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May - July 2009
May – Tuscany on foot
So much has been written about the beauties of Tuscany in Spring
and my experience was certainly no exception to this but I had my
doubts when, on arrival at Florence Airport I discovered Air France’s
inept partner City Jet had forgotten to load my back pack leaving
me minus a pair of walking boots – a rather vital piece of
equipment given we were there for a four day walking tour. It took
the local partner 2 days to deliver the boots to my hotel. Undaunted,
I crammed my poor feet into a new pair of shoes bought in Greve
and told myself that the holiday was not going to be ruined even
if my feet were!
After the rigors of walking the Way of Saint James – the
ancient pilgrims’ route to Santiago in Spain, we decided to
do it in style in Tuscany: luxury hotels, personal guide and luggage
carried. This left us free to walk, admire and simply be there.
Our route took us from Panzano to Montefiorella to Greve to Gaiole
in Chianti via Volpaia and on to Radda in Chianti and the Castle
of Brolio and finally a magnificent day in Florence.
I can confirm that Chianti Classico wine is truly excellent and
has to be sampled in Chianti itself. I am also forced to update
my opinion of Italian cuisine as a result of discovering the cuisine
of Tuscany which is rich with the fruit of the land and flavored
with some marvelous olive oils.
 I
know there are many foreigners occupying many of the properties
in Tuscany but my understanding is that foreign investment has enabled
much of Tuscany’s heritage to be restored in a respectful
and tasteful way. The big hearted welcome was 100% local however
and we felt at “home” immediately. The blend of stone,
vine, flower and sunshine made 4 days of walking not only a gift
to the eyes but also made for a photographer’s paradise.
Tuscany is the kind of place that I would like to idle away the
hours in, dreaming, writing, reading and eating with the odd swimming
pool thrown in and cultural trip added just for good measure.
June – Sufi Workshop with Driss Benzouine sponsored
by Giorgio Cammarata
 It’s
not yoga but it is as well to have followed this path for a few
years before attending. It’s not the way of the Dervish but
we learn to meditate while turning gently left hand turned earthward
and right hand turned heavenward. It is not a personal development
workshop but there is much psychological clearing going on. There
are 10 of us gathered together for the second part of a 6 day workshop
that began in March. There is new depth to the sharing and while
I am well used to this type of exchange having worked with David
Grove over a period of 6 years prior to his death, it is nice to
experience a dialogue usually associated with personal development
workshops rather than yoga workshops.
 The
3 days are a gradual movement from the dissipation of city life
to clear mind focus. It is a process that cleanses and anchors the
body in its earthly roots before allowing the heart to soar towards
its longing for the divine. The exercises are simple and require
no particular athletic prowess to explore them. I hear myself chanting
Allah: a mantra that harmonizes the energies infusing and circulating
through and around the body. We are a long way from the warlike
nature of Islam and it is easy to understand why Sufism was a mystical
and at times persecuted sect of Islam. The 3 days lead inexorably
to the moment when each one of us slowly begins to turn to the left,
left ear inclined gently towards the outstretched and upturned right
palm. Oh, the intolerable lightness of being, when the heart beats,
the feet turn, the body twirls and the music whispers God’s
name beneath its insistent driving rhythm. The Dervish turns his
ear towards the silence of the heart where he seeks to hear the
music of the spheres. His is an act of remembering the beloved.
I leave the 3 days with a body slightly more malleable, a heart
slightly more tender and a mind slightly more transparent. How many
times must one continue to die a symbolic death until the divine
can be reborn in the centre of one’s heart?
July – The Summer University at La Bouvétière:
Crisis, Opportunity & Emergence.  I
co facilitated the first 2 day workshop with Jennifer de Gandt.
It was a strange experience initially, moving from the space of
fellow traveler and willing volunteer in another one of David Grove’s
experimental November “salons” to explorer in my own
right. The first Summer University honored the experimental nature
of David’s work and Jennifer’s commitment to community.
There were only 14 present for the first workshop but they were
all professional coaches or therapists and it was an opportunity
not only to explore the theme of the 5 day event but also to share
the way we, as a community had taken David’s gift to us and
enriched our own work with all 3 of his processes: Clean Language,
Clean Space and Emergent Knowledge. Richard demonstrated the integration
of CLEAN Language with EMDR techniques in a therapeutic intervention
with one of the group experiencing a long and painful mourning period
after the death of a loved one. Tania demonstrated the way she had
integrated her knowledge of the phases of development of children
into a game enabling either child or adult to “live”
the healing power of a phase of human development not fully experienced
and integrated for the person. The “volunteer” client
literally moved from huddled impish rocking on the floor to swinging
from the rafters in a joyous expression of new found freedom.
 I
demonstrated the use of the iterative question (David’s 6
friends) in an intervention combining the informative use of Clean
Space as well as Clean Language and knowledge of family constellation
work. The community practiced assessing each demonstration with
a process that is now a part of the LKB School of Coaching (Individual
& CLEAN) thanks to Jennifer. It allows the community to grow
together in wisdom as well as improving its members’ techniques.
When I wasn’t facilitating I was enjoying the quiet of the
garden early morning beside the pool embracing the rising sun with
my yoga practice and exercising the muscles up and down the pool
afterwards. The sun shone sublimely and the garden held all the
old magic of the times with David when we were all going on long
wayward journeys to never-never land and back again.
The 5 days were a celebration of Jennifer’s dream to bring
together the CLEAN Community in France and to offer a place of on-going
development and sharing. It worked!
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