Healing Communities

It feels like a time of moving from a consumptive economy to an enrichment economy. That said, I am inspired to breathe life back into a long-held vision to develop a highly creative and self-sufficient community as a model and resource center for others who want to explore harmonious ways of living. My idea of this is community made up of simple individual living spaces, although if people are inspired to live in more of a collective, that's up to them. The community I have envisioned will have five primary focuses: 1) care for and education of the children; 2) food production; 3) architectural design for energy and resource efficiency with an emphasis on aesthetic beauty; 4) healing and transformational services (which includes a strong emphasis on the creative arts), and 5) consulting, communications and external project funding. The objective is to provide livelihoods for community members through these five focus areas.

I see people from all walks of life visiting this community not only to explore the idea of cooperative living, but to take part in a series of experiences which would open them up to their creative potential by reconnecting them to a part of themselves that longs to dream and to celebrate. By the way this model can easily be integrated into existing communities.

Intuitive knowing and a sense of balance within our environment has been conditioned out of many of us, or at least significantly repressed. How many of us are even the least bit aware of what our own bodies are trying to communicate to us through discomfort or illness? We have been taught not to pay attention—take a pill and it will go away, rather than exploring where our body is telling us we are out of balance. Similarly we are taught not to pay too much attention to the environmental imbalances that speak to us of a system in distress. If the water is not healthy to drink, we are sold water filters rather than being asked to look at how we are contributing to the situation.

The objective of the experiences people would go through in this community is to get them back into their bodies, so to speak, to enliven their senses and empower them to be acutely aware of how they are interacting with everything going on inside of and around them.

There could be retreat-type programs that included some or all of the following: 1) dream work and journaling; 2) body movement including five-rhythms, ecstatic or freeform dance, Tai Chi, yoga, etc.; 3) music workshops, i.e., drumming, singing, toning, etc., 4) communication workshops, i.e., consensus or team building, effective/compassionate dialoging and active listening, mediation; and 5) solo or guided wilderness quests. Body work or healing modalities geared toward accelerated release of emotional and physical blocks would also be available upon request, but would not be required.

During the course of a day, visitors would have free time to spend with members of the community whose function they were particularly interested in. For example, if someone’s profession was as an educator they might be interested in observing how that function happened in the community.

At the end of a day, people might gather around a fire to the sound of drumming to hear the storyteller weave a tale of who we are and where we have come from. Then the group would begin to develop their own story of where they want to go. By creating one’s own dream, the chances of maintaining the commitment to follow through are greatly increased.

The emphasis of the community experience would be to empower people to start from wherever they are to create a more satisfying life. Although the community itself would serve as one model, it is only that. This would not be presented as the only way to live, since it will simply not be within the reach of some of the people who come as participants. Ideally, funds will be raised to enable people from a range of social situations to come and participate and to have access to the help they need to actualize their dreams. For example, inner-city youth who are interested in taking their energy for organizing gangs and directing it another way can apply for scholarships. Once they have developed a plan or vision for how they want to enhance the communities from which they have come, staff members would be available as consultants to assist with the development of plans or to guide them to the resources they will need. It is even possible that some type of foundation could be set up as a part of the community that would provide funds for start-up projects on a limited basis.

The Community Core Center Design

Urban or suburban communities can also be enlivened and transformed with the introduction of a community core center. The model community proposed above would serve as a resource center to provide consulting services to guide people through the process of designing centers in their existing neighborhoods for the purpose of reestablishing and deepening their joyful engagement with one another. These centers would incorporate nodes that catered to the needs and interests of the members of that particular community. Existing buildings can be adapted for this purpose. In new developments, or where vacant lots exist, earth-friendly, energy-smart centers can be built. Following are some of the components that might make sense:

* A type of “general store” that would be a food co-op, carrying locally grown organic foods and also hand-crafted goods. An important aspect would also be to have a type of café or gathering space for socializing. Having live music or open-mike events further attracts people to hang out and interact, as well as creating venues for artistic expression.

* Shared gardens, both a community food garden and beautiful reflective gardens to engage the senses and for peaceful contemplation and renewal.

* A business resource center, particularly for people who have home-based businesses who would benefit from convenient access to shared equipment or services such as shipping. These can be relatively small and still serve the needs of the immediate community. It can also be a place for people to have a workspace who are visiting for a while.

* A community room for gathering to play music or have performances, meetings, classes such as yoga, dance, or celebrations of various kinds.

* In artisan communities there may be a desire for a ceramics studio or another type of workshop that people wouldn’t necessarily have room to incorporate in their home space, and would enjoy sharing with others.

* There might also be a desire for a few spa type rooms with hot tubs and space for services like massage or body work, or other healing modalities.

* There could be spaces for after school programs with the elders of the community being available for tutoring, storytelling, or childcare.

Basically, members designing the center would want to think in terms of what would draw them into the community space with others, feel nurturing, and make their life easier and more joyous.

When I think about these spaces I know that beauty draws me in, not just functionality. I suppose this would be the Feng Shui aspect of the design, or what encourages energy to flow there. Buckminster Fuller captured it when he said: “When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I only think about how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.”

The garden aspect of the core center seems key. Personally, I like the idea of rooms or spaces that are built out around a beautiful hub—a garden that people can even walk into and sit next to a pond or small waterfall. Hot tub rooms could be situated to look onto the garden in areas that would have privacy. The café or other socializing spaces would also be enhanced by the garden. Additionally, there could be two garden spaces, one a community garden for growing food, the other aesthetic.

These centers would be supported financially both by membership fees from the community members, similar to homeowner’s association dues, and revenues generated by different aspects like the business center, café, or healing services. There may even be Bed and Breakfast pods adjoining the center for visitors coming for workshops held at the center, or just people who are interested in visiting to experience what it is like to live in one of these vibrant hubs. Additionally, initiatives could be put forward with local governments to give financial incentives for these centers since they would increase the health and well-being of their citizenry. This isn’t out of the question, since this is a common practice with large-scale development.

I also see this being a car-free center with ample bike and walking paths leading into the center, with covered, artistically enhanced walkways in between the different pods of the hub. One of the community services could be little electric shuttle carts for people who couldn’t walk or bike into the center from an outlying area.

To further enhance the healing aspect of this core center, it could be designed in line with sacred geometry principles and include things like labyrinths. There is so much creativity that could be brought to this endeavor and ultimately it is about communities thriving because money is kept local and relationships with each other and the Earth are the focal point.

Please respond if you want to join me in taking this idea further! (Or, if you already have such a thing going!)