Back in the Out & Equal Summit 2009 wrap up post, I mentioned the Communication Solutions(TM) of the YES! Institute. I’m currently working on how to bring this organization into town to hold workshops, and I’m also considering attending their workshops over Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend.
I highly recommend these powerful workshops on Gender and Orientation as you are building your gay relationships. From just the 90 minutes I spent with this group of folks during this year’s Summit, I was able to learn so much about a solution for communication based on ‘win-win’ not ‘win-lose,’ which tends to be most communication frame of reference.
One of the key ingredients of this workshop is the “Just Be” exercise for gay relationships. No talking or facial expressions necessary as you stand and “be” with another person. It’s not an easy thing to do, and what I found is I drew on a lot of the soul work I’d already been doing over the past year or so. (You may remember the Eckhart Tolle post from a while back.)
This exercise became a way for me to focus on my breathing and become aware of places in my body where I had to react. For some reason, we want to do things instead of Just Be, and I find these points in my shoulders and legs where the mind and body want to express.
It has also helped me realize that the Four Sisters Groove needs an additional exercise for gay relationships. Beyond the Finding Your Spot on the Dance Floor self-assessment, I think the Groove workshops will need an exercise on building awareness. It needs to be the next level within the Groove as the exercise will help folks to be more aware.
I look forward to developing it for gay relationships, but first: who wants to attend the Communication Solutions(TM) workshop in Miami in January?
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