My Newfound Craving for Community

By Louise, Marketing Director CRR UK

The word community never used to mean anything to me. Every time I read it or someone mentioned it to me I felt disconnected and there was no impact. I had my friends and my family, what did I need community for?

Community is a huge part of ORSC. When I started working alongside Nairy and the team at CRR UK I had to adjust my mindset and I intentionally decided to explore and accept the idea of community and whatever that entails. Despite learning and observing and speaking to our ORSC community nearly every day, I must admit, I still didn’t get what it was all about. The word still didn’t resonate with me and the disconnection was still very much there.

Since deciding and taking the leap to go and explore another part of the world (with the support of CRR UK which I am inexplicably grateful for) the word community has started to come into perspective. Let me tell you how…

Suan Sati Yoga Retreat, Chang Mai, Thailand December 2023

This is when the impact of community started. This 6-day long retreat was the turning point for me. Being cut off from the outside

world, complete digital detox, and surrounded by a group of like-minded people who have all come together with the same intention was a life-changing experience. My time at Suan Sati showed me what community is. I already knew what a community was, but I’d never experienced it or felt it myself. The retreat was a safe space and we all connected on a raw and deep level and we all grew together, not only as individuals, but as a system. We left the retreat connected as a system aka a community. Suan Sati showed me that community is connection; being part of and contributing to the collective growth of a system.

The Hà Giang Loop, Vietnam, February 2024

This experience deepened my relationship with the concept and experience of community. The Hà Giang Loop is an iconic motorbike route through the mountains and villages of northern Vietnam. You join a group of around 15 people and hop on the back of a local guide’s motorbike and off you go for 3 days of driving for 6 hours a day. There were two levels of community I experienced here: 1. Being part of our group’s community and 2. Witnessing and being invited into the community of the Hà Giang Loop guides.

Again, this community was born through shared experience, but in a different way. We all came together as a group to learn, witness and appreciate the landscape of northern Vietnam – as well as to have fun! We were also welcomed into the guides community as passing visitors which was an invaluable experience I’m so grateful for. This group of men spend every minute of the day together. They work 363 days of the year, driving the loop over and over, looking after their passengers, sharing their knowledge – it’s a way of life for them. They were the happiest, kindest group of people and their collective attitude towards life was inspiring.

The Hà Giang Loop showed me there are no rules to community. You can be part of a community for different reasons and you can be absorbed into a community for a short period to share an experience and then this might dissipate and just be a shared experience for one moment in time.

Women’s Circle, Siem Riep, Cambodia, March 2024

Nearly 4 months into my trip and craving a way to get myself feeling grounded again after a turbulent couple of weeks, I attended a women’s circle in the beautiful city of Siem Riep. There was a group of 10 of us, all different ages, nationalities, situations, jobs – it was beautiful. We came together to meditate and share thoughts, feelings and experiences around the topic of speaking our truth. We created a community of women who wanted to share and learn and be inspired by each other, in Cambodia.

I learnt and experienced the creation of a community, one that I actively chose to create. This taught me that community can be created anywhere in the world, with all kinds of people. The one thing that creates a community is shared intentions.

I’ve experienced that community is connection – something that we all crave as part of the human experience. Connection is deeper than just family and friends. Being part of relationship systems is bigger than our immediate relationships. When we consciously and intentionally come together or join a group of people we create a community. We are all connected in that time and space and it fulfils a very important purpose.

The ORSC Community

Community is at the heart of the ORSC training. The training not only teaches you the tools and skills to become a Team/Systems/Relationship coach, but it introduces you to a community of like-minded people who are all working together towards the same goal of being better in relationships and helping others to do the same. We do this both virtually and in-person and we have both coming up soon. Fundamentals of ORSC is taking place virtually in May and our Fast Track series is happening in June & July in person in London. Nairy and the CRR UK team would love to welcome you into our community if it’s something you’ve been craving too.