“Who am I?”

“What is the question I was born to answer?”

“If I weren’t afraid, what would I do?

These are just some of the tough soul-searching questions that participants asked themselves and others at the Awakening Soulforce - Becoming Agents of Nonviolent Change Training on October 30-November 1. Sixteen participants and three trainers gathered in the Santa Cruz mountains at the Ben Lomond Quaker Center to explore nonviolent personal transformation. The second training in January will focus on nonviolence in interpersonal relations, and the third training in May will address nonviolent action and movements. As a Pace e Bene intern, I had the opportunity to attend as a participant while also helping with logistics.

The topic of this weekend was “awakening soulforce.” Gandhi used the word satyagraha to describe the creative technique of nonviolent change. The first part of the word - satya - means truth, soul, or that which is. The second part - agraha - means firm, steadfast, force, holding onto, or gripping. Hence the term “soulforce.”  The first activity of the weekend was to reflect on, define, and express soulforce through writing, art, and movement. Here are some of the ideas participants shared:

·         Inner light

·         Place of calm and stillness

·         Movement

·         Transformative power

·         Positive, joyful eruption

·         Calling and compelling

·         Love

·         Balancing act

·         Unshakeable

·         Burrowing into God

·         Fire

Soulforce allows us to establish human connections and recognize the humanity in others. It helps create safety for all/both parties. It means embodying love for other people. It requires being at peace with one’s actions, even if there are no immediate results. It is the experience of the unexpected. It is listening within and having an awareness of one’s body. Have you ever experienced or embodied soulforce?

The Awakening Soulforce training was a multisensory experience of learning that engaged the mind, body, heart, and spirit. One of my favorite fun activities was what the trainers called the “Jackson Pollock” activity. We all gathered around a table covered in flipchart paper, each with a marker in hand, and to the sound of “Flight of the Bumblebee” we vigorously drew and scribbled. Each time the music paused, we moved one space to the right, eventually making our way all around the table. We smiled, laughed, and created beautiful art together.

At the end we were told we needed as a group to decide what to do with our artwork and to make something out of it together. We decided on soulforce prayer flags! We cut our artwork into about twenty pieces and wrote words on them like humor, peace, energy, community, strength, truth, heart, courage, commitment, joy, presence, hope, humility, faith, movement, and unconditional love. We worked together on the project and eventually hung it from rafter to rafter in our training space.

Training participant Anna Cassilly shared the following video with us. Look at the power of soulforce! Proof that, as Thich Nhat Hanh says, a smile is one of the most subversive peace practices…and so are compliments, apparently.

Video: Validation