Date(s) - February 25, 2017
Time - 11:00 am - 3:00 pm

This is a third-party event not organised by Permablitz. We've added it because we reckon it looks pretty good!

What is it like to do meaningful work every day, without asking for money, floating through life on a bubble of love?

Now you can meet someone who’s been doing it since 2011, with beautiful results: The amazing Kai Sawyer is in town!

This is a Half-day presentation and active workshop gifted by Kai, with a shared lunch.

Kai Sawyer

Kai is the founder of Tokyo Urban Permaculture, and is the inspiration behind its initiatives.

He runs workshops on the gift economy, systems thinking, deep mindfulness, NVC empathetic communication, and how to escape the salaryman trap.

Kai went to school at the illustrious Tokyo University. If you’re Japanese, you’ll know how impressive this is! That’s because studying there means you get to run Japan. Let’s hope he does!

The presentation will be on creating lively networks of support, rather than trying to do things alone. It’s also on Empathetic Communication. Just a slight shift of perception can dramatically transform our world, side-steping the communication malfunctions that are usual for we humans.

It’s at a private house, and places are limited. If you wish to attend, just fill in the form below and we’ll confirm your place and then reply with all the details.

What’s happening

11.30 – 12.30 We will gather together in a house in Fairfield (not far from a train station!) The first hour Kai will present on creating a social ecosystem that you love being in. He shares insights from his year of living in a food forest, his work with City Repair in Portland Oregon, and the ways of being encoded in Japanese traditional culture can make a more convivial, thoughtful life possible.

12.30 Lunch, Networking. Please bring a healthy dish to share!

1.30 – 3.00 Empathetic Communication Experience. Kai has done this workshop all over Japan, and says it just ‘tickles his soul’ every time he does it.
You know how when someone leaves dirty dishes around and you are upset? It’s not about dishes. What is it about? Sometimes we often don’t even know ourselves!

You can create around yourself a network of effective allies, to make your lovely visions a daily reality. WWOOf Volunteers, the share economy, are all there for you.
With the resources and nature (flawed and wonderful) that you already have, you can create a home and work environment that will take care of you, freeing you up to do good work for the world

Kai will also share some of his own projects to inspire your own: his year of living in the Eden-like food forest, sleeping in a fully-furnished bedroom without walls. Crowdsourcing a book, and recently being gifted enough to create the Permaculture Dojo: renovating a traditional farmhouse for co-working on thrilling projects, outside Tokyo, fueled by shared dinners and shared dreams.

A message from Kai to Permies:

Gift Economy and donations write up
http://livingpermaculture.blogspot.com.au/p/gift.html ＊

＊I would love for people to read this before they attend


Empathy space (aka NVC Needs Poker)
This is an activity to share our struggles and celebrations (to whatever depth we want to), and just receive empathy. It’s not about “fixing” or judging or analyzing or strategizing, and its all about just being with what is. We will gently go beyond the words, beyond the “problem”, and into the deeper needs or yearnings of each of us.

It is a simple design (easily replicable) to create the conditions necessary for us to give and receive empathy, and all the beauty that unfolds from there. One of the most effective approaches to transforming our conflicts, relationship challenges, and unwanted habits. Getting to the heart of whats important, in a short amount of time. No experience necessary, just your presence and willingness.
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing,
there is a field. I will meet you there.”
-Rumi

Short and lovely video on Empathy by Berne Brown:

A note about social permaculture
NVC and mindfulness has taught me how to engage with conflicts peacefully and on a good day, joyfully. It has allowed me to shift my focus from “being nice” to being more real and authentic in a loving way. As my teacher Miki Kashtan says, maximum honesty with maximum care. And I’ve learned how much our worldview and language creates conflicts without even our awareness, and perpetuates the domination paradigm that we participate in unknowingly.In my journey I have visited a few amazing permaculture sites and intentional communities where human relationships (conflicts) made it the main reason people left. Sometimes plants are easier to understand then humans! Very tragic.My main interest is how to cultivate a healthy human ecology, where everyone’s life (and needs) is considered equally important. I’ve been trying to understand the invisible structures that have a large impact on our collective behaviors, how to transform oppressive cultural systems (inside and outside of us), and how to regenerate our nature of compassion and generosity.

I want permaculture to help all people thrive, not just the privileged but those who are deeply trapped in violent social structures (e.g. African Americans, refugees, children in Fukushima, etc). That is the design challenge!