COURSE STRUCTURE

This intensive 6-day course is structured into 5 modules of approximately six hours in length each PLUS a special evening arts and culture event that is approximately 3 hours in length AND an excursion on historical and contemporary social innovation in the subak system that is six hours in length for a total of 39 contact hours, excluding commute time for special site visits.

Module 1: The Call to Adventure (6 hours): Seizing Opportunities and reinventing who we are

As heroes, we face problems and challenges of which we need to overcome as people. These situations present us with new opportunities to grow and reinvent who we are. This module intends to provide you with resources you need to respond to your call to adventure. You will learn:

• Visualization and goal setting methods
• The importance of engaging in a reflection practice
• Processes to sustain intentionality                                                                         
• Strategies to manage your transformative learning process
• What your true values are and how to let those values guide you through your journey
• How to explore and discover your own authenticity and capacity for self-expression
• How to develop a leadership style that matches your own aura

Module activities include artistic and other experiential activities aimed at helping us to better understand ourselves and the intentions we bring to this world.

Module 2: How to Help Ourselves and Others in the Hour of Darkness (6 hours) 

Sometimes, we don’t take the risks we want to take because we are afraid of what we might lose in the process—financial resources and social standing, respect from friends and family, or even our own health and well-being. This module comes with invaluable tools to make sure we don’t give up even when temptation to do so runs high. You will learn:

• Techniques to manage stress
• Mindfulness, meditation, and spiritual practices
• The importance of self-compassion and self-care
• Mentorship and coaching communication practices
• Motivation and leadership through the art of storytelling

This module consists of interactive workshops, special speakers, and open forum discussions.

Crossing into the New World: Special Evening Arts and Culture Program (3 hours)

The process of self-transformation happens when we step into a different mental framework where we are no longer governed by our habits and routines. We will explore how the Balinese reinforce important social values through collective engagement in arts and culture. Activities to be included are:

• An exploration of Balinese architecture and home design
• Opportunity to learn gamelan and kecak music
• An elaborately prepared selection of finely prepared Balinese dishes
• A music and dance performance by local artist groups

Module 3: Building Friends and Allies (6 hours)

In the Hero’s Journey, friends and allies play an important role in the overall outcome of the story. As we learn new ways of being, we will need our friends and allies to provide us with key insights into our actions and way of thinking and to aid us in the logistics of a vision that somehow has become greater than who we are. We will also encounter other individuals who do not align with what we believe, and we might even engage in conflict with them. This module aims to help us to move from the “world of me” to the “world of we.” In this module, we will learn and master the following:

• How to engage in dialogue that potentially builds coalitions and collective wisdom based on shared common interest, values, hopes, and dreams
• Tools and processes for collective action
• The general principles of appreciative inquiry
• Techniques and processes for conflict management and resolution

This module consists of three experiential workshops on dialogue, collective action, and conflict management and resolution.

Module 4: Unleashing the Magic (6 hours)

In our journeys, setbacks occur, causing us to try new approaches and adopt new ideas. We must do the impossible. We must create that which does not yet exist. This module examines creativity and innovation as a collective design process. In this module, we will learn:

• Cognitive creative processes and approaches
• Systems or holistic thinking processes
• How to engage in the paradox of using simplifying complexity (http://www.ted.com/talks/eric_berlow_how_complexity_leads_to_simplicity)
• Principles of design thinking in the generation of new possibilities

This module features an all-day workshop on creativity, innovation, and design thinking.

Special Fieldtrip: Creativity and Social Innovation in Bali’s Subak System (6 hours)

This excursion attempts to highlight historical and contemporary social innovation around the subak system of Bali. We will learn how Balinese farmers have collectively devised a system of water distribution to maximize the production of rice on the island using the ancient water temple system at a UNESCO heritage site in Pejeng Village. Lunch will be provided by our friend Ibu Sari and PKP Women’s Center of Tegalalang. The center aims to empower Balinese women by providing a series of programs catered to their needs. After lunch, we will examine how a community of villagers in Pejeng has responded to the problem of water shortage by transitioning away from rice planting to organic permaculture. We will conclude the excursion with a purification ritual at a sacred holy spring temple.

Module 5: The Final Challenge and Return Home (6 hours)

At the end of the journey, the hero experiences a major hurdle or obstacle, such as a life or death crisis before they return home. This external conflict in actuality represents the internal struggle to be authentic, powerful, self-expressive individuals. Participants complete their journey in Bali by offering a presentation to their colleagues. They may choose one of the following activities:

• Prepare and deliver a monologue in the role of an influential hero or heroine that has played a role in shifting the global consciousness. Heroes or heroines may be scientists, engineers, artists, political figures, social activists, and so forth. The monologue would elucidate the audience on how they saw themselves and their relationship to the world, why this individual was creative, their gift to the world, how they exercised leadership.
• Poetry slam that attempts to encapsulate one’s own heroic journey and course learning.
• A storytelling from any mythological tradition with some conclusion that clearly articulates the key learning points concerning one’s journey and one’s leadership process.
• A motivational talk aimed to provide advice to others on how to live their heroic journeys. The talk must be grounded in personal experience and applicable scientific data.

Upon fulfilling this program requirement, participants will receive a certificate of completion. The course ends with a closing circle that attempts to prepare us for re-entry into our daily lives.

Post-Module: Optional Two-Day Excursion into West Bali

Jembrana Regency (West Bali) is primarily a quiet agricultural community that is largely unknown to foreign visitors to the island and the global community. Like other Balinese cultures, it has its own regional peculiarities such as the buffalo races, jegog music, and Balinese-Madurese style fishing boats.  We will learn the story of West Bali—its land, people, society, economy, arts, and culture.