19/01/2022
This report by Diana Mota, drama and movement therapist, is meant to give you a little insight into the work of the Eternal Great Beginnings (EGB for short). If it arouses your interest and you know a little bit about the work of Fooling, you are cordially invited to come to the next EGB from 30 March to 3 April 2022. More information HERE: https://nomadicacademy.org/the-eternal-great-beginning/
"I am in the Beginners 1 group. This was my second EGB. This experience offered me a wider sense of belonging to the NOA community and expanded my image of the fool.
I now feel strongly connected with other NOA members, besides my Beginners 1 group, especially with my EGB group and its Foolcilitator. As most of the time I work with Beginners 1, the EGB worked as a window into the larger picture of the NOA.
In the EGB, I could use the space and time to explore and try out new ways of communicating, performing and being. I was struck by the acceptance shared by the NOA members of this communal creative process of not-knowing together.
I felt encouraged, supported and gently (yet firmly) pushed to get my excuses, what if’s, prejudices and (self) judgements out of my way. I could experience the difference between to play being someone or something and being them. It was a privilege and pleasure to see so many characters, settings and stories unfold.
Each person’s experience and imaginary is a whole world, both private and personal and universal.
In the EGB there are also people who are not part of NOA, which adds an extra quality and contribution to the work.
The way the EGB is designed really offers a complete experience, as we have time to work the big group, with Jonathan, and in a small group facilitated by a NOA Foolcilitator. We have both a taste the NOA’S big group diversity and richness and the opportunity to choose a smaller group to work consistently with for a few days. This allows for a safe space where to risk and deepen our exploration gradually.
This experience contributes to my way of listening and being with others around me, no matter which context I’m in. It adds an extra layer of joy, curiosity and pleasure to my everyday life and my work, even with the world feeling like a hard and strange place these days.
I feel I am becoming more open, less judgmental and more flexible in the way I am in the world and interact with others.
The work we share in the EGB (and in NOA altogether) is for me a particular act of love, daring and welcoming of all things we are and can ever be."
