A Shambhala experience

It has been awhile since I sent in a blog to Ode. A combination of travel and busy with family on holidays was one reason. The other was that I have been trying to write an article based on thermodynamics, entropy, self regulating systems and the mind inspired by my engineering education of the past and my current inquiry into mind and matter. The article essentially bogged me down. I was obsessed by the topic for some time that I could not think of anything different to write. I have finally come to terms with it, left it aside for now and writing again.

The travel at the end of June has to be blamed on the Ode magazine as I got hooked on the Shambhala Summer Institute on Authentic Leadership in Action in Halifax, Canada. So, I did not worry about how I could afford the $3,000 fee and $2,000 airfare from Colombo to Halifax and back, I just jumped in. It was made more affordable to me by the good Shambhala folk through their scholarship programme and this was one of the best decisions I made this year.

Looking at the Shambhala website for what was on offer I was intrigued by the choices. I was somehow drawn to the Embodied Leadership: A Practice for Presence, Confidence and Compassion program with Wendy Palmer. Conscious Embodiment as a technique has evolved from Aikido and mindfulness practice to help us to recognize how our mind and body usually react to pressure and to respond differently with words and action in a more skillful manner. This excited me.

I was intrigued about getting the body into action in responding and communicating skillfully in any given situation.

Having run many a communication skills training program, I know it is not the words and tone that dominate, but body language in getting a message across. So, I thought it will be interesting to learn how to become more mindful and aware in using my body to communicate positively.

The Main Event

So, there I was landing in Halifax on a bright summer day. I shared a cab into the venue, Mount Saint Vincent University with three others and already the conversation was interesting. That evening at the welcome reception seeing so many people as participants boggled my mind. I was wondering how this crowd was going to be managed.

I was also amazed at the openness and the warmth I felt from anyone I made eye contact with. It was so un-occidental. Everyone I spoke to that evening seemed to be doing something interesting with their lives and was curious about mine. I was high on the energy that surrounded us and it got even higher and higher with hearts opening up as the days went by – it was awesome !

Day one morning began with meditation. To me meditation and North America did not quite connect, but here I was in a large hall with about 250 people cross legged following my breath and trying to focus my mind. I was so excited by the energy that enveloped me, I could not properly concentrate. It did not matter as what was to come was incredible.

Embodied Leadership

About 20 people had gathered for the module and Wendy Palmer with the help of Paul Ciske started us off on this journey.

Embodied Leadership is about centering ourselves as opposed to acting on our personality, enveloped by our ego, fraught with low level energy stemming from our fears. To center is to become aware of our breath, feel the support of the earth below us and the space around us. We balance our field of energy by aligning the mind, heart and belly through presence so we focus on the strength of our Hara (in our belly). This way we become skillful in dealing with our daily trials and tribulations.

This form of getting the body into play as a trainer for me is a powerful tool. I learned about the two shapes – circle to hear and listen authentically and the wedge to advocate skillfully, which allows me to become conscious of the space and energy I have around me to support me in both modes.

We did various exercises based on Aikido to learn the form which would be a foundation for us to build the skill on. We pushed and pulled each other, encroached on each other’s space, insulted each other in role plays and learned that if we use the form well and centre, through our body we can respond to any situation skillfully.

I started practicing the form immediately and playing with the energy I generated. I just had to rub my hands in front and my belly to feel the energy flowing. I suppose, being a meditator practicing mindfulness made it easier for me to concentrate on my Hara energy. I was raring to put my learning into practice.

I had learned some thing very practical and shared the experience with some wonderful people. We were all very open to each other, vulnerable even but looked after each other as we played with a powerful field of energy we had created together. It was all palpable.

I was also impressed by all the contradictions – the seriousness of the content and the way concepts and ideas were presented but at the same time the thread of fun and lightheartedness that ran through the entire week. We danced the night away to an Afro-Caribbean band one evening and back sitting quietly mediating in our lotus position the next morning. It came in waves and particles all the time. One moment it was there to grab onto and the next it all melted away then it was there again.

Everything I learned with Wendy Palmer, others such as Steve Clorfeine’s creative process workshop, the World Café and all the wonderful conversations I had with so many interesting people, reinforced to me that I can continue to influence the world around me by being positive, open, kind and generous in this seemingly cruel world. This gives me strength as I live in Colombo amongst so much fear where violence has become so common and show people a different way of being.

I see much hope for humanity as we as individuals have the capacity to respond to any situation skillfully by practicing presence, confidence and compassion first to ourselves, then to all other beings and to nature around us. Conscious Embodiment is a wonderful technique I have added to my toolkit for dealing with this journey called life.

Finally, I found in the Shambhala Institute, an incredible vehicle to promote a different way of being based on our spirituality. It seemed such a fit to the Bath University MSc in Responsibility and Business Practice I completed in 2006. In fact there was a link when I found Bill Torbert, the action inquiry guru and author of Power of Balance running a Shambhala module called Action Inquiry: Transforming Ourselves, Our Cultures and Our Organizations….maybe next year….or maybe I will go for Organizational Trust: Cultivating Authenticity, Commitment and Collaboration with Susan Skjei and Ruben Perczek or wait a minute….what about Practicing Fearlessness in Times of Fear with Margaret Wheatley, Chris Grant and Jerry Granelli…..choices choices….

…and the crowd management…it was done in true Shambhala style….skillful and seamless….

May all beings be well and happy !!!

Lalith Gunaratne
Colombo
Sri Lanka