Staying power
In the last few weeks I have been hearing a lot about how good it is to be able to go back to doing workshops or programmes in person, about how many advantages it has over the constricted and tiring online environment.
Having just completed the first ever Yellow in-person event – a five day Walk and Talk here in the Sierra de Gredos – I have experienced this first hand. It was beautiful, in so many ways. The depth, quality and subtlety of connection that is available to us in person has no parallel.
And yet I don’t think it is that simple.
For decades, my work was based on short interventions of one kind or another – workshop or programmes of a few days (or, more recently, as the speed of technology ratcheted up, squeezing both time and people, a few hours).
Some of this work was powerful, there is no doubt. But even the best of it was short-lived. There was little follow up, almost no chance to practise and few opportunities to loop back and reflect upon how learning or insights landed (or didn't) in everyday life.
Through Yellow, I have experienced the value of longevity. Meeting with the same group of people regularly, for months on end has a different kind of power. It allows you try out different ideas or changes, weave them into your experience, reflect upon what happens, practise, deepen your understanding, revisit your experience, adjust and adapt and see what evolves or changes. As one of the participants said: “it stops being something you do and becomes part of your life”. Learning and change are integrated into everyday life.
Along the way we have also learned how, with small groups at least, it is possible to enrich the online experience and integrate physical and creative activities. This is no substitute for meeting in person, of course, yet I worry that the delights of returning to a full bodied experience will blind people to the limitations of short time lengths that almost inevitably, accompany them.
Depth is good. But so is length. And to ignore that is as foolhardy as pretending that meeting online is equivalent to meeting in person.
