The path is made by walking

"Traveller there is no path, the path is made by walking"
Antonio Machado

I try to walk my talk. I strive to live a creative & self-expressive life, a life that gives me daily opportunities to be curious, to explore & discover, not only the natural environment and all its inspiring beauty & spectacle, but also the inner wilderness of my own creative potential.
 
I know that most of you reading this blog strive to do this too, and I know that most of you, like me, struggle.
 
It’s not easy, we are constantly pulled towards safety & comfort; towards the familiar & the certain; towards all the things we do really, really well. It’s hard to resist, isn’t it? Who doesn't want to choose guaranteed success over potential ruin? Safety & comfort over ridicule & flat-on-your-face-ness peril?
 
Despite this, creativity & self-expression have a central place in my life, just like sunshine & water – to me life without them is mediocre & bland. For this reason, I have become very conscious & vigilant so that I am prepared for everything that emerges during this often mysterious process. 

1. Be prepared to not know the way – the creative process is generative, that means that each step you take generates a whole set of potential unknowns, offering a selection of new paths. The thing is, you can’t know what these are going to be until you have taken a step.

Generative means that you are walking and you are making the path at the same time. You have to let it emerge, observe it, and step into it with complete trust that it is going to take you to the place you want to go.

I’m not saying go out into the wilderness not knowing where you want to go, I am saying be prepared to walk along overgrown paths, rocky terrain, cliff edges or even machete yourself a new path because, to stay with the metaphor, nobody has explored this part of your wilderness before, so there is no one right way to get where you are going.                          

2. Be prepared to stay a while because the creative process requires us to dwell in uncertainty. Take plenty of water, a compass, your soft, self-inflating sleeping mat, whatever you need and camp out in the unknown. Creativity is in our DNA, the challenge is in letting go, waiting, allowing, and trusting. 

3. Be prepared to do it badly, because more than anything the creative process requires that you work no matter what. Carve out time each day to write, sing, play the guitar, plan your business – whatever you are up to, make sure you do it because only by doing will you improve, grow & thrive as a creative force.

4. Be prepared to move away from people who do not support you because the creative process will make you feel both invincible & vulnerable. We need to be around people who are ok with us at our fiercest & most confident as well as at our weakest and most frightened. 

As Julia Cameron puts it we need people around us who are OK for us to be ‘as big as we are and as small as we are, as competent and powerful as we are, and as terrified and as tiny as we sometimes feel…’.

So, surround yourself with people that inspire you to keep making your path as you walk it, who encourage you to stay put when you feel like packing up, who support you not only when you feel brave but also when you feel insecure; and, most importantly, surround yourself with people who strengthen your resolve to keep working & thriving every day.

May 2018 be a year for all of us to keep walking our unique, fulfilling, joyful & abundant creative paths...and one or two dirt paths too.

Fear - the biggest challenge

In the photograph above, taken at around 2, 600 metres in the Tavan Bogd National Park, in Mongolia, I am feeling both calm and fulfilled. We had just crossed the river I am squatting next to. For over an hour prior to crossing I walked up and down the bank on the other side looking for stepping stones to cross over its roaring, opaque, glacier-cold water. There were none. The inevitable dawned and my heart beat faster - I was really scared. Boots had to come off and we would have to wade across, unable to see the rocky, slippery, bottom and endure the thigh high freezing water. My travelling companion and I unclipped our packs, hung our boots over our necks and with socks on our feet, we held hands and slowly made our way across. On the other side we both cursed loudly at the stabbing cold in our feet, but as the circulation returned to our lower limbs the feeling of having overcome a fear filled me with confidence and joy. 

Hiking in Mongolia was spectacular, I am excited about our first major overseas walking expedition there next year. I am also excited about the next 6 months in the southwest and all our walks and retreats here.

At the same time, I am fearful, fearful that although I am confident about hiking and creativity, I do not know enough about tourism to take Edgewalkers to the next level! Fearful that I do not know enough about marketing and selling to actually get people to book into retreats and walks; fearful that I will not make the most of the season; fearful that I will look like a fool!

Fear
Perhaps the most insidious resistance to embracing creativity is the fear of being ridiculed by those around us. Thinking creatively can make us aware of things/patterns/possibilities we had not previously noticed forcing us to take (or NOT) certain actions that might disrupt our lives, alarm our loved ones or appear irrational to the rest of the world. Yes, there were many questions asked when I first talked to friends and loved ones about my idea to run walking tours and creativity retreats! 
 
We all have ideas, all the time. How many of us have looked at paintings and thought, gee, with some basic drawing classes, I reckon I could do that! Or, my life is so interesting someone should make a movie out of it! Or drank a fresh juice at an expensive eatery and thought, damn, my orange, grapefruit, turmeric and lime juice is so much better than this, I should start a business! If you embraced creativity and started to notice opportunities, embrace artistic impulses and start, as Madeleine L’Engle put it, disturbing the universe, you never know what could happen…and that freaks us out!
 
What if what we try doesn’t work and it ends up being rubbish? Somehow it seems better to just stay safe & comfortable and keep telling ourselves: “I don't have a creative bone in my body!” or my favourite: “I’m too old to go in that direction now, this is what I know, I’ve trained and studied and am experienced in this, I can’t suddenly become a beginner in that!
 
Julia Cameron who wrote The Artist’s Way, a useful creativity recovery program, has a great response when people ask:
 
“Do you know how old I’ll be by the time I learn to play the piano, guitar, saxophone, sing, draw, cook, dance, program computers, design furniture, write songs, make airplane models, do stand up comedy, make films, take good photos …(insert any number of possibilities here)?
 
She tells them:
“Yes… the same age you will be if you don’t!”
 
Isn’t that a fact?! 

Walking in the Magical Kingdom of Fungi

When it comes to flora, Australia’s southwest is one of the most bio-diverse regions in the world, and is especially renowned for its wildflowers. What many people do not realise, and I was not completely surprised to learn, is that there is even more diversity when it comes to fungi species. The region is a mycologist’s paradise with fungi of all sizes, shapes, colours and functions to be seen throughout the southwest.

Fungi are an integral part of the forest environment so a particularly perfect place to see them here in the southwest is among the ground leaf, twigs and bark litter of Boranup Karri forest, just south of Margaret River.

These are the fungi captured during an 8 km walk starting on the coast at Cape Freycinet goes east through the coastal heath and circles through Boranup forest, follows part of the Cape to Cape track south and heads back around westwards to the coast -see below for details.

bracket fungi

Aleuria aurantia, Boranup Forest, Margaret River

Fungi are not like plants, they cannot make their own food, and must feed either dead material or living organisms. They can be classified according to how they obtain food:

-       Saprophytic – these fungi feed on dead organisms and release nutrients into the environment. They perform the important process of decomposing lignin, the hard substance in the cell walls of wood that would otherwise take a long time to break down.

-       Symbiotic – these fungi live on living organisms either in a mutually beneficial relationship, or as parasites.

In a mutualistic relationship fungi take sugar from their hosts but provide them with water, phosphate and nitrate compounds. I was surprised to learn that 80 to 90 % of land plants could not survive without this mycorrhizal relationship with fungi.

In a parasitic relationship fungi harm their host or kill it. Dieback disease affecting parts of Australian Eucalyptus forests is a parasitic fungus. But they are also important because they contribute to biodiversity by preventing species from becoming dominant.

Ramaria ochraceosalmonicolor - Boranup Forest, Margaret River

Crepidotus nephrodes, Boranup Forest, Margaret River

6 ways in which mushrooms can save the world

‘Fungi are the grand recyclers of the planet and the vanguard species in habitat restoration’

Paul Stamets

According to Dr. Paul Stamets, a prominent American mycologist, mycelium holds the key to solving many of the environmental issues we face today.

While there are a number of eye-opening and riveting talks by Stamets on YouTube, in this TED Talk he summarises some of his key ideas including some of the properties, capacities and possibilities that he thinks make fungi instrumental in helping restore the planet.

Tree fungi, Boranup Forest, Margaret River

Here are two resources worth visiting for more information on local southwest fungi.

Negus, P. and Scott, J. (2006). The Magical World of Fungi. Cape to Cape Publishing, North Fremantle.

Robinson, R. (2003). Fungi of south west forests. Department of Conservation and Land Management, Kensington.

Cape Freycinet Walk - 8km

Start at South Beach Car Park in Cape Freycinet at the end of Conto road which you can access from Caves road as you head south from Margaret River. Park and walk back up the hill (northward) along Conto road and turn right at Point Road (east). As soon as you enter the canopy of the Marri trees that line this 4WD track you will start to see varieties of fungi among the ground litter of leaves and twigs and growing on the mossy bark of fallen tree trunks.

Walk along Point Road past the campground until you reach Georgette Road where you turn right again (southeast) and follow the Cape to Cape track to the top of the hill. The Cape to Cape track veers to the left (east) on Brozie Road, we turn right (west) back towards the coast. The total distance is about 8 km.

If these instructions are not clear enough just buy the book, it's only $25 dollars - I can't recommend it enough!

This is a picture of map #16 straight out of Walking Round in Circles by Jane Scott and Pat Negus, a wonderful collection of 27 circular walks in the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park. 

Do you know how old I'll be...?

Perhaps the most insidious resistance to embracing creativity is the fear of being ridiculed by those around us. 

Why would you want to think creatively when thinking creatively might make us aware of things/patterns/possibilities we had not previously noticed forcing us to take (or NOT) certain actions that might disrupt our lives, alarm our loved ones or appear irrational to the rest of the world?

We all have ideas, all the time. How many of us have looked at paintings and thought, gee, with some drawing classes, I reckon I could do something like that! Or, my life is so interesting someone should make a movie out of it! Or drank a fresh juice at an expensive eatery and thought, damn, my orange, grapefruit, turmeric and lime juice is so much better than this, I should start a business! If you embraced creativity and started to notice opportunities, embrace artistic impulses and start, as Madeleine L’Engle put it, disturbing the universe, you never know what could happen…and that freaks us out!

What if what we try doesn’t work and it ends up being rubbish? Somehow it seems better to just stay safe & comfortable and keep telling ourselves: “I don't have a creative bone in my body!” or my favourite: “I’m too old to go in that direction now, this is what I know, I’ve trained and studied and am experienced in this, I can’t suddenly become a beginner in that!

Julia Cameron who wrote The Artist’s Way, a useful creativity recovery program, has a great response when people ask:

“Do you know how old I’ll be by the time I learn to play the piano, guitar, saxophone, sing, draw, cook, dance, program computers, design furniture, write songs, make airplane models, do stand up comedy, make films, take good photos …(insert any number of possibilities here)?

She tells them:

“Yes… the same age you will be if you don’t!”

Isn’t that a fact?! 

We loved putting paint on the blank canvasses with Rebecca Cool at the last Edgewalkers Creativity & Walking Retreat in Margaret River

LEARNING TO READ …

The first time I walked on the Cape to Cape, a 135 km coastal track here in the Margaret River region of Australia’s southwest, I felt like a curious child who is learning to read. A child that has only learnt consonants and vowels but not quite how to put them together. Illiterate, I wandered fascinated and wide-eyed in a world of colours and shapes: red bells, orange peas, blue fans, whites stars, yellow orbs. Over time, and armed with a copy of Wildflowers of Southwest Australia written by Jane Scott (and perfectly illustrated by Pat Negus), I started to build my vocabulary.

For example, one day the ubiquitous, fluffy ‘yellow orbs’ went from being ‘fluffy yellow orbs’ to being acacias and wattles. Just like that my walks became red bells, orange peas, blue fans, white stars and… Acacias. 

Then I noticed that the Acacias that were knee high along the trail had leaves that looked like ivy. Another time I observed that the Acacias that lined a path near the river in Augusta had lots of small thorns. Some weeks later, on looking closer, I saw that some Acacias, the ones that were taller than me, dropped thousands on black seeds encased in a red woody ring. 

Suddenly my walks were a world of red bells, orange peas, blue fans, white stars and Shark’s Tooth Wattle (Acacia littorea), Prickly Moses (Acacia pulchella) and Red-eyed Wattle (Acacia cyclops). 

Last Christmas I bought a copy of Noongar Bush Medicine - Medicinal Plants of the South-West of Western Australia by Vivienne Hanson and John Horsfall. It records the various uses of plants by the traditional Noongar elders and healers of the region. 

A few days ago I was walking along this enchanting coastal ridge, between Moses Rocks & Qinninup Falls, when I noticed the wattles were already starting to flower. I stopped and delightedly pointed that out to my (amused) visitor. She listened as I told her that in Noongar language these Red-eyed Wattles, or Acacia cyclops are called Woolya, and that the juice from the leaves was traditionally used to receive eczema, repel insects and protect from sunburn. 

I am now like a child that has learnt to recognise lots of words and can make simple sentences. I walk along the Cape to Cape a little excited at every opportunity I get to name something; thrilled every time I recognise a word from my growing lexicon; humbled, and inspired, by the realisation that there is a lifetime of learning - and walking - ahead.

WHAT THE HECK IS AN AESTHETIC EMBODIED PRACTICE?

I have been asked to explain exactly what we will be doing during the Creativity sessions during the Creativity & Walking Retreats – here is an explanation.

We will be using a number of embodied applied theatre techniques borrowed and adapted from the work of Brazilian social theatre practitioner Augusto Boal. As well as warm up exercises and Image work we will be using a technique called Cops in the Head. Let me explain:

WARMING UP

During the warm up we use a number of exercises that awaken different sensory sensitivities.

1.     Tactile sensitivity

These exercises stimulate the sense of touch by awakening the feeling of what we touch. Similarly, they challenge ways of moving that are mechanized, bring up emotions that are not externalized and offer new ways of using muscles and expressing. Different parts of the body are disassociated from each other and cerebral control can be exercised over all muscles, no matter how small

2.     Listening sensitivity

These activities aim at recreating ways of listening and finding ‘inner rhythms’ to avoid stereotyping people and characters. Rhythms can sometimes represent emotions better than words and faces.

3.     Sensory sensitivity/dynamizing

During these activities sight is denied to enhance other senses and what they perceive.

4.     Visual sensitivity

These include mirrors and physical sculptures to help us to see what it is we see. These must be done in silence in order for the dialogues to be richer and deeper.

5.     Awakening sensory memory

These activities aim at reconnecting participants with memory, emotion and imagination

The above activities can also be used to draw parallels to our struggles and examine deeper what it is that is getting in our way. We will then use more involved image work in which, divided into groups, participants will discuss a personal experience relating to the struggle we are facing in sustaining, reconnecting or starting a creative practice.  We will construct physical images of the struggle and as a group we will choose one particular scene to work on.

The Cop-in-the-Head (cops) technique will then be used to work more deeply and examine who (person) or what (convention, social rule, value) has ‘parked’ themselves inside our heads and whose internal monologue keeps us unable to move forward. As a collective we will all contribute to offering possible alternatives to enable the ‘blocked’ character to break through!

This is all SUPER FUN and PLAYFUL – you can contribute as much or as little as you like and you will find something useful – everyone does EVERY TIME!

If you would like to talk about this further please contact me erika@edgewalkers.com.au +61 (0)406758062 – I love talking about this – my (PhD) research into Transformative Learning centred on these techniques and on how to increase the transformative experience for participants – I LOVE this stuff – it is POWERFUL.

We will also use mapping, drawing, and a number of other creative thinking tools to enhance the workshops and access possibilities for transformation.

Flower Essences 101 with Sana Turnock

Flower essences were pioneered by Englishman Edward Bach in the 1930s. The development of other essences followed from the 1970s from countries such as Scotland, Australia and Alaska as well as the Himalayas. With Australia being abundant in plant species there are a couple of well renowned bush flower essence founders utilising Australian natives to create essences.

Usually the flower is selected to create an essence, however leaves and seeds can also be used.

A flower essence is the vibration of the plant infused in water. It is usually placed in the sun and/or moonlight for a few hours. Over the course of these hours the flower’s memory and vibration become imbued with the water. This becomes a mother tincture. Further dilutions are made before a person takes it as a remedy. As a remedy, plants can assist people (and animals) in various ways whether it be physical, emotional, mental or spiritual. In matters of health and health care settings the remedies are beneficial for calming, sexual misconduct, skin problems, cleansing/detoxification, working in areas of grief,  emotional behaviours in general, as well as anxiety issues, relationship matters, dementia related issues and muscular aches and pains. The essences can be taken internally or mixed with creams, in water and blended together with essential oils. 

A little while ago I had the opportunity to develop my own essence from a West Australian native called the Grey Cottonhead (Conestylis Candicans – eneabba form). Early benefits appear to be that it is physically energising (excellent in fact!), great for mental alertness and awareness of the ‘bigger picture’ and useful in communicating clearly.

From traditional bush medicine methods where by the plant was picked directly from the earth and its various parts used for healing purposes or to the modern day where plants are bottled, the purpose is still the same. It is nature offering humanity a healing gift. It is nature simply at its best.

Sana Turnock is Head of Academic Studies at the Australasian Academy of Wellness Therapies where she is a trainer, lecturer and assessor in clinical aromatherapy. She is an aromatic medicine consultant at Joyful Living Consultancy and will be delivering a workshop at the Women's Creativity & Walking Retreat in March. Her many publications are available at  http://www.aromacasa.com/ Sana will be a regular contributor to the Edgewalkers blog bringing us latest research on native aromatic remedies and other therapies.

3 Thoughts on Transformation

‘…a new self-understanding, a fresh sense of who you are and what you’re up to’ (Warren Ziegler, 1996)

The word transformation signals lofty aspirations and mystical qualities. ‘Transformative’ is frequently used to qualify practices like research, leadership, learning, practice, mediation, and change. However, through overuse and misuse the term is at risk of losing its impact and becoming as vacuous as other buzzwords like ‘empowerment’ and ‘participatory’.

As a term that is integral to the work we do during Edgewalkers creativity retreats, I thought it was time to take a closer look at ‘transformation’ and explore what it is an what it is not. Here are three observations I have made researching transformation as part of my doctoral work and as a practitioner of a ‘transformative’ practice at Edgewalkers and at Act Out (www.actout.com.au) for the last 10 years:

1.  Transformation is permanent - when something is transformed it does not change back. The common metaphor of the butterfly that cannot return to being a caterpillar is a good example. Another common analogy is that of riding a bicycle. It can take some time but once a person ‘gets’ the balance right and rides the bicycle, they cannot go back to not knowing how to ride one. They can choose NOT to ride one, but they are able to if they choose to.

We operate and make meaning within a set of assumptions about our lives. We have certain values, knowledge, beliefs and attitudes that we have accepted as being true and on which we build our realities. If we become ‘critically’ aware of how these assumptions might be limiting the way we interpret our experience; how they might be disempowering us, our ‘reality’ can start to shatter[1]. Once a person has become aware that what they believed, valued or thought was true is not true, or is no longer true, they cannot go back to seeing themselves in the same way. Once an individual can no longer accept the status quo of a situation or behaviour, something happens inside. Thinking changes form, attitudes change form, and perception of others changes form. Therefore, transformation is not simply ‘having a more informed, nuanced, sophisticated, or deeper understanding of something’; it is a ‘fundamental reordering’ of ‘paradigmatic assumptions’[2]

2.  Transformation is not prescriptive – transformation is not something that is prescribed by someone for someone else. Instead, in a transformative or generative approach finding out the possible solutions and actions to improve a struggle is part of the transformation. A practitioner does not (or at least is not supposed to) start out already knowing how she wants everyone to change and what direction he or she must take in order to improve a situation or overcome obstacles. This solution or possibility emerges through the process, out of the experiences and existing knowledge present in the participants, whose own struggle it is[3]. In a transformative practice, it might be acknowledged that there is a desired outcome, for example, someone wants to be more creative, but the solution is not already known and a desired behaviour (i.e., buy a guitar, go to a painting/writing/dance/sculpture class, get up early, quit your job) has not already been prescribed.

In effect, this need to genuinely allow the participants to explore their problems can be a great source of tension for a practitioner because, generally, those who are paying to do  'transformative' work have ideas about the desired outcome. Therefore, we have to be aware that transformation cannot simply be an attempt to convince or impose a certain ‘better’ behaviour on participants. Transformation in this sense cannot be prescribed; this would rob it of the generative process necessary for the transformative action to emerge.

3.  Transformation is personal – Some people may experience a sudden realisation, an ‘epiphanic event’[4] like a client who in the midst of a workshop suddenly saw that she was the ‘elephant in the room’; she was one of the people creating an obstacle to the organisation solving some communication issues that were getting in the way of other staff being able to express themselves. Up to that moment she had not ‘seen’ herself that way then suddenly that veil was lifted, her foundations shifted under her and she could no longer operate in the same way.

However, that event may also be the culmination of a cumulative and incremental process. So, it must be allowed to develop; it requires patience and time and cannot be imposed or controlled. While a practitioner might facilitate activities that guide a transformative process within a group context, transformation is a personal experience that occurs in a ‘place of silent mystery’ a place ‘where butterfly wings are grown within the shroud of the caterpillar’s concealment’[5]

For some people transformation may involve a stage of conflict and possibly negotiation; a stage in which a person might be attempting to put into action the new rehearsed behaviour and encountering conflict from those that are threatened by it. [6]  

Interfaith minister Stephanie Dowrick described transformation as an ability to alter the way we look at ourselves and one another so that we can undo the established perceptions and welcome new, more emphatic and compassionate ones. This is my paraphrase, but I liked the definition because it was about a self-practice. Ultimately, whether it is generated by the work that is carried out in a group through the collective learning or through a multitude of generative dialogues and rehearsals of the future desired, transformation is ultimately a self-practice.

Transformation, then, refers to what is possible when an individual is confronted with a sudden or cumulative cognitive/aesthetic realisation of the mismatch between what they assumed was true/possible and what they now see as true/possible. This event can generate a deep and critical reflection causing a reshuffling, re-visioning or restructuring of fundamental assumptions about life and society that leads to action.

If you are interested in reading more about transformation please see the resources below.

[1] Jack Mezirow, 2000.

[2] Stephen Brookfield, 2000

[3] Augusto Boal, 1995

[4] Stephen Brookfield, 2000

[5] Allan Kaplan, 2002.

[6] Richard Slaughter, 2004.