Overview expanded
It's been two months since I turned in my last Output Packet (OP). I just returned from being an assistant chef at Passover in the Desert, an eight-day village building experience in Panamint Valley, CA. This was my fourth year going. This festival, I was working long days, and although it felt good to serve the village, it was exhausting on my body. I am wondering how I could make events like that more sustainable for me. Another beautiful outcome that happened in Passover in the Desert was a people of color group I was a part of. We met almost every day and the group got me motivated to starting more spaces for people of color to come together.
My brother and I are still waiting to hear back if we got a grant to host a 5-day men's retreat this summer. If we get the grant, I am going to change my OP4 to be based on that (one of the projects I was planning to do anyway during my capstone phase). If not, I am going to stick with my original plan and do one about the shiatsu business. Although recently I decided that I would also like to use the OP to store some of the material I received during the course so I have an organized outlet for it.
Goals from Last OP
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These are the skills I named wanting to build during this OP cycle on my last OP:
- Dealing with Trauma- I am reading the book Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma by Peter Levine.
- Working with others- I am working with two other people for this retreat outside of my brother. One I have been in communication with to plan the retreat as she will be facilitating a few of the sessions and another woman who will help me with logistics of reporting receipts to the Moishe House (the non-profit I received a grant from to hold retreat).
- Chinese Medicine- Reading Dragon Rises, Red Bird Flies and Nourishing Destinyby Leon Hammer to dive into the psychology and spirituality of Chinese Medicine
- Shiatsu Transitions- I am going to ask my Shiatsu Teacher Matthew Sweigart in the upcoming training March 20-24 to focus on transitions, so I can perfect them.
- Cleansing- I want to undertake a liver cleanse during the beginning of spring
- Regular Meal Times- Hoping to create a better routine around regular meals
- Cooking/Preparing my own food- I want to make as much as my own food as possible so I do not spend money eating at restaurants or contribute plastic waste by being bread, sauerkraut, etc. that comes in packaging.
- Long distance trail running- I want to increase my endurance on the trails and do longer trails while running most of the way
- Carpentry- I want to find someone locally to apprentice with
- Oud- My teacher Yuval Ron will be in town at the beginning of April and I am going to schedule an in-person oud lesson with him. I want to return to playing and keep on exploring the instrument
- Guitar- I want to use my friend's guitar to learn more songs on the guitar that I can bring to gatherings including "River" by Leon Bridges
- Movie making/editing- I want to help with the creation of the movie showcasing the men's retreat. I wasn't able to have it ready by this OP, but want to work on it this next month
Getting Proficient with Internet stuff
I am seeing through my time putting on retreats and my time at Gaia University, I am becoming so much more comfortable with computer software and utilizing applications to create a retreat and follow up on it and to be able to create a visual account of it as I am doing for my OP's. This was a big edge for me in the past and I wanted to avoid this realm, but now it's feeling very comfortable. Also, adding the Grammarly app to google chrome has really shifted things for me. I don't have to worry about grammar.
Kolb's Kite Reflections
It feels that I have been doing well with Concrete Experience (Feeling), Active Experimentation (Doing), and Reflection Observation (watching). Something, I can put more emphasis on is abstract Conceptualisation (Thinking). I can look at more models and apply them throughout my thought process and explicitly map out the models I am creating and using.
Dor as collaborator/Project Manager
I am becoming more and more comfortable as a project manager. Creating this retreat felt pretty easeful. I have already worked with both Abrah and Ophir and already knew their working styles. I did take more of a lead as organizer which felt like an edge I met well.
I feel that I have a good way of allowing people to lead when there is an opportunity for them and stepping in as leader as needed. I see that I take more of a step back so other people can be empowered to lead. Some of the participants even led some ritual and helped facilitate some discussion. Ophir is not as good as this and I have gotten this feedback. I am happy that I have this quality. I really see it as an important leadership trait.
How I followed through with Goals
This is how I followed up with them:
- Trauma Work- It seems this is becoming a bigger part of my life but has actually not been as profound as the last OP Cycle. I am currently reading The Body Keeps Score by Bessel Van der Kolk
- Working with Others- I really delved into this during the last retreat, facilitating with both Ophir and Abrah and tieing in different participants to the retreat. I also worked with 8 other people at a gathering in the desert cooking for 300 people and was able to really test my capabilities of working with others in a high-intensity environment. I was surprised by my clarity of boundaries and I was able to remain calm. People reflected on to me how much they appreciated my calm vibes.
- Chinese Medicine- I am getting deeper into Chinese Medicine inevitable with every shiatsu training. I am not doing as much reading as I would like but know that I will find time again to make it a priority.
- Shiatsu Transitions- These are getting better with practice. I feel more comfortable with them. I want to keep on working on them
- Cleansing- I have not done any major cleanses but it feels okay. I don't feel I have enough stability to fast as I need more grounding. I do intermittent fasts here and there. I know the right time will come for me to be able to cleanse.
- Cooking/preparing my own food- I have been doing some, not as much as I would like, but understand its harder when I'm on the road. I've been making my own gluten-free bread which feels good. My brother and I are wanting to create a recipe book which I will start this week.
- Oud- I had an in-person lesson with Yuval Ron. I need to dedicate more time to practice
- Movie making- Ophir and I looked at all the videos from the men's retreat and selected what parts of the films we want in the movie, which ones will be b-roll (overlapping) and the order of the clips. Our friend Johnny will be putting it together in a nice way. We don't have to do it all ourselves.