I recently taught an intense immersive story telling course to college seniors who surprised me with the very positive feedback they gave for the course. On a question of rating the course on a scale of 1 to 5, several students wrote kind words which jumped off the page to hit me with the obvious: these were compliments that belonged to my noble friends and unknown teams of volunteers from ServiceSpace. So many ideas I used in the class came directly from my engagement over the past few years with the ServiceSpace community.



My first experience of ServiceSpace was at an Awakin Circle. I started the class daily with a circle. Something magical about a group of 26 people holding empty space in the middle as they stand in a circle. Birju's idea of a minute of silence was borrowed to say, let us arrive fully in the present with a minute of silence. The silence was hard for many, but we kept at it, even as we acknowledged that it came easier to some than others. The minute's silence was followed by a non-verbal check-in with a gesture or a sound, so we could let others know if any of us was sleepy, hungry, sad, happy, nervous, whatever. It was safe to show up exactly as we were.

At the Awakin Circles, I have been offered unconditional hospitality, listening, support and always delicious homemade meals. As students often indicated they were hungry, I decided to bring some snacks that were left in one corner of the room for anyone who needed it. If someone was cold, I loaned them my shawl.

Another ServiceSpace value we used in class was to go away from consumption towards being creators. The story telling skills were developed with creative projects, using improv games, collage making and even using voice to sing, as a way to discover our voice for the stories we would choose to tell. Some of the creative projects brought a natural silence to the room as it absorbed their attention.



For the final project, two students created a short video with high quality research to convey the message 'don't drink and drive'. They told me they were surprised by all the emotions it brought up in the process of creating it. When we watched it as a class, there was electrified silence with everyone in the room feeling the story to be moved. The other project was against cyber bullying and how each of us can work to stop it. Yet another one was about how adoptions help turn lives around for kids. The creative process and respectful engagement by listeners made these stories impactful. The small acts practiced daily were creating ripples that brought them into a sense of community. We went to the chapel for a final meditation of 5 minutes, after which they had a 10 minute break before reassembling for class. Several stayed for twice as long and one student forgot to take his break completely as he rested in the silence.

Just like my hosts at the Awakin circles in USA, India and the UK, I set the intention to constantly be on the lookout for opportunities to give. The students gave their best too. Our journey together became a co-created joyful one, instead of the more common stress of a compressed immersive course. Thank you to all the ServiceSpace friends who have helped me in ways too numerous for me to recount. Know that I am passing it on, with humility and deep gratitude for ServiceSpace friends, and also passing on the love from the students to you all.