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Rooted in curiosity, care and attentiveness to diverse histories and voices, the collective offers open-ended impulses that anyone can adapt, question or extend across a growing constellation of educational hubs.
© 2025 Emerging Space Collective (CC BY‑NC 4.0)
Each post offers an A5 print-and-cut card and a concise note on how the activity unsettles habits, stretches perception, and strengthens resilience amid uncertainty. The focus is on slowing down, sensing with the whole body, and staying with complexity rather than rushing to solutions.
The projects hospice fading systems while nurturing emergent futures, shift from extractive habits to regenerative relations, and practise the intentional rewiring of conditioned desires. Every assignment is context-responsive: adapt, remix, or invert it to suit your learners, community, and more-than-human surroundings, while remaining mindful of power dynamics and cultural histories. Authors and influences are credited and linked to keep the exchange open and accountable.
Step inside, let discomfort become a tutor, and discover practices that turn unease into a catalyst for shared learning.
Ritualised Discomfort is inspired by the ideas of Daniel Schmachtenberger and the collective GTDF.
Method: Future Horizons
Assignment Overview:
Image / Movie Immersion:
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Still image: 5 min of focused viewing.
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Film link: optional 50 min screening (view in full or select a key excerpt).
Guided Reflection (15 min):
Individually or in pairs, explore prompts such as:
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What crisis prompted humanity to reinvent how we learn and live together?
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Which painful lessons or losses shaped new, more compassionate systems?
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How did technology and policy pivot from harm to healing?
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Knowing this future, what advice would you send back to today’s educators and learners?
Affective Survey (opt‑in):
Complete a brief questionnaire mapping your emotions and needs during the reflection. You can then view an anonymised summary of responses to deepen collective insight.
Cultural & Contextual Sensitivity:
This challenge honours diverse worldviews by welcoming multiple readings of the image or film. Acknowledge that emotional and cultural backgrounds shape what we notice and feel. “Holding space” means staying present to discomfort or surprise, sharing only what feels right and weaving all voices into a respectful, co‑creative vision of education’s future.
Inspired by the collective: Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures (GTDF)
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Reflections: The Resonant Room
Overview:
This reflective practice invites educators, facilitators, or learners to explore how acceleration, alienation, resonance, and social energy shape their experience of teaching and learning. Grounded in the work of Hartmut Rosa, the exercise supports a shift from productivity-driven engagement to relational presence, and helps identify pathways to more resonant learning environments.
1. Set-Up (2 min):
Create a calm, unhurried space. Invite participants to close their eyes briefly or soften their gaze. Ask them to notice their inner tempo; fast, slow, fragmented, grounded.
2. Personal Reflection (8–10 min):
Invite each person to respond in writing or images to the following prompts. Use a notebook, index cards, or a reflection wall.
Prompts:
- Where do I notice speed or pressure shaping my teaching or learning?
- When have I felt disconnected or emotionally distant in a learning space?
- What moments felt alive, mutual, or transformative? What made them possible?
- What kind of social energy do I bring, or miss, in this setting?
3. Small Group Dialogue (10–15 min):
In trios or pairs, invite each participant to share one reflection that surprised or moved them. Use these questions as conversation guides:
- What do our stories reveal about what’s working; and what’s wearing us out?
- Where might we create more room for resonance?
- How can we support shared energy rather than individual performance?
4. Plenary Share (5–10 min):
Return to the group. Ask:
- What patterns or contradictions emerged?
- What would change if we designed this course or institution with resonance in mind?
Record emerging themes on a board or shared document.
Cultural & Contextual Sensitivity:
Invite vulnerability and connection. Honour diverse rhythms, expressions, and let the process breathe.
Inspired by Hartmut Rosa’s sociology of resonance.
Method: Yellow teaming
A foresight technique for surfacing hidden harms and broader impacts of any proposed solution—usable across disciplines and settings.
Duration: ~45 minutes
Group Size: 3–6 participants
1. Scope & Team Formation (5 min):
- Select a project, policy, or prototype to evaluate.
- Assemble a small, diverse “yellow team” representing varied perspectives.
2. High-Level Probing (10 min):
Pose 2–3 broad questions such as:
- “What upstream resources and processes feed into our solution?”
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“Which communities or ecosystems might be affected—positively or negatively?”
3. Domain Deep-Dive (15 min):
Divide your paper/chart into zones (e.g., Environment, Society, Economy, Culture, Futures).
In pairs, rotate through zones and answer targeted prompts:
- Environment: “Where in the supply chain could pollution emerge?”
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Society: “Which groups gain or lose power?”
- Futures: “What affordances enable misuse or weaponization?”
4. Rotation & Synthesis (10 min):
Swap charts with another pair. Review their insights, add one new concern or mitigation idea.
Return charts and consolidate findings in a shared summary—cluster related risks and note possible safeguards.
5. Reflection & Next Steps (5 min):
Discuss: “Which externalities demand immediate attention?” and “What first precaution will we embed in our design?”
Capture these commitments visibly to guide future development.
Cultural & Contextual Sensitivity:
Ensure your yellow team includes voices from affected and marginalized communities. Adapt prompts to local norms and languages, respect diverse knowledge systems, and frame every insight as a co-created step toward more equitable, responsible innovation.
Reflections: Attuned Agency
Reflect, acknowledge teaching/learning challenges, transform overwhelm into agency, resilience, and meaningful action.
1. Grounding Prompt (5-10 min):
- Find a posture that feels safe, eyes open or soft-gazed, shoulders relaxed.
- Notice any sensations, tightness, fluttering, heaviness, that link to your current teaching or learning “pain points.”
2. Reflection Questions (20-30 min):
- Which feeling or tension is most present right now in response to my educational challenges?
- How does this sensation connect me to my deeper purpose or values in teaching/learning?
- Where might I instinctively turn away or shut down to protect myself?
- What higher-level intention does this awareness awaken; toward fairness, inclusion, or care?
- What specific, small step could I take this week to honor that intention in my work or studies?
- Which personal resource (e.g. steady curiosity, compassionate self-talk, focused breath) can support me in taking that step?
- How will I maintain this mindful awareness, without tipping into overwhelm, as I plan next actions?
- What simple cue (e.g. a calendar reminder, peer check-in, desk token) will bring me back to this balance of care and purpose?
3. Closing Integration (5–10 min):
- Choose one immediate action that bridges your felt experience with purposeful support for yourself or others.
- Note it in a place you’ll see it, or share it aloud to reinforce your commitment.
“Notice what you’re feeling, honor its source, and channel that energy into steady, compassionate action.”
Inspired by Daniel Schmachtenberger and Nate Hagens:
Methode: We Are Present
A paired exercise to cultivate focused presence through controlled discomfort and reciprocal honor.
1. Setup (2 min):
Place two chairs ~1 m apart in a quiet space.
- Turn off distractions; sit facing each other.
2. Silent Presence (5–10 min):
Sit upright, hands relaxed, eyes open or softly lowered.
- No talking or touching. Notice bodily sensations—tension, warmth, urge to move.
3. Role Swap (1 min):
After one turn as “observer,” switch roles so each person sits in stillness twice.
4. Paired Reflection (5 min):
Share briefly:
- Which sensations or impulses arose?
- When did discomfort peak, and how did you honor your partner’s presence?
- What urges did you resist, and how did that shape your shared encounter?
5. Group Debrief (5 min):
In a small circle, discuss how this practice can:
- Heighten moment-to-moment focus via ritualized discomfort
- Foster relational co-presence through reciprocal witnessing
- Build resilience under stress and deepen empathy
Decolonial & Intersectional Sensitivity:
Adapt seating, pacing, and prompts to respect diverse cultural norms, power dynamics, and embodied experiences.
Inspired by Marina Abramović
Reflections: Energy Blindness
A journaling practice to map where you invest and draw energy both internal and external and to awaken to hidden flows throughout your day.
1. Begin by grounding your body:
Sit comfortably with both feet on the floor. Close or soften your eyes and bring awareness to your physical field of experience.
2. Center with breath:
Take a deep breath in and out. Notice your current energy level before reading the prompts.
3. Journaling Prompts:
- Upon waking or at this moment today what is my energy level and how did rest influence it?
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What physical activities such as walking typing or standing have used or boosted my energy since the last check in?
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Which social interactions such as listening speaking or collaborating have drawn on my emotional reserves?
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Which devices or machines such as coffee maker laptop heating or transport have I used and what energy did they consume or provide?
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Where did I notice energy drains moments of fatigue distraction or overwhelm?
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Where did I experience energy lifts tasks people or environments that energized me?
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How can I rebalance my energy inputs and outputs to sustain focus and wellbeing?
- What one small change can I make before the next check in to steward my energy more regeneratively?
4. Close each session:
Review your notes and choose one practical change to embrace more regenerative energy habits until the next reflection.
Sensitivity note:
Notice how every action and device you use consumes energy and invites reflection on consumption and attention.
Inspired by Nate Hagens, from his presentation on Energy Blindness; you can find the full talk here: