Join Barbara Ford and Seattle’s Rebekka Goldsmith (www.rebekkagoldsmith.com) for a fun and inspiring couple of hours exploring our individual and collective voices. We’ll be playing, singing, inspiring, laughing, and coming together in community through Circlesinging- a vocal jam session process created by Bobby McFerrin and friends. $10-$15 requested at the door, no one turned away.

About Circlesinging:

CircleSinging can be described lots of ways: vocal improvisation, vocal “jamming”, add-a-part/change-a-part, vocal orchestra, “voicestra”, a “drum circle” for singers, or just plain “make it up” singing. It’s done all over the world in countless different ways and it dates back to the earliest forms of human singing. It is a “mistake-free” zone, for all levels of singers. The circlesong leader creates parts on the spot, and leads groups in fun, poly-rhythmic, resonant, and harmonic wordless song which can move, amuse, inspire, and strengthen community. Circlesong leader Barbara Ford has studied with Bobby McFerrin, Seattle’s Rebekka Goldsmith, and others to learn how to facilitate this joyful singing experience.

Where:Friends-Multnomah Meeting, 4312 Southeast Stark Street, Portland, OR

When: Saturday, March 23, 2013, 7-9 pm

Cost: $10-$15, no one turned away.

CircleSinging can be described lots of ways: vocal improvisation, vocal “jamming”, add-a-part/change-a-part, vocal orchestra, “voicestra”, a “drum circle” for singers, or just plain “make it up” singing. It’s done all over the world in countless different ways and it dates back to the earliest forms of human singing. It is a “mistake-free” zone, for all levels of singers. The circlesong leader creates parts on the spot, and leads groups in fun, poly-rhythmic, resonant, and harmonic wordless song which can move, amuse, inspire, and strengthen community. Circlesong leader Barbara Ford has studied with Bobby McFerrin, Seattle’s Rebekka Goldsmith, and others to learn how to facilitate this joyful singing experience.

Join in to share your voice with others in a led improvisational hourlong circlesinging experience! Created by singer Bobby McFerrin, circlesinging is a wonderful way to come together in community to share our voices, learn more about rhythm, harmony, and improvisation. We’ll start with fun warmups and vocal games, then connect our voices in 2, 3, 4, or more parts to create resonance and connection. A donation of $5-$10 is requested, no one turned away.

Where: Regents Center- 3185 Northeast Regents Drive, Portland, OR

When: February 5, 2013, 7 pm

Cost: $5-$10 donation requested, no one turned away

With our planet and economies in crisis, our political process in chaos, and our cultural story in transition, many people feel hopeless, cynical, or despairing. Active Hope is an empowering, creative stance for meeting these challenges. This workshop, based largely on the work of eco-philosopher Joanna Macy, explores new ways in which we can face these issues, find inspiration, and embody our gifts for the healing of our world. Through the use of deep dialogue, group ritual, music, and our own wild imaginings, we will explore together the ground of gratitude, honor our pain for the world, and grow our deepened sense of interconnectedness and empowerment as we face, together, the peril and beauty of our changing world.

Date: Saturday March 23, 2013

Time: 9:30am- 4pm

Place: Multnomah Friends Meeting Hall,
4312 SE Stark St.
Portland,OR 97215

Cost: Please note that this workshop is being offered on a gift economy basis. I ask participants to offer an amount that feels good and right and fair to them, that they can afford, and that they can give joyfully. This is an experiment to see how we might come together to collectively increase accessibility to this important work, so that all who wish to can come. When you register, you will be asked to name a donation amount for your payment.

Registration for this event is available at this link

What is Radical Gratitude?

Radical Gratitude is an active, not passive, experience-
an active receiving and offering of the blessing of presence.
Radical Gratitude is available no matter what circumstances surround us.
Radical Gratitude depends on us choosing to be awake and mindful.
Radical Gratitude is an embodied experience, not just a cognitive one.
Radical Gratitude is a primary way of knowing deeply our interconnectedness to all, and thus is self-supporting.

Join with folks in this daylong retreat to explore practices, impediments, and new ways of working with Gratitude as a tool for grounding and offering your gifts to the world. How do we maintain a grateful heart in the midst of an unjust and troubled world? What would a life steeped in gratitude feel like? How does the active practice of gratitude affect our relationships with each other and the world?

Registration is through the Adult Education Program at First Unitarian Church of Portland. Contact Katie Radditz here for details, or call 503-228-6389, x17

Event time is 9:30 am to 3:30 pm. Please bring your own lunch.

This six week distance-learning course is based on the book Active Hope by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone: it is designed to help you read the book at a deeper level, to more thoroughly absorb its teachings and to strengthen your ability to engage in Active Hope as a practice for the healing of our world. Over the course you will:

• join a group of up to 12 other people (plus two facilitators) in reading the book
• participate in weekly webinars to draw out key points and deepen your understanding
• engage in group and partnered exercises to move us round the spiral of the Work That Reconnects
• support each other in finding and offering our gift of Active Hope, which is our best response to the crisis unfolding in our world.

The course is facilitated by Active Hope’s co-author Chris Johnstone and experienced Work That Reconnects facilitator Barbara Ford. More information is available at this link.

The course takes place over six Wednesdays, with sessions of 90 minutes starting at 7.30pm UK time, 2.30pm US ET, 1.30pm US CT, 11.30am US PT and 8.30pm Europe CET. We begin on Jan 23rd, 2013.

Cost and payment

$200 (approx £130 or €153) full fee
$150 (approx £96 or €115) early booking discount
$100 (approx £65 or €77) concession rate if on low income

Limited scholarships are available. Please contact Chris to inquire.
You can pay via paypal (which does currency conversion if needed) at this link. We can also take cheques (in the UK and US) or direct bank transfers. Please email us to arrange this- Contact Chris here or Barbara here.

‘We live at a time when the living body of our Earth is under attack and when the attacker is not an alien force but our own industrial-growth society. At the same time, an extraordinary recovery process is under way, a vital creative response we call the Great Turning. What helps us face the mess we’re in is the knowledge that each of us has something significant to offer, a contribution to make. In rising to the challenge of playing our best role, we discover something precious that both enriches our lives and adds to the healing of the world. An oyster, in response to trauma, grows a pearl. We grow, and offer, our gift of Active Hope.’
From Active Hope, p.238.

A weekend retreat in partnership with the First Unitarian Church of Portland. Here’s the link with the program description and registration information:

Active Hope Retreat

Hope is something we do, rather than something we have. Active Hope is about finding, and offering, our best response to the crisis of sustainability unfolding in our world. It offers tools that help us face the mess we’re in, as well as find and play our role in the collective transition, or Great Turning, to a life-sustaining society. Join deep ecologist Joanna Macy as she shares this accessible and deeply useful book for all concerned about justice, sustainability, and peace.

Co-sponsored by GAIA Workshops, First Unitarian Church, Living Earth Gatherings, Transition PDX, and KBOO Radio.

“Books about social and ecological change 
too often leave out a vital component: 
how do we change ourselves 
so that we are strong enough 
to fully contribute to this great shift? 
Active Hope fills this gap beautifully, 
guiding readers on a journey of gratitude, grief, 
interconnection and, ultimately, transformation.” 
                                                                                       Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine

Offered as a part of the Earth and Spirit Council’s 20th Anniversary event at PCC-Sylvania. Speaking on Panel of Elders on Friday Evening, April 20, 2012, workshop on Saturday, April 21 at 9 AM.

For more information go to the conference information site here.

Workshop Description:

With our planet and economies in crisis, our political process in chaos, and our cultural story in transition, many people feel hopeless, cynical, or despairing. Active Hope is an empowering, creative stance for meeting these challenges. This workshop, based largely on the work of eco-philosopher Joanna Macy, explores new ways in which we can face these issues, find inspiration, and embody our gifts for the healing of our world. Through the use of deep dialogue, group ritual, music, and our own wild imaginings, we will explore together the ground of gratitude, honor our pain for the world, and grow our deepened sense of interconnectedness and empowerment as we face, together, the peril and beauty of our changing world.

Feeling overwhelmed by the climate crisis? Are fear and despair holding you back from action? How do we stay present, emotionally and spiritually, in order to participate effectively and joyfully in the healing of our world? How do we move beyond psychological  barriers to confront climate change with determination and empowerment? Come join us as we work through grief and despair to action, empowered to engage, advance, and defend a livable future.

Format:full day workshop, discussion, music, art, exercises!

Register: http://www.slcuu.org/adult re registration AND

Pay Registration Fee: $50 http://tinyurl.com/wkshpdesprempwrmt or via

check: First Unitarian Church, 569 S 1300 E, SLC, UT 84102 ATTN: Env Min Wkshp

“The Great Turning is a name for the essential adventure of our time: the shift from the industrial growth society to a life-sustaining civilization.”
~ Eco-Philospher Joanna Macy

Singing together is a vital tool in this shift!

Join in singing easy-to-learn songs that bring our voices together in harmony instantly, and that encapsulate the teachings of eco-philosopher Joanna Macy on the Great Turning: the shift toward a life-enhancing human presence on Earth. Woven in with the songs we will engage in interactive group practices developed by Joanna and others, known as The Work That Reconnects. Participants will come away with songs to share in their home communities, as well as a deeper understanding of the dimensions of the Great Turning and their unique place in it.

Saturday, November 12

First Unitarian Church – PORTLAND, OR

12:30 – 5:00 p.m.

Fee- $35 for UU church members, Transformative Voice Training Institute affiliates, and Singing Alive participants. $45 for general public.

Gretchen Sleicher  is a singer, songpasser, songwriter and facilitator of The Work That Reconnects, who lives in Port Townsend, Washington. She delights in weaving group singing and harmony-making into her workshop facilitation, to enhance the meaning and message with the joy of collective song. See the website: www.songsforthegreatturning.net

Barbara Ford  is a facilitator, singer, and artist, who offers workshops on the convergence of spirit, creativity, and justice work through GAIA Workshops-Growing Awareness Into Action. She is a member of First Unitarian Church.

For registration information, click here

or call Katie Radditz at 503-228-6389 x17

Questions? Gretchen at gsleicher@igc.org or Barbara at www.gaiaworkshops.net