddhist enquiry and many other ventures draw their inspiration from East and West, ancient and contemporary spiritual paths.
Park School and the Steiner School place a strong emphasis on values such as love of nature, creativity and a deep respect for all. Communities such as Bowden House and Landmatters are putting such values into practice and a host of other initiatives pursue the fulfilment of the spirit through meditation, prayers, healing and therapies, contemplation, rituals, storytelling, chanting, practices such as yoga, tai chi, qigong, the arts, music and dance… to name a few.
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