Youth Workshop In Toronto

03 Feb Youth Workshop In Toronto

Dear friends,

On January 23rd 2010, a meeting took place in Toronto, brimming with enthusiasm, seeking to discover the promise and possibility of youth. Our gratitude goes out to Olivia Hanna who organized the event with the support of Robert McKay, Doug Wiley and Mark McAlister. We are grateful to everyone who attended and especially to Greg Scott who helped facilitate the event.

This was a workshop for young adults and mentors in Toronto interested in exploring and finding ways of working together out of anthroposophy. The diversity of the crowd enriched the ideas we explored during a brainstorming session. Priorities were set and discussed as we made a list of needs and challenges youth feel exist in both the anthroposophic movement and the world at large; issues and questions we perceive and want to engage with. Our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats were brought to light as we went deeper into our process of discovering what occasions for service exist in our own respective regions, in our own “local lives.”

We were given the gift of moving with each other, in a Eurythmy exercise led by Johnathan Snow. He helped us feel the importance of balance between opening up to the world and cultivating a firm relationship to healthy boundaries. It was kinetic and insightful to witness a concept brought to life in this way through Eurythmy.

We were given the language of “container and capacity” with which to begin thinking about the development of this group. What kind of container can a Toronto youth group create which will allow us to build the capacities we need? How can the capacities we build continually develop containers for youth initiatives wishing to incarnate into the world, bearing within them seeds of vision?

We were encouraged to listen to each other’s hearts and reminded that our strength lies in supporting each other. At the heart of this workshop was the desire for collaboration and this includes strengthening our containers and capacities with intergenerational guidance and mentorship born of mutual trust and respect.

We hope to meet again to try to answer our burning questions, not only with our heads and our hearts, but also with our hands. This is an ongoing project. There are currently twenty four members, some interested in attending regular meetings and others offering themselves as resource people.

Please email Ariel-Paul or call him at 416-617-1391 if you would like to be involved.