Sovereign Together.

I am passionate about distilling and sharing the catalysts which help people care more effectively and in turn, feel that life truly cares deeply for them. That their existence is an essential ingredient to the circles they belong to. I call this being a village rememberer. Think about it, nobody wants to work in a job at which they don't feel appreciated. Nobody wants to love where they are taken advantage of; quickly limited to a projected view of potential. I don't know anyone who wants to be sold the latest solution from someone who says it works for them so it should work for you. But where would you recall someone modelling the way to create belonging - that is if you were to pause and reflect on your workplaces, your relationships and your latest purchases?

I think about this level of intimacy in society every day and as it turns out, of everything I have done in life, developing that inquiry has been my longest relationship focus. What if in a few minutes, you could transform your confusion, heartbreak, creative block and background sense of alienation (or any other invisible, yet enslaving symptoms of culture like me-centric individualism, high- speed, high-fructose, caffeinated consumerism and not to mention the epidemic of forgetfulness of how to be a human village) by reviving a thriving culture from within. With self-aware style self care practices, there is a huge opportunity to see, care and affirm the life of the “other” because it becomes familiar through practice with oneself. What if behind the neurosis, anxiety, depression, perfectionism, you were an alchemist, a creator in your everyday decisions? Seem a bit idealistic? Sure, I get that. There is a critical mass rising toward a more collaborative, intimate, creative (versus reactive) culture in which not only will our achievements build our presence of merit, but our process of becoming more fully realized is also worthy of celebration. I call it village life because the last time we generally participated in a culture that valued more than your productivity, we were in small, intergenerational, interdisciplinary villages.

This is what I choose as my journey; to forge toward a tangible freedom, allowing curiosity and courage to guide the depths of connections beyond the menial, transactional norms perpetuated by the modern demanding values of “bigger, better, faster, more.” To dive to the core of the issue of our pandemic of loneliness, or the symptomatic treatment of anxiety and depression is to mythbust the habitual, if not unconscious patterns currently squashing our potential for connecting, cultivating peace, designing for fulfillment and becoming who we can be, together. I believe that who we are, when we get to fully express, will design more harmonious contributions to society versus the current trend of problem-centred adaptive design which can, over time (and a lack of curiosity,) stray so far from the core intention; lost in the lust of technological capacity itself. Soon enough, we will find ourselves on the moon with our sense of satisfaction, peace and fulfillment wandering somewhere in an undefined cosmos.

Self aware self-care brings you back to centre, to your roots, to your own capacity and sense of guidance. Inside of that “home base’ it is an instinct to want to share, to be in community. What that looks like is up to you, yet there are some core shared elements to one’s sense of fulfilment. Think less destination, more journey, and you will be on the same track that Simon Sinek, author of “Find Your Why” defined and distilled. He distilled a recipe for fulfillment that emerged from his cultural anthropological lens and life altering shift from his work in the marketing industry:

“Fulfillment comes from energy exerted in the direction of an ideal destination or vision.”

He identifies three components; a) energy, exerted (notice he doesn’t say achieved) in the direction of an b) ideal (this is the realm of values, which are fulfilled needs) aimed toward a c) destination or vision to focus the journey. Ignited to distill this kind of wisdom into daily practices which I had learned throughout the silos of my assorted training in user-centred design thinking, fine arts, transformative relationship coaching, holistic self care (yoga, Ayurveda) interdenominational, intergenerational, interdisciplinary community organizing, mindfulness training, and cultural anthropology, it made sense to dissolve those silo walls to increase access to a pivotal series of self-customizable catalysts.

What if with the press of a button, you are reminded and guided to such intimate depths of experience that you feel you are breathing that new awareness, self permission, personal freedom to own your own journey in taking the difficult or mundane moments of life and mold them according to your own vision into nourishing, meaningful and innovative capacity builders? What if when you collapse into blame, shame, defeat, defense, escapism, procrastination you could instead cultivate catalysts that drawn upon capacities you already have? Do you have focus, feeling and the ability to express your intention? Would you still believe that success and fulfillment is for other people and somehow not you? What if instead of the experience of building yourself up, you rather get to soften into the remembrance of your fuller identity seeking to be seen and expressed? What if you regularly engaged with a community that reminds you how? What if you could experience and cultivate “village” right where you are, right now?

The role of the village is, at the very least, a presence with varying perspective that persists the memory through ritual and celebrated rites of passage to facilitate our very own full expression through the passive receptive skill of remembrance and the active practice requiring courage and curiosity the qualities of the heart found in leaders cross culturally. Gone would be that identity-crippling moment, that a careless prescription of one’s potential mentioned by a teacher, a friend, a parent in the soft, yielding childhood that eventually echoes as that inner critic plaguing the minds of adults. Instead, we only have causes to deepen our care and get free.

I am here to dive into the heart of where and why we give our true potential away and how we can take it back and place it inside a nutrient-rich intention for a better, more connected, caring and meaningful life.

To be Sovereign, Together. In love, work and in life. That is what is possible with self aware self care at the foundation of how we relate to life, to each other, even when it seems life has let us down. Even though I had study and lots of unofficial practice of results in real life, it was not until I lost a series of capacities and connections in the moment of a serious car accident that I truly realized how fragile my North American cultured community was, and the existence through which I was maintaining my life-giving connections. I started to write, sit with coaches, take various guidance journeys, participate in healing rituals and trust my intuition about which teachers and collaborators to connect with. Compared to the Indigenous cultures of the world that I had studied, there are so many gaps (undesigned areas) of which an individual and their society was missing but that I saw as such a glaring opportunity to support the fully realized genius individuals should get to experience regardless of their age, profession, location or ethnicity. That is when The Praqtice started to take shape. Not in a classroom, yoga studio, coaching call or a business conference. Inside the daily habits and moments that wake you up from your comfortable patterns. It's the breakups, the breakdowns, the conflict or the confusion that were lacking a formidable paradigm to transform into a quality of consciousness that has a chance to express through you as a more aligned, attuned, more intentionalized expression.

Let’s put this reality into a situation you can really see.

Imagine you have an idea for society and you really think it is going to make a difference. You want to give it the best chance to flourish. So you sign up to a coworking space built for a different kind of entrepreneur. With your membership, you get to work in a modern, spacious, inspiring coworking space that responds to the time of day to moderate the temperature and light by nature of its eco sensitive materials and design. When you step inside, it feels like home, only energizing. It has quickly become the epicentre for your sense of belonging. It is where you feel your sense of self expanding beyond your past limitations and instead of feeling small in the process you feel free, in fact you have helped others through because you took the course on site for creative catalyst facilitation. You transformed your recent blocked beliefs in the concept of your design workflow, and journaled on the shift from conflict and confusion into greater clarity, noticing how it deepened your commitment to your self care practice. It helped you customize the various components you use to attune to your sense of connected mind-body-spirit. You reconfigured your playlist of downloadable guided attunement sessions you use in between your productivity sessions.

You grab a drink from the elixir bar where your pass shares the specific nature of your mind body type so you can enjoy a customized concoction to harmonize with your system considering the time of day you ordered it. The 10 minutes you spent taking in the brilliant colours of your drink’s fruit and vegetables grown outside in the permaculture education garden that supports %80 of the restaurant on site. You get to really pause and back in gratitude for the decision you made to come here. To breathe life and your own unique expression into a business that will be lifted by those who collaborate and give feedback in the various evening talks and incubator open dialogues between the community and your project leads. What if you paid to use this space and its membership and it became your greatest ally, mentor and cheerleader fulfilling on your sense of village such that you get to fully witness who you can become?

The question that remains, is who can you be? The possibility of growing through your edges is real. It all starts inside a culture that honours self aware self care. Having reimagined work culture that fosters the inner game in order to give the outer game of innovation and business (a word we might as well replace with relationships) it's not just a success incubator, it's the success journey the way nature might have intended it.

I am building the core courses and skilling cultures and council while dreaming up the space collaborators. You can find out more by reaching out to me. I look forward to hearing from you!

Aeryana