People Need People: Radical Communing

This course explores the theme of communing through the practice of Warm Data, becoming aware of the multiple perspectives and possibilities in our field by noticing, sharing, and tending to what is moving and alive. The process allows us to see new patterns, and respond to them with much broader comprehension and deeper relationality. In this way of communing, we become intimately aware of what is possible to say and who it’s possible to be together, witnessing the sacred cohesion of our interdependent existence. We discover new responses arising from a different soil, one that this world might benefit from.

“There will be no community, without first communing” – Nora Bateson

Moved by the Quaker practice of walking at the edge – of social witness, of the discipline of silence and speaking, of connecting to the sacred in the everyday – in these critical times, we wish to invite a space of collective play, presence and participation. We will explore systems of family, education, ecology, home, food, health or identity… in the context of a complex and changing world, along with what is essential, what is being revealed and remembered. It’s a space where we can know/sense the movement of these systems by being in relationship through our stories, responses and mutual learnings. Previous Woodbrooke participants, including those who joined an earlier course themed around practicing possibility, found relevance and application across their lives.

Who it’s for: This is for Quakers and non-Quakers who are looking to connect, learn alongside fellow practitioners, deepen their own listening practice, and approaches to life, social action and ways of living. We hope for it to be an intergenerational space and we welcome people of all ages, including teenagers, to join.

“This was a fascinating course: very experiential. I didn’t know what to expect. I signed up as it was a mystery but friends encouraged me, saying “you really have to experience it”. I still struggle to put into words what happens & why, but the process enables very strong holding and exploring for a group of people.” – 2025 Course Participant

This will be a series of five live conversation spaces led by experienced Warm Data hosts that will connect you to Quakers of many different backgrounds and interests.

They are held through a structured, experiential format that invites playfulness, storytelling and relationship building. Each week will focus on a different theme or question, weaving together to create an interrelated whole. We celebrate warm data as an intergenerational weaving across all ages and welcome everyone to bring yourself, your curiosity and your stories.