Village Culture Symposium
Discover cultural first aid from West Africa, so that you can help families and community organizations to help local youth enjoy fulfilling lives.
What if you could easily tune in to archetypal wisdom and recognize when something is amiss and needs to be rebalanced within your students and children? And what if there were a few simple shifts you could make to immediately restore that balance – so it would be possible for even the most challenged youth to demonstrate a strong sense of ethics, morality and virtue? That’s exactly how your work and your home life can become as you learn to activate timeless principles of total human development and integrate them into your personal and or professional lifestyle. These principles, which originated in West Africa over 5,000 years ago, will be shared in a lecture - demonstration format that will include traditional chants, songs and instructional mythology.
A complement to modern western education and human services, Omoluabi is a template for human identity that strongly emphasizes preventing imbalance, customization of treatment, and the harmonization of personal, ancestral and cultural consciousness. In this regard, Omoluabi represents a framework within which you can support local youth in the process of becoming complete human beings.
As a professional, a parent or both, if you don’t feel fully effective, have trouble connecting to the youth, or you feel anxious, overwhelmed or stressed because you’ve been struggling to manage your approach to supporting their development you're in the right place. If you’re growing more and more frustrated because you and your colleagues can’t seem to figure out how you can do better, you’re definitely in the right place.
The Village Culture Symposium is a signature event of the Orisa Lifestyle Academy. It is created and led by author. teacher, priest, Obafemi Origunwa, MA, one of today's most prolific curator of Orisa knowledge and healing practices. During the Village Culture Symposium, Baba Obafemi will introduce you to Omoluabi as a framework for cultural healing practices. In this way, the Village Culture Symposium is a very unique opportunity to encounter ancient, yet little-known cultural practices that have the power to transform the way all of us guide the lives of contemporary youth.
Stated another way, when you address the underlying imbalances that cause antisocial behaviors, you get results that last. It is really that simple. At the Village Culture Symposium, Orisa Lifestyle Academy educators will reveal proven-effective West African ways of detecting and treating imbalances - the root cause of physical, emotional and social, disease - WITHOUT creating side effect imbalances elsewhere (e.g., ancestral identity is not compromised during character instruction).
It is fortunate that the Village Culture Symposium will begin with the participation of practicing West African healer, author and director of the Orisa Lifestyle Academy, Obafemi Origunwa, MA, who will share never-before heard details about the significance of Omoluabi. In the Village Culture Symposium, Baba Obafemi will describe the virtues and habits of a complete human being and help you choose the most appropriate language, stories and sensibilities as you apply Omoluabi principles as a form of cultural first aid with the intention to facilitate measurable improvements in your students' sense of identity, ethical behavior, social interaction, cultural consciousness and much more.
At the Village Culture Symposium you will uncover:
The Village Culture Symposium with Obafemi Origunwa, MA will take place:
February 27-28, 2017 from 9.00 - 5.00
EMMANUEL CHURCH OF GOD IN CHRIST
1450 SONOMA AVE, SEASIDE, CA 93955
CONTACT: CHARLES EARLE (831) 269-4565
What if you could easily tune in to archetypal wisdom and recognize when something is amiss and needs to be rebalanced within your students and children? And what if there were a few simple shifts you could make to immediately restore that balance – so it would be possible for even the most challenged youth to demonstrate a strong sense of ethics, morality and virtue? That’s exactly how your work and your home life can become as you learn to activate timeless principles of total human development and integrate them into your personal and or professional lifestyle. These principles, which originated in West Africa over 5,000 years ago, will be shared in a lecture - demonstration format that will include traditional chants, songs and instructional mythology.
A complement to modern western education and human services, Omoluabi is a template for human identity that strongly emphasizes preventing imbalance, customization of treatment, and the harmonization of personal, ancestral and cultural consciousness. In this regard, Omoluabi represents a framework within which you can support local youth in the process of becoming complete human beings.
As a professional, a parent or both, if you don’t feel fully effective, have trouble connecting to the youth, or you feel anxious, overwhelmed or stressed because you’ve been struggling to manage your approach to supporting their development you're in the right place. If you’re growing more and more frustrated because you and your colleagues can’t seem to figure out how you can do better, you’re definitely in the right place.
The Village Culture Symposium is a signature event of the Orisa Lifestyle Academy. It is created and led by author. teacher, priest, Obafemi Origunwa, MA, one of today's most prolific curator of Orisa knowledge and healing practices. During the Village Culture Symposium, Baba Obafemi will introduce you to Omoluabi as a framework for cultural healing practices. In this way, the Village Culture Symposium is a very unique opportunity to encounter ancient, yet little-known cultural practices that have the power to transform the way all of us guide the lives of contemporary youth.
Stated another way, when you address the underlying imbalances that cause antisocial behaviors, you get results that last. It is really that simple. At the Village Culture Symposium, Orisa Lifestyle Academy educators will reveal proven-effective West African ways of detecting and treating imbalances - the root cause of physical, emotional and social, disease - WITHOUT creating side effect imbalances elsewhere (e.g., ancestral identity is not compromised during character instruction).
It is fortunate that the Village Culture Symposium will begin with the participation of practicing West African healer, author and director of the Orisa Lifestyle Academy, Obafemi Origunwa, MA, who will share never-before heard details about the significance of Omoluabi. In the Village Culture Symposium, Baba Obafemi will describe the virtues and habits of a complete human being and help you choose the most appropriate language, stories and sensibilities as you apply Omoluabi principles as a form of cultural first aid with the intention to facilitate measurable improvements in your students' sense of identity, ethical behavior, social interaction, cultural consciousness and much more.
At the Village Culture Symposium you will uncover:
- How to integrate ancient African techniques with western human services to achieve better student performance.
- Eight virtues of Omoluabi, to guide the students towards something specific.
- Eight vices that obstruct internalization of the Omoluabi principle, which all students should avoid
- How to work with your students to help them get the cultural first aid they need and deserve.
- Simple steps anyone can take to energize the youth, and inspire them to optimize their natural gifts and talents in service to themselves, their families and their communities.
The Village Culture Symposium with Obafemi Origunwa, MA will take place:
February 27-28, 2017 from 9.00 - 5.00
EMMANUEL CHURCH OF GOD IN CHRIST
1450 SONOMA AVE, SEASIDE, CA 93955
CONTACT: CHARLES EARLE (831) 269-4565
Day-by-Day Course Overview
Here’s a closer look at everything you’ll cover in just 2 days:
Here’s a closer look at everything you’ll cover in just 2 days:
DAY 1: THE ESSENCE OF OMOLUABI & PERSONAL HEALING
- connection before content: Here, Baba Obafemi sets the tone for open exchange, safety and mutual respect by making brief contact with individual participants, telling the story of our spiritual journeys, clarifying logistics of the day, how the symposium functions as the kickoff event for the Village Culture Movement, and inviting everyone to participate fully.
- introductions: To emphasize the importance of collective thought and ideation, and to dissolve any imagined barrier between leader and participant, each person briefly introduces himself or herself. This affirms the importance of each individual as a unique contributor to the group’s collective wisdom, which will be tested extensively throughout the Village Culture adventure.
- increasing awareness: The Village Culture journey begins with a challenge. In this segment, Obáfémi combines scientific data, storytelling and group discussion to identify our current cultural and spiritual condition. Special attention is given to the relationship between the economy, the ancestral promise and human destiny. This is where participants come face-to-face with the array of unintended consequences that result from the consumer economy, including our present society’s isolation from nature, our loss of humanity and most importantly, our lack of spiritual maturity. This segment is the reality check. It helps us come to grips with the severity of the world’s desperate need for change.
- omoluwabi ritual: Deep within each of us is the longing to live a life of significance, to make a meaningful contribution. The ability to triumph over mediocrity, however, depends on one’s ability to identify personal passion and embrace the hero within. During this segment, Baba Obafemi taps the archetypal forces within Yoruba sacred text and personal narrative to awaken the participants’ most heartfelt aspirations and intuitive understanding of their personal truths. This segment invokes our irresistible need to seek and offer forgiveness, both for ourselves and others. Here, we reconnect with our deepest memories and visions of being complete.
- agreement: The longest journey begins with a single step, in this case an agreement. Money, for example, has no intrinsic worth. It is paper printed at the mint. We literally MAKE money. Its value is based entirely upon our collective agreement. Imagine what will happen when millions of people deliberately take on actions and practices that are aligned with the highest aspirations of Òrìsà Lifestyle. In this way, Omoluwabi Lifestyle Agreements will help us create 16 generations of sustainable culture.
DAY 2: COLLECTIVE HEALING & PRACTICING OMOLUABI IN A TOXIC WORLD
- Identify 16 unique personality types – and get easy-to-master tips to help your students optimize their personality types for good causes.
- gratitude, reflections and insights: We begin the day with gratitude, reflections and insights. Together, these impulses will help the group to get back onto the same page and set new intentions for what is to come. Become grounded in the knowledge that the child's natural state is one of wholeness and vibrant health, which is sustainable even in the midst of our busy, stressful, toxic world. Learn about West African Village Culture, which promotes holistic wellbeing of the individual, the community and the ancestors – and become exposed to the scientific research to support why these therapies work.
- the virtuous cycle: Here, we explore the relationship between doing what we love, high performance and continuous improvement. This virtuous cycle is key to creating a "viral effect" within our various circles of influence. OMOLUWABI Lifestyle Agreements are meant to inspire and encourage. So, it is important to emphasize ways to practice them with enjoyment and pleasure. Discover little-known cultural therapies proven effective at eliminating toxic thoughts, speech and actions from your students' lives and reversing the negative effects of environmental stress. Be introduced to the 8 virtues that reinforce Omoluabi, as well as the 8 vices that obstruct Omoluabi, and ways to guide your students according to an appreciative approach.
- skills development: With our Omoluwabi Lifestyle Agreements made, now we are ready to roll up our sleeves and plan a grassroots campaign to reach and mobilize our communities around real life concerns and opportunities. Participants will practice one-on-one conversations, public speaking and design communications platforms for creating strategic alliances with local organizations and related activities. Discover why a one-size-fits-all approach to human development can’t help everyone – and how to get measurably improved results with a customized approach to total wellness, based on your students' unique genetics, culture and ancestry.
- creating opportunities to act: In south Texas, a group of participants joined forces with the neighborhood school to participate in the creation of a micro-society, wherein the students learned ways to make sustainable culture part of everything from the post office to the supermarket. Osuntoki, who is the president of her neighborhood association, took advantage of the opportunity to create a much needed recycling program. This segment of the retreat will use small group activities to cull collective knowledge about what already exists in your community to create opportunities to act in accordance with your Omoluwabi Lifestyle Agreement and invite others to do the same.
- responding to demand: As you might imagine, once you start to show up in this new capacity, Omoluwabi consciousness will gradually become contagious. People will be curious and will want to know more, as well as get involved. This segment will use scenario mapping to help you plan out your best responses to the community's increased demand for Omoluwabi Lifestyle Agreements.
- facilitating change: Omoluwabi Lifestyle Agreements are intended to create small, but significant change, which means many things to people inside and outside the local community. More significantly, change can be very challenging because it makes people feel vulnerable. Human identity is deeply connected to familiarity. When we create change - even positive change - many people feel threatened. During this segment of the retreat, we will explore best practices of change management in order to make the experience fruitful, as well as compassionate for all involved.
- celebrating successes: During this segment, you will learn more about the "Omoluwabi Help Desk." Following the Village Culture Symposium, you are encouraged to participate in our Village Culture Facebook Group. Designed to facilitate peer-to-peer education and support, the group will invite participants to troubleshoot common problems and celebrate our collective success with creating a powerful global movement to reclaim our future.
- commitment before closure: What gets measured gets done. This segment of the retreat invites each participant to affirm her or his Omoluwabi Lifestyle Agreement, as well as make one commitment to the group. This serves as both accountability and encouragement.