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Hey friends,
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about facilitation — what it really means to hold space well, and how we come to recognise it when we see it.
I’ve been attending some beautifully held gatherings lately, where I wasn’t the one steering the ship, and it’s reminded me how facilitation is as much about presence as it is about process.
Some facilitators are all velvet and stillness. Others carry a kind of kinetic invitation. Some set a carefully shaped container, while others leave space for it to shape itself.
Different styles for different moments — and so much depends on the context, the people, the mood in the room. Like Priya Parker writes in The Art of Gathering, your event begins not when it starts, but from the very first invitation. Much depends on how you set the table.
At Grokkist, we’re beginning to see a broader cast of facilitators leading experiences in their own voices and styles — and it’s beautiful to watch.
The first Writing Salon earlier this week, led by Alan Raw, is a good example — a soft and sincere space for people with writing in them (whether or not they identify as “writers”) to explore and express. We had about 12 people at the first one, and it was a delight. You can read Alan’s reflections here and join the next one here.
What’s emerging from all this isn’t a fixed approach, but a vibe — a Grokkist house style of facilitation that’s gentle, mischievous, values presence over polish, and invites people to meet themselves in new ways.
Not every gathering hits its mark, of course — sincerity and curiosity go a long way, but they’re not always enough on their own to unlock the richness that’s possible.
That’s not a failure — it’s part of what makes this a living, breathing space. We’re experimenting with formats, learning by doing, and sometimes stumbling into our best ideas sideways.
Still, enough people have asked about some kind of Grokkist “facilitator school” that I can’t pretend it’s not a live idea — a space to practice holding space, and to shape the vibe into a body of robust practices we can share and grow together.
So I’d love to hear from you:
- What’s the best facilitation you’ve experienced (inside or outside Grokkist) — and what made it feel that way?
- Or: What’s your facilitation ick — the thing that makes you want to vanish quietly from the room?
You can reply to this email or join the thread in the Network. I’d really love to know.
That sense of emerging collective identity — of us finding our shape by doing — is bubbling up everywhere in the Grokkist ecosystem right now.
We’ve got pop-up cafes sparked by community conversation (like this one on AI, art, and humanity), a joyful Pecha Kucha-style gathering coming soon, and our quarterly Town Hall just around the corner — a chance to reflect on where we are, where we’re going, and how the infrastructure continues to evolve to support a thriving ecosystem.
There are also new delights in the Press — especially Still Too Close, our first piece of narrative non-fiction by long-time member Kendra. It’s raw, restrained, deeply moving, and hums with unspoken weight. (A gentle content note — it touches on themes of unwanted attention and trauma, though nothing graphic.)
Behind the scenes, I’ve been reworking the Network’s organising logic — especially to support those who are just arriving. Our refreshed “New to Grokkist? Start Here” page includes clearer descriptions of our Realms — neighbourhoods within the Network, each with their own vibe and rhythm:
- 🧡 Unfolding Realm – identity, self-discovery, becoming
- 🪷 Soma Isles – embodied practice, expression, integration
- 🌳 Entangled Vale – philosophy, complexity, shared inquiry
- 🌱 Wild Margin – worldbuilding, campaigns, participatory futures
Feel free to explore and join whichever ones call to you.
And yes — I’m still in Copenhagen. Still soaking up sunlight, following red threads, and finding new punctuation marks in my own story. Here’s a photo of me on the roof of the canon tower at Kronborg, the setting for Shakespeare’s Hamlet — a suitably theatrical setting for a season of reckoning and reimagining.
Thanks, as always, for being part of this ongoing dance. I’d love to hear your facilitation stories — or anything else this letter stirs in you.
With curiosity and care,
Danu
If you’re standing at a threshold in your own story, this space is built for you.
I support myself through Groksmithing and Grokkist Projects — hands-on, relational work that helps people make sense of where they are and take practical steps toward what’s next. Sometimes that looks like structured guidance, sometimes like rolling up our sleeves together.
The whole Grokkist ecosystem runs on Memberships — a gentle invitation to belong, and a way to sustain the work. Curious about the deeper why behind it all? Start here.
Grokkist Press
A home for creations that matter, where grokkists publish gifts of wisdom and creativity that inspire, challenge, and invite deeper connection.
Visit the Press ↗A Māori term meaning “in their own time and space,” coined as an enriching and respectful way to describe autism as a unique way of being rather than a condition.
Read on for a deeper explanation or discover more luminous phrases in the Glossary of Grokkistry.
Fresh and Featured Pressings
Still Too Close
By Kendra Fee-McNulty (13 min read / 29 min listen)
A cup of tea, a cold night, and a stranger who stayed too long.
A body conditioned by experience moves through the choreography of staying safe.
Can You Go Hiking When the World's on Fire?
By Jessica Böhme (7 min read)
On rest, responsibility, and the philosophies that quietly live us.
What Does It Mean to "Read" in the Digital Age?
By Nathan Dufour Oglesby (30 min watch / 38 min read)
In a world flooded with content and hungry for context, what if the future of reading isn’t about books, but about reclaiming art, attention, and literacy through a return to the Didactic Muse — reviving bardic acts of gathering and sense-making in the algorithmic age.
More from the Press
- Adolescent Identity (Peter Gilderdale, 4 min read) – Some questions are too big to answer all at once — especially when you’re still becoming who you are.
- Think Like a Liberal (Peter Gilderdale, 5 min read) – From village megaphones to market ideologies, tracing the shifting meanings of liberalism—and why freedom without ethics falls short.
- Under the Gingko #4 | Learning the Rhythms of the Land and Growing Food to Give It Away, with Edgar Hayes and Ann Rader (Liam Myers and Jim Robinson, 43 min listen) – What happens when growing food becomes a spiritual practice, and generosity is the harvest? Edgar and Ann reflect on a life of rooted justice.
You can also read our guide to learn how the Grokkist Press works and how to get involved.
Grokkist Network
Connect across disciplines, generations, and geographies in Grokkist’s global community—a true speakeasy for the soul.
Visit the Network ↗Upcoming Events
Events Access Key
🟢 Open Access: Free and open to all.
🟣 Member Access: Exclusive to Grokkist Members.
🟠 Ticketed Access: Open to all with a cover charge (members enjoy a 30% discount).
For more info, check the guide to our events and gatherings or this guide if you're interested in hosting an event of your own.
🟢 Grokkist Town Hall Q3–2025
🗓️ Thur 17 Jul | 6–8pm Central European time (view in your timezone)
Facilitated by Danu Poyner
Grokkist isn’t just something you tune into—it’s something we shape together. The Grokkist Town Hall is one of the key places where that happens.
Think of it as a plenary for the whole community—a chance to gather the threads of what’s unfolding, share updates, and look ahead. First, I’ll take you behind the scenes with an update on what’s been happening and what’s next on the Coddiwomple Compass. Then, the floor is open—bring your questions, ideas, reflections, or wild sparks of inspiration.
And if you’re new? This is where we welcome you in, properly. We’ll take a moment for a First Threads Round, where you can share what thread led you here—a story, a curiosity, a hunch you’re following. It’s a simple but meaningful way to step into the weave of things and be met by others who are also finding their way.
Come for the update, stay for the conversation, leave with a stronger sense of how you fit into it all.
🟢 AI, Humanity, and the Value of Art
🗓️ Mon 21 Jul | 7–8.30pm New York time (view in your timezone)
Facilitated by Nathan Dufour Oglesby
A recent discussion thread on our network found members in a friendly debate — or at least a searching discussion — on the use of AI art here on the Grokkist network. This dovetailed into larger questions about the nature of Art, AI and value, and the ecological ethics of information.
So, why not have a cafe about it??? Join us for an informal, and hopefully informative, deep dive into questions like this:
- Is AI art inherently ethically problematic?
- What is the nature and meaning of Art in the first place?
- What’s your relationship with AI as an artistic tool — or as an an entity in general?
There are strong feelings swirling around these issues everywhere in the collective consciousness right now; and they are especially acute for creatives who operate in digital space. This discussion will be open and honest, and also safe and friendly. Feel free to express where you’re coming from without the need to be agreed with, but with the assurance of mutual respect.
🟢 Natural Wisdom in an Unnatural World: A Story of Recovery, Reconnection, and Return
🗓️ Wed 23 Jul | 7–8.30pm UK time (view in your timezone)
Facilitated by Dr Rodney King
In a world obsessed with performance, what happens when the body says, “No more”? In this deeply personal Grok Talk, Dr. Rodney King (‘Coach’) shares how a world-renowned martial artist turned philosopher found his way back to something older than any system or strategy: natural wisdom.
Raised amid violence in Johannesburg, shaped by military service, and celebrated in martial arts, Rodney’s path of strength eventually broke him. A diagnosis of chronic fatigue, cervical degeneration, and CTE-like symptoms ended his career—triggering a painful but profound return to presence, nature, and the body’s quiet knowing.
Through nature-based healing, psychedelics, and deep inquiry, Rodney began to recover a kind of wisdom that’s not taught but remembered. This is more than one man’s story—it’s a call to slow down, listen differently, and rediscover what we’ve forgotten. Expect a soulful conversation on embodiment, trauma, walking, philosophy, psychedelics, and flourishing beyond the algorithm.
Other Upcoming Events
- 15 Jul | 🟣 How I Work with AI as a Writing Partner
- 4 Aug | 🟢 Grokkist Writing Salon – August 2025
- 7 Aug | 🟢 Pecha Kucha Knock-Off Event
- 15 Aug | 🟣 Grokkist Members Meetup [Aug '25]
- 26 Aug | 🟢 Grok Cafe [#6 in 2025]
🍬 Snackables
A curated collection of hand-picked inspirations—thought-provoking reads, engaging ideas, and creative sparks to nurture your curiosity and expand your perspective.
#1 - What if Imposter Syndrome is not your problem to solve?
For anyone still wrestling with self-doubt in spaces that weren’t built for them — or anyone tired of feeling like the fixer of their own marginalisation. Reshma Saujani, speaking at Smith College 2023 (15 min), reframes imposter syndrome not as a personal failing, but as a scheme rooted in systemic bias. She traces its origins to “bicycle face” — a supposed medical condition invented in the 1890s to scare women from riding — and shows how imposter syndrome functions similarly: a cultural mechanism to keep us small.
Rather than ask, How can I overcome this?, her question becomes, What broken world am I being asked to fix? It’s a powerful re-visioning: stop treating ourselves as the problem. Focus on systems instead.
#2 - How do placebos really work?
Rob Horning
A wide-ranging reflection on the strange theatre of the placebo — how it disrupts tidy ideas of causality, treatment, and belief by working because of what we project onto it. Placebos, the author suggests, aren’t lies — they’re collaborative fictions. Their magic lies in context, ritual, and the subtle choreography of care. A coloured capsule, a warm doctor’s tone, the performance of medical attention — none of it “active,” yet all of it effective.
He goes further: what if art and advertising, even AI, are similarly placebo-like? The point isn’t trickery — it’s our willingness to believe with others, and to let our imaginations rearrange how we feel. That’s beautiful. It’s also dangerous. Without a shared social container, belief can curdle into delusion — from fake back injections to AI-induced messiah complexes. A deep, thoughtful read on pain, care, simulation, and the slippery line between healing and hallucination.
#3 - The rise and fall of peer review
Adam Mastroianni
This article takes a hard look at peer review—the backbone of how science claims to know what’s true—and makes an emphatic case that after sixty years, peer review has largely failed its own experiment. Far from being the rigorous filter we imagine, peer review often misses critical errors and fraud, slows down progress, and pressures scientists to play safe rather than innovate. From my own lived experience of the academic research and publishing sectors, this messy reality rings true: “science says” and “evidence-based” are rarely as neat or certain as we’d like. A system that was meant to safeguard knowledge has instead created a costly illusion of certainty.
The author invites us to approach this failure as a gift. Instead of clinging to peer review as a perfect gatekeeper, we can embrace science as an open, evolving conversation—one that thrives on transparency, honest mistakes, and collective curiosity.
#4 - Chats with the Void
A world where everyone leaves their mark is a world full of craters. Chats with the Void is a small comic about existentialism and skulls by Seattle-based artist and graphic designer Skullbird, which features 'shameless amounts of colorful talking animals'.
#5 - The Samurai and the Fly
3-minute animation of a samurai whose meditation is disturbed by the presence of an annoying fly. Peace does not have to mean being in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It can mean to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.
Membership Benefits
As a Grokkist Member, you’re part of a circle of active grokkists walking the grokkist path. Here’s what membership includes:
- 🟣 Member-Only Gatherings
- 🛠 Groksmithing Project Support at Member Rates
- 🚪 Unlock Your Grok - Self-Paced Course
- ❤️🔥 30% Discount on Courses and Ticketed Events
- 📣 Post Calls & Invitations
- ✨ Early Access & Prototypes
- ▶️ Events Recording Library
- ⭐️ Digital Member Badge
A pair of parting thoughts...
“When you are determined... you see the light no matter the darkness around you.” ― Sangeeta Rana
“In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, we will understand only what we are taught.” ― Baba Dioum
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