Sometimes magic is almost nothing

  1. Modern life is crammed: with tasks and goals, roles and responsibilities, activities and obligations, stresses and tensions.

  2. We should cut ourselves a little slack. Give ourselves some time and space. To breathe. To reflect.

  3. Yellow is one response to this. It designs, creates and holds spaces where we can see what wants to happen, rather than work to make things happen.

  4. There is no goal beyond that. Yellow has no business to feed or audience to build. There is no aim to convince, or recruit. It is woven by the people that find it.

  5. What we do is create containers, wound around ideas and questions, paying close attention to how we make them and hold them.

  6. This is almost nothing, but it is not nothing. The difference is crucial.

  7. These ‘counterspaces’ (as one participant called them) are open not empty. They are shaped by the curiosity and energy of those that join. We are all co-authors of the experiences that are created. When you give of yourself, you may get riches in return.

  8. Sometimes we create magic. Stiffness softens or melts away, stuck points shift, lines of sight open up. Things of use and beauty are found. People sometimes catch a glimpse of themselves they haven’t seen before.

  9. This is not hard - given even a little time, space, beauty, nourishment and contact with the natural world, good, brave people can easily flourish.

  10. But it is subtle - it is easier to sense and feel than it is to explain. But not everything of worth can be explained.

  11. There is levity as well as gravity. They feed each other. The philosophy of farting around. Making sense by mucking about.

  12. There is more to say, but if you don’t already know that you want to read on, then don’t feel that you should. It wouldn’t be productive.

  13. Yellow is not productive. It is fruitful, in ways we don’t anticipate for reasons we don’t understand.

  14. But then sometimes magic is almost nothing.

What is Yellow?

Good question. We wonder about this all of the time, too.

There are several ways to respond to this question.

Practically, Yellow runs physical, in-person events, gatherings, and happenings. We sometimes refer to them as “empty space” events. There is (rarely) any content being transmitted. Rather, the events are spaces for people to be provoked and prodded to inquire into their own experience, and through that experience catch a glimpse of themselves. There is both levity (play, messing about) and gravity (exploring some of life’s bigger questions together).

Philosophically, Yellow is the embodiment of principles from complexity science, improv, human development and more. It’s as much a mood and a tone as it is a philosophical stance. It’s (our) approach of working with people, which is more about letting people be rather than trying to control them. Through that process, people seem to emerge with a greater sense of aliveness, without that being our goal. We are suspicious of goals.

Socially, Yellow consists of 100+ people who have taken part in previous events and groups. There is a wide range of people who join Yellow gatherings, everything from creative entrepreneurs in the UK to teachers in Kyrgyzstan. What they all have in common is curiosity and a sense of not quite fitting in to the normal ways of working and living. If you’re curious to join this group of rebels and misfits, reach out.

Historically, Yellow began as online groups in 2020. It started as an experiment, to see what would happen if we brought curious people together on a regular basis, without a pre-defined agenda or outcomes to achieve.

It was, by most measures, a resounding success, and not one we could have foreseen. After 4 years we had designed and delivered 200+ unique sessions. We played, danced, looked at paintings, talked about death with a former Navy SEAL, made messy art, looked at each other in silence, learned about the life lessons of Jurassic Park, made things, and enjoyed countless other experiments. We digested these experiences through conversation, which one participant called the main “method” of Yellow.

This process was rewarding yet demanding. In 2023-2024, we took a sabbatical from Yellow. We sat with the questions “What brings us alive?” and “What does Yellow want to become?” After allowing those questions to work on us, we emerged from the sabbatical in 2024 with the next and current iteration of Yellow.

Read more in the

Yellow Guide

There is no “behind the curtain” in Yellow. From the beginning we’ve shared the thinking behind our methods (of madness?). To understand Yellow in 2024 you can read the Yellow 2.0 Guide below. To get an even fuller version, you can read the original Yellow 1.0 2024 here.

Upcoming Gatherings and Events

Some events are reserved for people who have taken part in Yellow events before. Other events are open to both new and old faces (and bodies). If you’re interested in an event below, reach out.

Everything Moves -
A Conversation with Michael Foley

November 13th, 2024
Oxford, UK
Tickets are sold out

A day of conversation with the author Michael Foley, exploring the timeless notion that everything is process, relationship, and flow.

Yellow Olives

Nov 27th - Dec 1st, 2024
Arenas de San Pedro, Spain
Tickets are available. Contact us to learn more.

Harvest olives during the day. Have conversations and meals at night. Interspersed with opportunities for bodywork, reflection, and one-person wood-fired hot tubs.

3D Yellow 2025

June 25th-29th, 2025
Avila, Spain
Tickets will be released in January 2025

The main fixture in the Yellow calendar. Our annual “unconference”, now for the fourth time running. No agenda other than meal times. Everything else we create as we go together. Set in the rustic and picturesque Spanish countryside.

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