Many moons ago Neala shared with me her vision for this generative writing workshop - it was a joy to assist in the co-creation of this experience. We have both already shared about it on social media but for those who aren’t on there Neala’s recap of the event is given here:

 ✨️‘Speak to the Stars’ was an evening to remember. ✍️Ten writers gathered at The Shadytree Cottage to write in community.

✨️Led by Neala Luna and Renee Arundhati, we spoke about the celestial objects/events and commemorations happening on or near 21 September (equinox, solar eclipse, Sarvu Pitru Amavasya, UN Day of Peace) all of which made that weekend a powerful time for reflection, profound change, growth, intention-setting, and new beginnings.

💙We each shared how we often feel when contemplating the night sky and stars: awe, gratitude, grounded, connected to those who looked at the same stars for millennia, and connected to the stars themselves, even if they burned out so long ago.

📖 Poems and writing by Lawrence Scott, Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné, Lang Leav, and Ada Limón and origin stories about the constellations and comets in our September sky served as inspiration for our own writing that evening. ☄️

✨️We moved our mats and blankets outside and read our words to each other and to the stars.

🙏Thank you to my co-facilitator Renee of @anugrahayogatt, who grounded us at the start, centred us after writing, and brought us back to Earth at the end.

🫂 Love and hugs to each of our writers, who arrived with enthusiasm and warmth, and were open to experiencing all that Speak to the Stars had to offer.

Thank you!

At this moment, I am reflecting on the experience of co-creation and co-facilitation. It is very different for me if I am the one with the idea and wish to invite people to be a part of it. When I am invited to co-create and co-facilitate there is a different kind of engagement that has to happen. I do my best to centre in my space, to be open to possibilities and to explore how I can support the manifestation of ideas. I intentionally place myself in a supporting role.

Following from this event, and as I look forward to future collaborations, I am contemplating how to improve my skills at co-creation and co-facilitation. This too is part of my yoga practice, understanding myself and my capabilities, and observing how I can use these to provide more transformative experiences for those around me. 

Apart from that, during the planning of this event and at the event, one of my favourite books has been on my mind - the science fiction anthology, The Crystal Ship (1976) ed. Robert Silverberg. It contains three novellas by women authors (Joan D. Vinge, Marta Randall, and Vondra McIntyre) and inspired my love of science fiction. I found this book being sold second hand in my early teen years and it is a treasured possession. I shared with our group at Speak to the Stars, this verse from Joan D. Vinge’s The Crystal Ship, which has stayed with me for over three decades:

Who will dissolve? Who coagulate?

Who, to pass the dragon,

 and enter

 the dark abyss?

Silently, without motion, 

she enters the ocean.

It speaks to me of dissolution, smaller self returning to the whole. It takes me back to my practice.

What words do you remember? What words would you speak to the stars?

peace,