Arc of Time.... From Surviving to Thriving
Seeds planted during the Arc of Time in a Learning Village in Zimbabwe
In addition to my life and work at Kufunda Village, I am also an Apprentice Movement Medicine teacher. I had invited founder and teacher, Susannah Darling Khan, to come to Zimbabwe to offer a Movement Medicine Workshop. I specifically asked for the Arc of Time because of the times we are living through in Zimbabwe today. It is a challenging moment politically and has been for a very long time. It is a time in which people struggle to dream, and to believe in real shift and change. As I understood the Arc of Time, it would support us to connect with the resources from the past, and to be inspired by the possibilities of the future.
And so it was that in March Susannah arrived to offer the Arc of Time to a group of 30 dancers in Kufunda Village. It was an epic dance journey. In the Arc of Time we dance ourselves fully into the present so that our journey back to dance with our ancestors could be as embodied and present as possible, as well as the dance into the future to greet the future generations, in a world in which we have been successful in bringing healing and wholeness.
The dance was very strong for all involved. Village members and participants from the city. It was uncanny to have a sense of having journeyed to the same future. Many strong themes were shared across the various dance journeys. Elephant guides and tree planting among them.
For me personally the big seed was a strong sense of the need for us here today to not just focus on surviving, but to really call in a sense of thriving. Despite all the challenges of life here – to not just focus on the practical essentials, but to create as much beauty and grace in what we do. From my journey, it came through very strongly that this will lead the way to the future –each person allowing the beauty of their soul to manifest in the creation of places and spaces of beauty around them. For Kufunda this felt like an invitation into a next level of living our purpose.
After Susannah left we had a Kufunda planning review session that had been scheduled long before the Arc of time days.
It was the most exquisite sharing and conversation. We began with a small dance followed by each Arc of Time participant sharing anything from their experience that would be valuable to bring to the whole village; seeds and gifts to carry forward. Those who had participated in the Village dance could add from that experience. It was a beautiful and profound sharing. Even one who hadn’t been in either, spoke warmly of his sense of the importance of all of us dancing, and asked us to keep dancing for him until all were all ready to join. ‘You are not just dancing for yourself. You are dancing for us all’, he said.
The strength of the embodied learning came through in the themes people shared:
A desire to live – as a village - the impulse that we had experienced in the Yes dance”
‘To really say Yes to each other. To really say YES!’
The theme of beautifying the village came through very strongly
The joy and appreciation of coming together as the whole village in a different kind of dance that transcended the generations and led to an embodied experience of joyful co-creation had really inspired people – and people all wanted to make more space for that.
And so alongside the clearing and cleaning, so many things have flourished with astonishing swiftness from what had been seeded: A new garden was created by the children of the village, as an entry way to Kufunda and to their school. It is a creation of much beauty and supported by friends from across the world; an outdoor classroom in a magical space in our forest is just being completed for the children; small beginnings of creating a Kufunda Village shop and hopefully even a café, where can serve healthy treats. And more!
The gift of visitors is that they see shifts in a way that those who remain in a place cannot. When Susannah returns (hopefully in 2019!) and Ben also, I know they will find many changes seeded by our time together. They are already so strong, and are so clearly apparent in the space. I can only imagine how much more is coming through as we continue with the support of the ancestors, and the inspiration of the future generations as our guides.
With much love, deep appreciation and so much joy,
Maaianne
