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Community as a Practice was developed over time through iterations of Primal Gathering's regenerative gathering model, which restores people, forests and ecosystems

Community as a practice is a roadmap that supports wholesome character building. This process facilitates the creation of the right conditions to support cultures of belonging rooted in mutual care and respect.

The first objective of Community as a Practice is to support people in embodying the values they wish to see in the world, through the creation of contexts (like Primal Gathering) that facilitate them being applied in. When we realise that being an integral human is in fact a daily practice, we can release ourselves of judgements as to where we are at in our journey and create space to support ourselves and others through compassion, and care. There will always be space for us to grow and learn, which is why it's not just about what we shift, but how we shift. This approach is grounded in appreciation of the small steps taken, and receiving others with acceptance when we, or they fall out of integrity.

The second objective is to foster and permeate a culture of belonging. When we feel safe to turn up as we are, with what is real, messy, unorganised and sometimes ugly through a culture of acceptance, intimacy and trust can organically build. Finally we are able to release ourselves from the chokehold of needing to 'be something', and unravel, and unmask what we've become, to who we really are. This frees us from defence mechanisms that 'protect us' from rejection and instead creates the right conditions to foster empathy and a deeper sense of belonging. Belonging that results from feeling loved regardless of how, who or what we are, which makes it is less frightening to create space for change.

The third objective is to create the right conditions to foster empathy with ourselves, each other and natural world. This comes naturally as a consequence of following the Community as a Practice model, which is founded on the belief that a positive difference to the environmental world comes from our capacity to change our individual behaviours. It helps us fill our buckets of self-care through honesty and discipline, our relationships through integrity and consistency, and the natural world through service. All elements we come to practice together at Primal Gathering each year.

This tool can be used as a self assessment and/or diagnostic to understand where you and you're community, organisation, or relationship are at, and where you would benefit from support. At some point this will also become a course you can participate in. If this might be of interest to you, sign up here