Sometimes
life is filled with blessings, insights, and a heart-felt sense of connection
with people around us. Other times we stumble through a series of setbacks,
accumulating pain, even falling into depression; and nothing we try seems to
help us get out of it. Sometimes someone unexpectedly appreciates us or offers
to serve us -- or we reach out to help another. Sometimes miracles happen, pain
is lifted, new directions open up, and the seemingly impossible occurs.
Just as
life is filled with this rich variety of experience, so is the Transformation
Game®, a fun and complex board game developed originally by Joy Drake and Kathy
Tyler at the Findhorn Foundation. Since the first Game workshop was offered
there in 1978, thousands of people have played the Game in its various
forms.
The
original version, an indepth experience for five players facilitated by two
trained guides, is offered either as a three-day intensive or as a weeklong
programme. The Planetary Game involves 20 - 120 people in a life-sized format
where players have a unique opportunity to explore the interconnectedness of
all aspects of life, and to work creatively with areas of planetary and
personal concern.
1987 saw
the launch of the Transformation box Game, a distillation of the original
workshop into a board game which can be played at varying levels of intensity.
It can be played by 2-4 people in as little time as an evening, as a
light-hearted way of gaining insight into themselves; or it can be used, with or
without a facilitator, as a tool to help solve problems, clarify important
personal issues, or change unproductive behaviour.
Since
then InnerLinks, a company formed to research and develop Transformation Game
programmes and products, has developed other versions of the Game, as well
trainings for facilitators. A specialised version of the Game, Frameworks for
Change, has been designed for use in organisational and business settings,
while the Frameworks Coaching Process provides a stand-alone coaching tool for
use in the workplace.
The Game
offers a playful yet substantial way of understanding and gracefully
transforming the way you play your life. One way of viewing it is that it aims
to recreate in miniature the soul's journey through life, providing a context
where people can look at the kinds of experiences they create, and assess the
value of their particular patterns and of their attitudes and responses to
life. It highlights strengths,
identifies blind spots and limitations, and brings fresh perspectives to
current challenges.
In the
Transformation Game® version, you start by creating a focus or purpose to keep
in mind as you roll the die and move along your life path. Before being 'born',
you fill your 'Unconscious Envelope' with a set of cards which indicate the
strengths, challenges and inner qualities that have a bearing on your
purpose. You choose a guardian angel and
then move along your life path, taking cards from the Unconscious and playing
them on the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual levels. Some of the cards
bring awareness, others bring pain -- and you can use awareness to clear pain.
You also have opportunities to exercise free will and intuition, to connect
with angels, and to share appreciations and feedback.
There
are two main card decks in the Game: Insights and Setbacks. The Insight deck
contains cards like: "An unexpected crisis provided an opportunity for you
to actualise your inner strength and power" -- "I'm willing to undo
my belief system to accelerate change" -- "You hold a positive
outlook". Players receiving these
cards will share about how they assist with their purpose, or give an example
of a time when the card applied. Other Insight
cards require more involvement: "An opportunity to give truthful feedback
to another player who is born" -- "If you could change one aspect of
yourself right now, what would it be and why?" -- "Take personal
responsibility; choose where you move next."
Setback
cards highlight behaviour and attitudes that cause difficulty in our lives.
Examples include: "You are setback by your avoidance" -- "You
constantly look outside yourself for sources of direction rather than following
your own inner truth" -- "Preaching instead of practising". These cards provide players with the
opportunity to look at areas of difficulty in their lives and to explore ways
of changing them.
The
original version of the Game was developed by Joy Drake , who lived at the
Findhorn Foundation for 15 years. "I wanted to recreate the 'Findhorn
experience' in a way that would allow people to learn the lessons and receive
the insights that that environment provides without having to go and live there
for three years," she says. "It was a way of distilling the essence
of the educational process that happens as we begin to view the whole of life
as a learning arena."
Although
the original idea for the Game came from Joy,
many people were involved in developing and refining it. Principle among
these was Kathy Tyler, who with Joy developed the commercially available
Transformation box Game. But there were also many hours of playing with 'Game
devotees' on makeshift Game boards, intense brainstorming and feedback
sessions, and long philosophical discussions on the nature of pain, creativity,
God, spirituality, the personality, wholeness, how the world works, and a
variety of other topics.
There is
now a network of Game facilitators in different parts of the world, trained in
different versions of the Game. Joy and Kathy now live in Asheville, North
Carolina, USA, where they research, develop and market a range of innovative
transformational tools through InnerLinks Associates, a consulting and training
company which supports the outreach of the various forms of the Transformation
Game. InnerLinks continues to be affiliated with the Findhorn Foundation and
maintains an office there. Mary Inglis, who has also been involved with the
Game since its early beginnings, is a partner with them in InnerLinks UK, which
organises programmes not only at the Foundation but also throughout Europe, as
well as Japan, South Africa and South America.
Several
programmes and products now make up the Game 'family' and are available
world-wide through InnerLinks. The
Findhorn Foundation, where the Game was originally developed, is the centre for
Game programmes in Europe.
Different
forms of the Game include the commercially available Transformation Game, which
can be played at varying levels of intensity, with or without a facilitator; a
more indepth intensive 4-day Game of Transformation workshop; various team
versions applicable to particular situations and groups; and the Planetary
Game, a life-sized version of the Game which works with collective as well as personal
issues. There is also an organisational version, Frameworks for Change, a
self-directed learning programme which provides a creative space for teams and
organisations to examine their responses to their own working environments and
team challenges. InnerLinks trains facilitators for the various versions of the
Game.
For
information about programmes at Findhorn, see the Foundation website:
www.findhorn.org or contact InnerLinks Game Office, Findhorn Foundation, The
Park, Forres IV36 3TZ, Scotland. Tel: +44 (1309) 690992. Email: innerlinks@findhorn.org
For
information about programmes in the USA contact info@innerlinks.com
Website:
www.innerlinks.com
The
Transformation Game is a registered trademark ® 1986-2008 Joy Drake and Kathy
Tyler, InnerLinks Inc. All rights reserved.
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