The Connection Playground is currently asleep, waiting for its time to reemerge in new form – if you have ideas about that, feel free to reach out. For context, you can find information here about its most recent expression (2020-2023) as an online community where we came together to celebrate life and support the evolution of human consciousness through exploring connection with self, other and nature.
As human beings we are wired for connection and community. I know that, because raising those needs into my own consciousness has been a vital thread in my path. In my early life, over and over again, I found myself suffering from a sense of not belonging to the groups and environments I found myself in. Over and over again, that drove me to disconnect from them. Then, I’d suffer even more until I found a new space, “maybe here I will finally fit?”. I didn’t even know why it was happening. I just knew something didn’t feel right. I was looping in a space of inner disconnectedness that was being reflected in every personal and professional group I took part in. Until one day a friend of mine, Jem Bendell, founder of the Deep Adaptation movement encouraging people to find inner and outer adaptation to potential and already unfolding societal breakdown, got me to seriously consider the question.
“If you found out you have 10 years left to live, what would you do?”
My answer to that question was: “Well, I better make sure I f*&#ing live!” which led me to ask “But what does it mean to live?”. Well, I FEEL alive when I feel connected, fully present and engaged with my inner world, with others and with nature. “Then does it really matter if I have 1 day, 10 years or 50 years left? If that’s what makes me feel alive, that’s what I should be moving towards.” It was in that moment that I committed to my purpose of connection, which for me is really about exploring what the hell does that word mean, by experiencing it.
What are the shapes connection can take?
And how can we nourish that feeling within ourselves, so it can express itself in our external reality? In the last few years, this has been the focus of everything I’ve done. I started with creating an offline community, the “Connection Playground”, in Ubud, Bali, where we met every week and participants volunteered to share their own practices for connection with self, other and nature.
When I left Bali, I continued exploring this question in my coaching and shamanic work, and in facilitating different online and offline groups as I was moving from place to place. Fast forward to 16 March 2020 when I found myself in Peru as the government decided to enforce mandatory isolation due to corona virus.
I immediately thought “Oh but I want to keep doing what I love, I will just move it all online”. A friend told me this is the perfect moment to revive the Connection Playground community, this time in online form. In this way, we could transform the isolation into the blessing of playing together and connecting with one another with people from all over the world. In this way we could support the emergence of the new straight out of the hardship we are facing collectively.
What is the Connection Playground?
The Connection Playground is an online community where we come together to celebrate life and support the evolution of human consciousness through exploring connection with self, other and nature. It’s based on 4 core principles:
1. Connection with ourselves
A person in a state of alignment with their true nature can relate with love to whatever goes on within and around them. Thus, they can’t help but live a full, healthy, beautiful and inspiring life.
2. Connection with each other
Love and belonging are core human needs. They are also a natural outcome of conscious living beings connecting to one another in spirit of truth and respect;
3. Connection with nature
We are nature. It is inside us and all around, always there to support us abundantly with everything we need. That is, as long as we know how to receive its gifts and stay present, with our eyes, hearts and minds open to it.
4. Community & play
We can create spaces to experiment, explore and deepen our inner- and interconnectedness. We can do so by bringing attention to it and allowing it to emerge. Each of us has their gifts to bring to the mix and it’s so beautiful when we come together and support each other in it.
How does the Connection Playground work?
At the moment, the Connection Playground is focused on creating online spaces where we get together to connect and play with whatever practice or topic is currently present for us. We are aiming to move fast and break things, which is why it’s been messy and emergent. For now we rely mostly on our facebook page and email newsletter to share what we are doing and a private facebook group to connect with those who wish to get more engaged in our community. Hopefully, once the virus situation settles, we can direct more attention to supporting the emergence and promotion of offline playgrounds. Currently, you can take part in the following ways:
1. Participating
You can join our newsletter and like our facebook page to get notified of online intimate gatherings, events and courses coming up. It’s a box of bonbons with different flavours and you can choose whatever you like best. We offer different kinds of meditation, embodiment & dance, authentic relating, shamanic work, rituals, breathwork, women and men circles, energy and healing work, as well as group discussions and practice spaces around sexuality, money mindset, voice activation, creativity, purpose alignment etc. If you sign up to our newsletter, we’ll be announcing our weekly favourites every Monday, so you can plan ahead and put the ones you want to join in your calendar. Between events, we also stay connected, play with some challenges, support one another and co-create via a private facebook group. Only people who have attended our events can be invited to join the group, if interested in getting more involved with us.
2. Holding Space
You can create and share online events and challenges supporting connection and evolution of human consciousness. You can have your events promoted via our facebook page, weekly newsletter and in other events taking place in our network. You must offer at least one free event to our community, at which you can share about some paid events/services we might also support you in promoting, if there is alignment for both sides. Before exploring what we can create together, we also ask you to participate in at least one of our events. This allows both sides to get a sense of one another, before moving on with further collaboration.
3. Inviting friends
Feel free to invite friends you LOVE having around to like our facebook page, sign up to our newsletter or join any of the events you are planning to attend. In this way we ensure we have an awesome group with awesome people we can trust to co-create awesome experiences with.
4. Supporting & donating
Help us make this project happen with promoting it and helping it reach more people, attracting new space holders and hosts, caring for existing ones, leading some new projects and challenges, helping us engage and make this an awesome experience for our community, fundraising or whatever else you are skilled at and you feel we might need right now. If you are interested, please join one of our events where we can get a sense of one another, before we can invite you to the more active part of our community.
Our initiative is currently run by volunteers. If you’d like to support us financially, you can do so via Paypal or Patreon. If you’d like to support us in some other ways, we are happy to talk to you. You can write us here.
We look forward to playing with you!