Adam Barley on the evolution of “Fierce Loving – The Art of Creative Conflict”
“Around the year 2000, Gabrielle Roth mentored me to work with emotional energies through dance. This was before she’d done any trainings for that — she asked me to be a kind of test pilot for the process, and we’d start with fear.
After nearly 2 years of offering work that I called Fear, Power and Beauty, she said “OK, you’re ready to move onto anger now.”
So I booked a hall near where I lived in Bristol, and distributed some flyers around — no email marketing at that time.
The night before it started, I realised she hadn’t given me any guidance at all on how to tackle this new level of practice, so I called her to ask. “Oh, just have fun!” was her classically pithy and catalytic reply.
Those few words dismantled my expectations and rerouted me towards a trajectory for working with anger that I’m still developing today, 25 years later.
I have come to call my work with anger “Fierce Loving — the art of creative conflict”, because we have such strong negative connotations around anger; that it’s destructive, negative, violent, and not to be trusted. Even the Dalai Lama gives it a bad rap.
I understand that point of view, but I believe it’s missing the heart of the matter.
The energy we call anger has more to it than ‘anger’. It’s a beautiful, strong, fiery quality of loving that stands up for what’s right, puts a stop to what’s off-track, and creates a combination of connection and healthy boundaries, and it’s clear expression benefits everyone. Without it, we’d be a mess.
But we do have to train in order to use it skillfully, and that’s not easy! I still often stumble with it, as my family would tell you. But I’m a lot better than I was, and dance has been my training ground, along with the integration of what I learn there during the inevitable differences and conflicts that arise in day to day life.
I’m so passionate about this that I’m writing a book about it. Watch this space for “Fierce Loving — the
Art of Creative Conflict”
In the meantime, you can study this practice with me, releasing old toxic stuff you may be carrying in your body, and cultivating the three core gifts of anger using movement. The next Fierce Loving is in the heart of Europe, in Ljubljana, Slovenia, July 5 – 7.”
See you there?
— Adam
(ZeroOne photo by Luna Buerger)
