Politics & Emotions

E-Motion. Energy to Motion. Healthy emotions bring us into action. Empower us. Enable community. They contribute to opening up or to closing down worlds – and therefore have a huge (even though largely overlooked) political and societal impact. The more aware we become of our emotions, both in individual and collective contexts, the more we will be become the creators of our own lives and strengthen our capacity to resiliently live and move forward in a world in crisis.

This project offers a carefully curated 6-day-journey that will have the participants travel both inside and outside in order to move out of apathy into action. Designed as a step-by-step-program by two Ontological Coaches, it aims at playfully increasing the emotional intelligence and embodied awareness of the participants while at the same time “bringing the world into the classroom”: topics such as the climate crisis, the political shift to the right in almost every European country or fake news and bodyshaming on TikTok and Instagram will not only be discussed yet also be “felt into” in order to “shed light onto the unconscious” – and therefore generating the possibility to change and transform.

Each of the six project days will be dedicated to an overarching both collective and individual topic that will be explored through different methods using cognition, language, emotions and the body. At the end of each unit (and day), the participants will verbally express what they have experienced in both oral and written form in order to let learning take place in a constant dialogue between body and mind. The methods applied derive from a mix of disciplines such as Political Education, Ontological Coaching, Somatic Experiencing, Wilderness Education or Artistic Expression.

One of the main goals of the project is to create a container that is safe and fun enough to motivate the participants to truly learn new things – about themselves, about others and about the world – and to open up to new experiences and people. Ideally the participants leave the seminar equipped with tools and practices that they will continue using at home as well as with new ideas and friendships for their future.