DUMMERSTON — A Listening Festival, will be held on Sunday, Oct. 23, from 2-5 p.m., at Geryunant near Stickney Brook in West Dummerston.
Jointly sponsored by Geryunant and by Brattleboro Time Trade, this event is free and open to all Windham County residents reeling from the traumatic events of the last few months, and provides a structure in which neighbors can speak their experiences, feelings and thoughts and be well heard.
Why a Listening Festival? Carrying around experiences and feelings that one longs to express but cannot is a kind of suffering. The festival aims to provide a space where people can be fully, compassionately and non-judgementally heard. This kind of listening allows inside things to come out of hiding, speak their truth, and continue their growth, rather than remaining frozen and stuck inside.
Listening circles will be facilitated by Geryunant co-directors Helen Hawes and Gena Corea and by Beatrice Blake. All are certified trainers in Focusing, a practice that involves deep listening.
The festival will include some brief instruction on listening. While it may seem strange to treat listening as something that needs to be taught, there is little encouragement to slow down and be fully present to another person. People are free to speak about anything on which they need to be heard, not necessarily issues in connection with recent events.
Fiddler and singer Lissa Schneckenburger will enliven the gathering with her music in pauses between listening rounds. A graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, she has been bringing the New England musical traditions to a wider audience throughout the United States and internationally through her seven CDs and extensive touring.
Geryunant, founded in 2003, is an intimate retreat center bringing together Focusing and artistic expression in the healing presence of nature. Details on its offerings are available at www.geryunant.com.
Hawes and Corea, the co-facilitators for the Listening Festival, are also co-directors of Geryunant. Hawes is a practicing artist with works in many private and corporate collections. She is also a Reiki Master and the creativity consultant for a large software company. Corea has led Listening Circles since 1998, as well as inner growth workshops for men serving long terms in a Massachusetts prison.She is the author of three books published by HarperCollins,
Assisting in the listening circles will be Certified Focusing Trainer Beatrice Blake who has been sharing listening and Focusing with community groups in El Salvador, many of whom carry the wounds of war, since 2007. She also teaches Nonviolent Communication in these groups. She conducts a private practice in Focusing and related skills in Brattleboro.
Corea and Hawes, as well as Blake and Schneckneburger, all belong to Brattleboro Time Trade whose members are volunteering a variety of skills to create the Listening Festival.
Brattleboro Time Trade, in using a new currency of “time credits,” has found a way to value each person's time/life equally. Time Trade members earn credits by using their skills to help others. Each hour of service provided to another member earns one time credit. Members can spend their time credits on services provided by any other members.
Under a “community service” category, members creating the Listening Festival receive time credits. More details on Brattleboro Time Trade can be found at www.brattleborotimetrade.org.