The Rhythms and Rituals (our Being and Doing)

Bongi: Updated. Edited for plain english, readability and a more logical narrative. Developed Rhythms to link to supporting future DHO's more clearly and succinctly.   

Rhythms

Over the first few months of its existence, Samara created these Rhythms:

Wednesdays: Roots call (governance, funding, compensation, etc)

Thursdays: Trunk call (overlap and alignment of Roots and Branches

Fridays: Branches call (regional pilots, outreach, engagement, etc)

Plus various pod calls and ad hoc calls, often but not always between noon and 5pm UTC.

Regular call Rhythm:

• Each call starts with a minute of silence to settle into the space.
• The beginning and end of the minute is marked with a sound from a singing bowl, sacred rattle, or similar.
• This is followed by check-ins, so we acknowledge and own any tensions or joys that we are bringing into the collective field (and if these are not named, there is a good chance that our resident shaman, Justin, will pick them up and name them anyway - we appreciate you, Justin!).
• A facilitator is then voted in unless a longer term regular facilitator was already chosen. This is done with awareness of the check-ins and opt-outs aired. The method is everyone typing a name and a countdown with simultaneous sending. There is a round of check-outs at the end of the call. 

The organization faces the challenges of reconciling many interconnected variables:

- Time zones (from New Zealand to California)

- Tolerance for keeping unusual hours

- Commitments to family, self-care, other projects, etc.

- The necessity of paid work outside of Samara pending remuneration within Samara

- Varying needs for forward planning ("let's have a meeting now!" / "I can fit you in a week on Tuesday")

- Varying needs for yang-time and yin-time ("I'm available for action whenever needed" / "I can be active for a while, but then need time to consolidate and/or do deep work")

Emerging patterns and considerations for future Rhythms and Rituals:

Like Seeds, Samara recognizes the waxing moon for and contraction. The waxing moon represents expansion/activity and calls for yang. The waning moon represents reflection/consolidating and calls for Yin. Samara hopes to start to align with this Rhythm in some ways, but to plan projects on a longer cycle. Our aim is to discover the rhythm that will emerge to best facilitate our higher calling and emerging purpose. 

There are proposals to use a dynamically applied sensing sessions and metrics. These aim to check when the threat response is starting to increase in the group. This is not simply a case of changing the factors external to the individual to reducingreduce the felt threat. It is also about having explicit processes to create safety and learning and growth out of each opportunity. Having clear pathways to respondrespond, in the right wayway, at the right timetime: these are skills and models we are evolutions we are sensing into.

Currently we are taking some inspiration from the SCARF model (Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, Fairness). The aim is to:

1. Create processes which mimic how to prevent a threat response in an individual in a group setting.
2. Agree standard learning processes to foster the most growth and understanding for members.

The Hero's Journey is being proposed to structure and judge the right time to use different tools. This could help Samarans to sense into and align around the stages we are going through. It would help members and different sub-groups to respond with awareness and acceptance of the conditions of each stage.

Pulse checking people in this way which builds on Hypha's 'org scan' process will be a powerful way to channel rhythms to create safety. Distinguishing external factors in the presence of high cognitive load or project sprints/deadlines is a key area of research.

This dynamic way of adjusting rhythm:

• Still provides structure and direction
• Explicitly encourages a sense-and-respond process
• Could prove very useful in allowing distinct yet patterned tools for new DHO's. 

Joachim has pointed out that Samara does most of its work within calls, while Hypha uses calls more to verify work done asynchronously in between calls. In the future, Samara may wish to shift more towards this pattern to explore whether it seems more effective and productive, and/or enables Samarans further to the east and to the west to catch up on some sleep (!).