A REVIEW OF THE MACROBIOTIC TEACHERS MEETING 2010

“With a love for life our education in the art of living empowers individual and planetary health.”

This meeting of thirty-one people active in macrobiotics was hosted by Patricia and Emilio Restrepo in sunny Valencia, Spain. For the first time we brought in a facilitator. David Norris gently guided us through our first two days together.

Our discussion started by exploring what is the common platform we share together. Could we create some kind of definition of macrobiotics and what we do, out of this platform?

During our whole four days together we weaved in improvisational comedy games, singing together, the experience of magical Tensegrity passes, dancing with each other, vigorous do-in exercises, chi gong practice and delicious meals at the Kimpira restaurant.

With David’s help we were more conscious of the energy of the room and the intention behind our communication. Rather than getting stuck on specific thoughts or word we looked for similarities in where we were coming from.

In this sense we were better able to create an inclusive group energy. To me it felt like we were creating something together and we were careful that no-one was left behind in that process. We experienced what David called the group mind as we edged forwards towards a better understanding of what we had in common. Part of the process was to engage in dialogue rather than debate. We explored that we are all individual with our unique expression of macrobiotics and that whilst we might not always agree we could still align ourselves with each other. Where would we find unity whilst retaining our individuality?

One of the starting points was to consider what is missing and if the thing that was missing was here, what could we accomplish? Words that came up were – trust, communication, organisation, common vision, leadership, community, vitality, measuring success and listening.

We went on to discuss whether we want to organise ourselves as a vertical hierarchy or a more horizontal network. We looked at how we are a network made of nodes (individuals or organisations) that may form clusters with strong links whilst maintaining weak links to other clusters or individuals. There may be small hierarchies within the network.

We then used an interesting process of alignment to create a simple statement that carried the energy, intentions and alignment of the whole group. We began with two cards. On the yellow card we wrote a word that expressed what we felt was most important to each of us in terms of macrobiotics. On the white card we wrote our second preference. These cards were pinned onto a board. We started by taking out duplicates. Where two words were similar the two people who wrote the words engaged in a dialogue where they explored whether the intent behind the choice of word was similar enough to remove one. As a result of this we were able to greatly reduce the initial sixty-two cards on the board. Each discussion about a word helped us better understand how we felt about macrobiotics.

Once we paired down the word to the essentials we arranged them into five natural categories;

COMMUNITY

Network, cooperation, education, service, competency and commitment.

PLANETARY HEALTH

Feeling better, healing, human being, food, life, longevity and power.

EVOLUTION

Intuition, free, revolution, now, connection, self reflection and intent.

PHILOSOPHY

Discernment, change, yin and yang, energy, natural order and balance.

HEART

Happiness, great, inner peace, positive energy and humour.

Everyone joined in four groups and we created a sentence or two that encapsulated each of the five headings, using where possible the various words. After this we combined into two groups and found ways to bring the sentences from each group into one paragraph.

The two groups came back to one and we combine the paragraphs whilst taking out all the words that were unnecessary. It was an interesting Zen process of letting go. Eventually we were able to create one sentence that, for us carried the energy of the whole process.

“With a love for life our education in the art of living empowers individual and planetary health.”

Next we made a list of projects we would like to be involved with. The emphasis being on projects we could actually commit to and be involved in rather than ones that sounded like a good idea. The people committed to the projects will form nodes within the greater network with strong links to each other along with links to the people involved in other projects. Each project is based on concrete, specific, measurable goals, that would bring our projects into the world.

This process resulted in the following

ORGANISING COMMITTEE

Simon, Jean, Patricia, Kristiane, Chico, Virginia and Greg.

CONSULTING GROUP ASSISTING NEW MACROBIOTIC CENTRES

Bob, Simon, Greg, Bill, Phiya, Patricia, Chico and Kristiane.

GROUP SETTING UP NEW CENTRES

Eva, Kristiane, John, Shirley, Mario, Milan Sn and Milan Jn.

CREATING A NETWORK, WEBSITE AND ALLIANCES

Simon, Bob, Nicole, Kristiane, Bill, Milan Jn, Chico, Patricia, Roland, Sandy and Jean.

WORLD MACROBIOTIC DAY – 18TH OCTOBER

Milan Sn, Milan Jn, Shirley, Chico and Sonja.

SHARING OF CURRICULUMS

Bill, Greg, Simon, Mieke, Chico, Kristiane, Jan, Phiya and Milan Sn.

PROJECTS TO SUPPORT YOUNG PEOPLE

Virginia, Milan Jn, Phiya, Greg, Phiya and Mieke.

CONNECTING EAST AND WESTERN EUROPE

Georges and Kreta.

MACROBIOTIC TOURISM

Victorio, Pablo, Phiya, Ginat, Sheldon, Shirley, Sandy, Roland, Nicole and Milan Jn.

COACHING MEMBERS OF THE GROUPS

Greg, Ginat and Phiya.

TRAINING COOKS FOR RESTAURANTS, TEACHING AND PROFESSIONAL COOKING

Hans, Kristiane and Phiya.

For the last day we listened to stimulating and fascinating talks on; internet discussions, giving macrobiotics a positive expression, how we have changed, the macrobiotic paradigm, teaching, improving cooking classes, macrobiotics 2.0, making professional presentations, working together and the Macrobiotic Teachers Association.

The vote for the next location was surprisingly close with SHA getting one more vote than Jerusalem. Our proposal is that the meeting could be help from November 9th to 13th which will include a full moon and the date 11/11/11 and a celebration at 11am!

Finally Bob and others told stories of their encounters with macrobiotic teacher and student of George Ohsawa, René Lévy, who passed on since our last meeting. We held a few minutes silence in remembrance of his life.

The following people attending our meeting.

Bill Tara - Glasgow Scotland
wwtara@msn.com http://www.billtara.net/index.html
David Norris - Freiburg Germany
dnorris@t-online.de
Emilio Espí - Valencia Spain
administracion@patriciarestrepo.org www.kimpira.es
Eva Lopez - Madrid Spain
evatlopez@yahoo.com
Francisco Varatojo - Lisbon Portugal
varatojo@e-macrobiotica.com www.e-macrobiotica.com
Ginat Rice - Jerusalem Israel
shelgin@gmail.com www.TheRiceHouse.com
Greg Johnson - London England
concordus@bellsouth.net http://www.concordinstitute.com/
Hans Arthur Schmidt - Berlin Germany
hans.arthur.schmid@t-online.de www.naturalmente.de
Jan Vervecken - Belgium
info@issshiatsu.be www.iss-shiatsu.eu
Jean Torne - Bern Switzerland
culinaritopia@hotmail.com
John Hollman - Oregon USA
jhollman@classicwoodworking.com www.macrobioticsforyou.com
Georges Van Wezembeek - Belgium
info@georgesvw.be
Kristiane Ravn Frost - Denmark
kristiane@aima.dk www.macrobioticsforyou.com
Kvetuse Dvorakova - Dobruska Czech
dvorakova@sunfood.cz www.sunfood.cz
Marius Zammit - Attard Malta
macroyoga@onvol.net
Mieke Vervecken - Belgium
info@iss-shiatsu.eu mieke.vervecken@hotmail.com
Milan Dvorak Jr - Dobruska Czech Republic
info@makrobioklub.cz www.makrobioklub.cz
Milan Dvorak Sn - Dobruska Czech Republic
dvorak@sunfood.cz www.sunfood.cz
Nicole Demel - Bad Wildbad Germany
info@makrobiotik-erleben.de www.makrobiotik-erleben.de
Pablo Lombana - Pamplona Spain
palodoc@hotmail.com www.macronatural.com
Patricia Restrepo - Valencia Spain
patriciarestrepob@hotmail.com www.patriciarestrepo.org
Phiya Kushi - Iona Alaska
phiyak@gmail.com http://phiyakushi.wordpress.com/
Robert N. Carr Jn - Cleveland USA
RNCJR@APK.NET http://users.stargate.net/~rncjr/eastwest.htm
Roland Schneider - Bad Wildbad Germany
info@makrobiotik-erleben.de www.midev.de
Sandy Pukel - Miami USA
oakfeed1@aol.com www.atasteofhealth.org
Sheldon Rice - Jerusalem Israel
shelgin@gmail.com www.TheRiceHouse.com
Shirley Cauchi - Attard Malta
macroyoga@onvol.net www.yourhealthybalance.net
Simon Brown - London England
simon@chienergy.co.uk http://www.chienergy.co.uk/
Sonja Jacobs - Belgium
sonjajacobs_65@yahoo.com
Virginia Harper - Nashville USA
ginny@kioflife.com
Vittorio Calogero - Italy
vittocal@gmail.com
Zdenka Hofmannova - Prague Czech Republic
info@makrobioklub.cz www.makrobioklub.cz

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