“When we make a choice to remove the devices from our hands and pockets we remove the barrier to mindfulness.”
(Kristy Guest, co-founder Project Holding Space)
Project Holding Space (PHS) offers informal mindfulness experiences through nature-connection, ranging from forest bathing to camp cooking, traditional living skills to gardening. Whatever the activity is, the invitation and opportunity is to experience present-moment absorption without the competing pull from technology.
The project was born from the direct experience of co-founder Kristy Guest who had found herself continuously caught in patterns of mindless scrolling during her time as a performer. Recognising that trying to keep up with everyone else online was taking her further away from herself, she noticed that her time on her allotment was the only activity that gave her the precious opportunity of simply being present. She strove to make changes; however, it was not until starting a family that she and her partner Steve were able to commit to transforming their lifestyle.
Giving up their smartphones, they bought a little patch of land in a West Wales valley and clarified their priorities of self-sufficiency and long-term health and happiness. Soon afterwards they started to connect with other people who were seeking device-free spaces, but at this point they had no idea how far they would grow in providing community respite from the over-stimulation of the modern world. For a few years they ran informal community gatherings, and then the official community interest company namely Project Holding Space (PHS) was formed.
PHS aims to nurture mindful communities by organising dedicated digital wellbeing events, giving people the opportunity to have time in nature away from using devices. Some events are informal ‘Shared Earth’ volunteer days assisting with gardening and maintenance tasks, others are social gatherings incorporating activities such as meditation and crafting.
Most events are land based and happen around a campfire. Kristy sees how gardening, by its very nature, is a mindful activity and offers a perfect way for the volunteers to experience mindfulness without even trying. She describes seeing people focusing on a task in the garden, tuning into what’s surrounding them, the sound of the bird song, the sweet scent of the May blossom, and the feel of the earth on fingertips. And she names how a combination of these sensations can help calm the mind and feed the soul and support us to be absorbed in our own experience, rather than taking in information on social media about what everyone else is doing.
Donation based camping opportunities at the site are also available for people looking for a longer nature immersion get away, both through a glamping option and by using people’s own tents and vans. The project is also curating resources that people can take away to support them to integrate this way of being into the rest of their lives.
“I have now volunteered here four times and on each occasion, I have enjoyed myself and my efforts have been appreciated. During bad weather we retreated to the polytunnel to undertake ‘indoor’ activities like seed planting, raised bed gardening and so on, sharing time and enterprise with like-minded people. Chatting over morning coffee and shared lunch has been a bonus and at the end of each day I have retired satisfied and pleasantly exhausted having done something that will make a small difference and endure perhaps for years to come.”
“So nourishing, calm, nice to meet new people.”
(Project Holding Space participants from Shared Earth Days)
Going forwards, PHS hopes to meet and collaborate with like-minded people across Wales and the rest of the UK. The vision is to work together creating a network of technology-free projects and spaces that offer a support network for those looking for the pause button on the technological world. As a formally recognised CIC the team are in the process of putting together funding applications to be able to further benefit the community.
As things progress and develop, Kristy and Steve remain clear that the core invitation is for people to find themselves once more, to remember the way they want to live that will create a healthier equilibrium with their use of technology and a deeper and more nourishing connection with themselves, each other and the natural world.
hello@projectholdingspace.uk
www.projectholdingspace.uk
www.linkedin.com/in/projectholdingspace
www.ko-fi.com/projectholdingspaceuk