You cannot truly listen to anyone and do anything else at the same time.

M. Scott Peck

Listening means forgetting yourself completely – only then can you listen.

Osho

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Supersense

In collaboration with Andy Shipley TYF presents an exciting weekend of adventure experiences for visually impaired and sighted adventurers.!

September 25th – 28th 2014!

Surfing – Learn to harness the power of the ocean and experience the thrill of riding waves! Rock Climbing – Enjoy the physical challenge of pushing your limits on the rock face! Coastal Explorer – An action packed full day of exploration of the Pembrokeshire coastline by

kayak. We will seek out hidden bays and caves pausing to enjoy a spot of lunch on a secluded beach and for those wishing for full immersion, a spot of cliff jumping.!
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£200 Includes all adventure activities and equipment!
! Transfer from local train stations – Haverfordwest or Fishguard!

Accommodation options available – enquire for details. !

So if your visually impaired and looking for adventure, or sighted and up for teaming up with visually impaired adventurers to share breath taking experiences, fun and inspiration:

Visit http://www.tyf.com for more information on the activities. To book, call 01437 721611! or go to https://tyf.cinolla.com/tyf/courses/super-sense-adventure-weekend 

For advice or to discuss personal requirements, !
call Andy Shipley 07702 849479!

So when you are listening to somebody, completely, attentively, then you are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what is being conveyed, to the whole of it, not part of it.

Jiddu Krishnamurti

Super Sense and Living Symphonies are combining again.  On Wednesday 27 August in the stunning surroundings of Bedgebury National Pinetum, Kent, we will be blending the deep sensory immersion  of Super Sense, with the wonderful musical  panorama that is Living Symphonies.  This time you will have the choice of two sessions, starting at 1:30 and 3:30.  Once again the price will be £10 per person, but this time we are taking bookings in advance.  So if you want to experience this magical ecosystem at a deeper level or just want to enjoy the music without any visual distractions, this will be your last opportunity.  So book right here:  

I’m glad I understand that while language is a gift, listening is a responsibility.

Nikki Giovanni

There once was an owl who sat in an oak, the more it heard, the less it spoke… the less it spoke, the more it heard.

Gentlehawk

There once was an owl who sat in an oak, the more it heard, the less it spoke… the less it spoke, the more it heard.

Gentlehawk

Hot news! St Davids; sun, sand sea and…. super sense.

On 19 august super Sense returns to its birth place of St Davids, Pembrokeshire.  We’ll be back on the beach, clambering on cliffs and weaving through waves, all without sight.  So if you’ve already Super Sensed and want more or fancy the thrill of just jumping in at the dark end, come along.,  Book here;  

https://tyf.cinolla.com/tyf/courses/super-sense-experience 

If God had wanted us to talk more than listen, He would have given us two mouths rather than two ears.

Kenneth Blanchard

The Power Of attention

In his autobiographical commentaries, Academic and WWII French Resistance leader, Jacques Lusseyran, 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Lusseyran 

who went blind at the age of eight, describes  how blindness enabled him to develop a new faculty.  He states, “Strictly speaking everyone has it, but almost all forget to use it.That faculty is ‘attention'”.

As a visually impaired person myself, I’m constantly struck by how people seem to spend so much of their time oblivious to what’s happening around them.  Whether its people stopping dead at the top or bottom of escalators or  platform entrances, colliding with me and each other because they are transfixed by their phones, they certainly display an acute lack of attention. I am in fact convinced that a sensory complaisance has overtaken our society.

The increasing need to process information quickly, whether behind the steering wheel or in front of the computer screen, means we have cultivated our visual processing abilities at the expense of capacity to process data from other sources.  Whilst this may not be an issue when working on a spreadsheet, an inability to maintain awareness of the bigger picture beyond that which is immediately in front of our eyes, could be more problematic elsewhere.  

As demonstrated by mobile phone related accidents or blocked escalators, blindness to the bigger picture has very clear implications for more than the individual concerned.  Anyone in close proximity to such incidents of unconscious behaviour is also directly effected.  

It could of course be argued that this is just how things are for everyone, and, as is often stated, it is impossible for the human brain to process information from different sources simultaneously.  There is evidence however, that our vision centred behaviour is in fact cultural, and other cultures and communities engage with the world quite differently.

In his research report;  ‘Geography Of Thought’, 

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~nisbett/research.html#pubs 

  Richard Nisbett talks about the difference between how Western and East Asian cultures experience the world. Westerners, Nisbett reveals, focus on the object (physical or social) and it’s attributes, and using these, categorise it. East Asians however, take the wholistic view, seeing an object only in the context of its surroundings. Consequently they have an appreciation of the relationship between that object and how it influences and is influenced by its surrounding ‘field’.  There is also anecdotal evidence of how such an holistic perspective can make the difference between life and death.  For a group of Burmese squid fishermen the 2004, Tsunami proved fatal.  However, for Sea Gypsies fishingin the same area this was not the case.  By paying attention to the conditions, they were able to detect subtle changes in the smell of the wind, and  by the sound of their oars, the  increased sea depth, and move into safer waters.  On hearing the news of the demise of the Burmese fishermen, a Sea Gypsy observed; ‘They were collecting squid.  They saw nothing.  They don’t know how to look”.            

Lusseyran contends that being attentive unlocks a sphere of reality that noone suspects.  Lusseyran describes, “when I awakened my attention every tree comes to me.  This must be taken quite literally.  Every tree projects its form, its weight, its movement.  Even if it is almost motionless, in my direction.  I can indicate its trunk, the point at which its first branches start.  Even when several feet away.”  He continues, ” The seeing commit a strange error.  They believe that we know the world only through our eyes.   On my part, I discovered that universe consists of pressure, and every object, and every living being reveals itself to us at first, by a kind of quiet and unmistakable pressure that indicates its intention and its form.”  

Lusseyran believed that “if all people  were attentive, if they would undertake to be attentive,   every moment of their lives, they would discover the world a new.” 

 It has for some time occurred to me that if our society were able to benefit from the experience of those of us like Lusseyran, who have developed other perspectives of the world. The heightened awareness gained, would profoundly alter the quality of decisions we make and the way we interact with the world and each other.

The Super Sense experience takes people into natural settings, where they have the opportunity to reacquaint themselves with the power of their non-visual abilities.  With their eyes covered, their abilities to tune in to other ways of reading the environment and develop confidence to trust the information, to make decisions and complete activities.  by working with others, they deepen their appreciation of the importance of trust and empathetic communication.  In Lusseyran’s terms, ‘Super Sense seeks to grow it’s participants powers of attention.

Andy Shipley