For teams
How we hold silence for teams
Most people have never spent a whole day without speaking. A silent container, held with contemplative practices, helps us find our own peaceful centre. In a group of individuals, they might start relating to each other in a whole different way.
The three levels
Moments of silence
Short sits, a silent walk, or phone-free pauses inside a day that is otherwise spoken. This can be a module inside an offsite another planner is already running.
A silent day
Orientation, blocks of silence, quiet meals, a closing circle. Long enough that something shifts, short enough that nobody has to rearrange their life.
A residential silence core, about 24-48 hours
The group arrives speaking. The silence opens, and holds through a night and into the following day. Then it closes deliberately, and the group speaks again and harvests what happened. This is our signature shape and the one we recommend when there is time. We can support the process with an additional day of integration practices.
Not a vow. Not a test. An invitation, held carefully.
Consent
Silence works as an invitation and fails as an instruction. In the case of teams and companies, that distinction takes real care, because an employee whose director has announced a team retreat has not chosen it in the way an individual booking a retreat has.
So we ask the organising employer to do three things:
- Communicate a genuine opt-out themselves, in their own words, before anyone travels.
- Make clear that nothing about any individual’s participation comes back to the organisation.
- Accept that some people will step down in intensity, and that this is not a failure.
On site there is always a way down: a shorter block, a walk instead of a sit, a conversation with a facilitator, or simply rest. Nobody has to explain themselves to their colleagues.
What silence means here
Agreed periods without conversation, without phones, and without unnecessary stimulation. Not a vow, not a test, and not a performance. Everyone knows when the silence begins, how long it lasts, and how it ends. Silence and contemplative practices give us the possibility of finding an anchor of presence within ourselves.
Before any silence starts there is an orientation: what is about to happen, why, what it commonly feels like, what to do if it becomes difficult, and how to step out.