Process
Meditation & Chi Kung
The mornings began with group meditation led by a facilitator, helping to ground the participants in the practice of mindfulness and spiritual awareness. Some found a full hour too much sitting so the choice of 30 minutes sitting followed by a more active Chi Gung or Thai Chi was agreed on. As the weeks progressed, this engaged spiritual practice became second nature to many participants, to stay with them long after the course had finished.
Design Groups & Presentations
With a view to Design Studio, a section of the EDE unique to Thailand?s program, groups where formed early on in the EDE course, selected so as to create a good cross section of gender and nationality, a choosing game was played. These groups then became a little family where ideas flowed and the challenges of conflict and facilitation where learnt and resolved.
Through Participatory Action Research the participants learnt the importance of drawing on indigenous wisdom of the community they were designing for. Understanding the land, where the springs are and the maybe unnoticed assets of the land. This information is of great importance when doing a comprehensive plan, as people who live year in year out on the land have a deeper understanding and connection to the place than those who come in for a limited time. When the time came to present, many of the participants felt they had learnt a great deal and formed stronger bonds with each other. Some people where more creative while others where better organisers, while others learnt of skills they never knew they had. The combination of all these skills created divers and comprehensive designs that were well received by the community at Bo Nok.
Daily Recap
Each day a ?Home Group? presented the previous days r
ecap, not only did this keep everyone up to speed on the process of the learning, it also showed facilitators how much had been absorbed. The creativity of participants was encouraged to flow, with an open style; whether you tell it like a story, or draw it like a ?mind map? that is up to you, so long as the relevant information is understood.
Deepening Transformation
Another important part of the EDE learning process is how to deepen the learning, this process offered a space for everyone to share their own knowledge or opinion on the subject, through this open forum type discussion new insights where learnt and understanding deepened.
