Introducing to the world: Our Digital Wilds and raqsadnū:studios

There's something ingrained in many of our bodies for this first week of September. New school year vibes, I guess.

But then deeper than that, for the Northern Hemisphere – or at least in London – the days are getting a little greyer, a little shorter; a bit of a bite to the breeze is taking hold. We're moving towards Autumn Equinox at the end of September, as summer begins to lower her head to rest. The scents and tastes of late summer harvest are on our tongues. As the Earth turns, we keep moving with the seasons. As Octavia Butler writes: "The only lasting truth is Change."

For the Hebrew lunar year, this week also sees us moving into our final month: Elul. In this month's Moon Manual from At The Well come the words:

"This sacred month of Elul is a time of integration and reflection – a liminal time between this year and next, between in-breath and out-breath, between gestation and birth... Elul asks us to honour where we have come from in order to birth what is yet to come."

And so, this week feels ripe to share two new containers I've been working on that both honour where I have come from, and are intended to birth what is yet to come ??

Please welcome to the world my twins:

Our Digital Wilds and raqsadnū:studios

It's taken a ridiculous amount of reflection, inner work, conversations, coaching, playing and thinking over the last few months, to arrive at these two as streams that speak to my different interests and work. In one flows the 'old' of my experience. And in the other flows the 'new'. Both take up dear space in my heart.

Our Digital Wilds holds within it my decade-plus experience working with Knowledge Management and digital workplaces, where I've been a practitioner, consultant, researcher, knowledge weaver, collaborator, facilitator, and perpetual student. As I've learned more and more within this space, I've realised that a lot of my passion in this area comes down to the question:

How can we come together within our digital realms of work in more healthy and relational ways?

Whether it's digital inclusivity, how we collaborate, distributed working, digital ethics, futures of work, knowledge sharing, organisational culture; it ultimately comes down to how – and whether – we can foster digital kinship while we work together.

raqsadnū:studios (pronounced 'raks-AD-noo'), on the other hand, holds within it even more gently my creative, regenerative and liberatory dreams and questions. This area of self is still new, and fresh, as I feel into these areas as a fledgling, an apprentice. raqsadnū:studios creates space for poetry, creative and exploratory writing, discussion circles, creative circles, stories, philosophies, collaborations. And more expansive research questions about our worlds today, what worlds are yet to come, and the ancestors we wish to be for future generations. It asks of us the question:

"In these fragmented times, what will it take for kinship and reconnection to be practised and embodied?"

Much of the challenge of the last four months (and, with honesty, longer...!) for me has been how to integrate and honour these two parts of myself. How to experience myself as whole as I move through these worlds, as I migrate between the lands of digital work and regenerative practice. How to bring elements of each world to each other. How to be both old and new.

Conversations with others feeling through these transitions have been transformational. Conversations that took place in one of Dave Gray 's weekly Campfires. Conversations that have taken place in the Regenerators community, with others trying to navigate similar questions. With Luis Suarez and the asynco.org community. In Nikki Kapp 's Embodied Regenerators space, with people like Samantha G. . Conversations with my brother Tal Janes , and Sean Bennett in the coaching space he's held for me and others this year. And Nancy Goebel , through her mentoring of me and challenge to "unlock the atelier" – the inspiration for 'studios'. And with so many others too. Including the oak tree and other more-than-humans in my local park ??

I think I thought it needed to be either/or. When all along, the both/and has been right there, inviting me in.

Knowing that August was going to be quiet, I saw that this week would bring us a new moon as well as this final Hebrew month, with each of their invitations. I committed to being ready to share. I enlisted the help I knew I'd need to be kept accountable.

I'd intended to share raqsadnū:studios. It was only a few days ago that Our Digital Wilds tugged at my trouser leg, asking to be picked up and named, and shared too.

And so, I'm excited for what these two new beings of mine will bring with them as they feel their way into the world. What they will help me learn, who and what will they connect me with. What will we create and discover together ??

I'll be sharing more over this week and into next of what is currently living within each, with some invitations. But for now, here they are, blinking as they step out under the new moon and into that liminal space between summer and autumn, between this year and next. Arms and shoots tentatively raised, taking their first breaths of air after having been nestled within the dark of the soil until they were ready.

I look forward to getting to know them alongside you all ??

And if you fancy connecting to chat about these two, your own work, potential collaborations - just get in touch :)

Find out more!

As I've been sharing more over the course of the week, I'm adding the links here for ease.

So...!

• Read about the meaning of 'raqsadnū'
• Find out about the raqsadnū:writing stream that lives within raqsadnū:studios
• Join me over on Substack, with 'and so, we dance'!
• My first writing circle will be taking place on 3rd October, on the question 'Am I Nature?'
• Download a workbook of reflective prompts, for after delivering a piece of work