The importance of space, for learning and transformation

Blogpost CEAL of G – participant of the Edventure-program in Frome, UK

Having the space to work is of the utmost importance should we wish to create new avenues of thought and channels of action within ourselves, to manifest in the world around us and connect with clarity to others.

At Edventure in Frome, all participants and activities radiate from The Hub, the centre axis of the wheel. The wheel is where the motion happens, where the cyclical nature of life is perpetuated, producing new energy, new life, new ideas.

For me, the Hub in Frome is the most special of spaces. Tailored around the needs of the townspeople, the young, the old, those who are full of momentum and those who are not, there are many places within this centre that cater and collate the different needs that surround us. We have The Workshop, The Cave, The Classroom, The Greenhouse, The Kitchen, The Living Room and The Open Air Hub, all inviting a different part of yourself to be involved.

One day during our course, I was hiving away in The Workshop making our Tiny Home. I was wearing ear defenders, sawing batons of wood to make the upright posts for the build. Mid task, one of my fellow team members, Yannis, came to me with open eyes and a question. He asked me if I could teach him some yoga to help him with the pains in his foot. Yannis broke bones in his foot and his ankle just over a year ago, where he had to have pieces of metal put in place to support the healing process. Encased in a cast for six months, the psychological repercussions of the damage were traumatic for him, and as well as the scars on his body still flaring up regularly.

Yannis ordinarily suffers very much on his own, his struggle is internalised, so for me to be greeted with his open eyes, looking at me with a brightness and an inquiry into whether I could help him, this was the most remarkable of things. Something had evolved in him, a new way of thinking had come around, a new way to cope, to deal with his situation. He no longer saw himself as alone in his sufferings, he saw someone else that could aid him as opposed to something that didn’t and couldn’t understand. For me, this personal evolution, this space created inside himself, I saw as the most exquisite of fruits to be born from The Hub, from CEAL, from what we are creating together. It creates a feeling of alleviation and freshness.

For any project, for any task, for any group of people to attain their goals, to be able to reach the dreams that you have, from what I have seen, are only possible within a contained environment.

For community projects that benefit our humanity, we must create – and find space to do so. This is exactly what the Hub provides for us. I have seen it impact the hearts of my peers, I have felt it change the inside of me, and I hope to continue to innovate within this opportunity.

CEAL is supported by the Erasmusplus program (find out more here). Want to find out more about the initiatives, CEAL-programs and how we host Community-based Entrepreneurship Action-Learning programs? Come to the CEAL-festival in Brussels on September 3rd and 4th. Find out more on the CEAL-festivalpage