The Power of eARTh by vulcanicamente_lecce

The Power of eARTh Erasmus+ Youth Exchange March 15-23, 2022

Co-funded by:

Organised by:

The Power of eARTh Erasmus+ KA1 Mobility of Youth 2020-1-IT03-KA105-018263 Author: VulcanicaMente APS, Italy © 2022 VulcanicaMente APS This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

About the Project

Sharing with the Community

Contacts

ABOUT THE PROJECT "The Power of eARTh" was a seven-day youth exchange hosted by the Italian organization, VulcanicaMente. It brought together 30 young people who were ready to reconnect with themselves and nature through holistic education, art, mindfulness, and nature-based methods. Participants were guided on a journey to develop their emotional literacy, explore their creative potentials and use art as a self-discovery tool. Project Objectives: Create a safe space that inspires inner dialogue, self-reflection and sharing. Increase participants’ appreciation and sense of connection with nature. Develop emotional literacy and reduce stress and lack of concentration through body-awareness and mindfulness practices. Inspire participants to explore their creative potentials and use art as a tool for self-discovery. Motivate participants into discovering their inner potentials and values in order to increase their sense of purpose, meaning and belonging.

Organizer: VulcanicaMente is a non-governmental organization (NGO) founded in 2012 and based in Lecce, Italy. It was born as an open platform to offer opportunities for international mobilities, and intercultural and intergenerational learning. Our mission is to develop and enrich the Salento area, beginning with young people, to create a generation of active European citizens. Partners: Noored Ühiskonna Heaks (Estonia) Youth Active Minds (Greece) Fundatia Kristine (Romania) STEP (Slovakia)

Bring awareness towards the connection between body, mind and emotions.

SHARING WITH THE COMMUNITY

As part of their participation in the project, participants take back what they learn into their local communities back home. They conducted workshops and activities using examples from the youth exchange. Read on to learn about their local contributions and how the Erasmus+ youth exchange has a larger international impact even after the project is completed.

GREECE The participants from Greece worked together and prepared an online meeting open to all. They tried to promote it by sharing it on social media, sharing it with friends, etc. They are very proud that they managed to attract a great number of people who demonstrated interest in their online event. Some people joined through zoom individually and others joined in as a group and played music for the team. The Greek team was happy that participants from other countries joined them as well.

The Greek Team's program included: Short introduction Getting to know each other Described and exchanged feedback from their experience through the youth exchange project Discussed activities Relaxation all together, including the "The 5 Senses" exercise they learned during The Power of eARTh Some people met as a group and played music, they shared this through the Zoom platform and all enjoyed it, even remotely. The team is staying in touch and looks forward to hosting another event together in the future.

ITALY Inspired by the artwork created during the Power of eARTh, the Italian participant, Francesca, created two storyboards using images from the project and incorporating natural elements to share her experience with others. The storyboards were shared on social media and garnered positive attention from followers.

ROMANIA "Once upon a time there was a Youth Exchange project in Italy, organised by VulcanicaMente. When I saw the words 'art' and 'nature,' I had no more doubts that it was what I’m looking for and I surely need to apply. By the way, it was a great project. Nice places, inspiring people, mindful practices, meditations, art therapy and so much more of what an ordinary person lacks in everyday life. On the one hand, a week passed like a moment, but on the another hand, it took an eternity (in a good way, of course), because I was so involved in the process and truly lived the moment. After the project, inspired and full of good vibes, it was the perfect time to share my experiences with someone else, because, as it is well known, practice makes improvement and sharing something what you recently learned is the best way to imprint it in your long-term memory. So the target happened to be my friends, nice people with interesting ideas and huge souls, but also frustrated due to everyday life problems, routine and social requirements, who were absolutely excited by this idea. We all gathered in our park near the river, brought a blanket and some snacks, a speaker, and laid down to watch the swans, which were adorable. After a few minutes, we decided that we are ready for a meditation, so this is what we did. It was a guided meditation of about 20 minutes for relaxing, releasing tensions in the body and becoming more aware of our minds. Some of them never did a meditation in their live, but everybody liked it. They told me that, at first, and this is how I felt too, it was very weird to understand how it looks from apart for another people who walk by our sides, but this lasted for a few moments until we got involved in the process and forgot about everybody else but ourselves. We even heard someone talking about us: 'They are meditating.' But this didn’t disconcentrate [sic] us and we all laughed about this afterwards when we were discussing about our feelings. After the meditation, we prepared water and some clay for sculpting, put some relaxing music and got started. At first, everybody, even me, had a dilemma about what we should make, like a cup, a ball? After a few moments of playing with the clay, the ideas started to appear. Somebody made a small basket, another one made a die, I made something unnamed and unidentified, and someone made a couple of little things which were ruined and transformed into something else. We let them dry, because it was a fast drying clay and, obviously, took them home. My friends like this! It was an outbreak for their inner child which was hidden so much time due to chores, responsibilities and routine; who wouldn’t like that? They were very inspired when we left home and I was extremely happy that I could share my beautiful experience with them. It was art and it was nature. It was the 'Power of eARTh.'" Anton & Valeria

ROMANIA "I have taken two of my friends in a garden and asked them to gather things from nature and try to put them on paper in order to showcase the way in which they are feeling. They said they felt better after completing the activity, more connected to nature and everything. The activity was fun and relaxing. We had a bit of trouble with the windy day but we pulled it through." Theona

"I chose the reflection activity “LEARN how to LEARN”, where I debated 6 topics: 1. Distractions; 2. Time; 3. Comparison with others; 4. Love what you do; 5. Find your spot; and 6. Do not give up." Denis

"I made a presentation about the project 'The Power of eARTh' at Lucian Blaga University in Sibiu about activities, about the people I met, and how all this helped me to develop and get out of my comfort zone after which I did some activities together." Hera

SLOVAKIA ""We gathered people interested in Erasmus+ youth projects to a video call and shared essential information about these projects with them and how to apply. Then we talked about our common project in Italy, the main objectives and what we have learned. The participants' views were following: 'Very informative little sneak peak into what these projects have to offer presented by a group of delightful young people. I wholeheartedly hope I'll have experienced such an event for myself in a not-so-distant future.' 'After seeing the enthusiasm and dedication of the presenters, I'm quite motivated to try participating in one of the Erasmus+ projects myself, and thanks to the information provided by their detailed presentation I know exactly how to apply to join you in the future. I liked how they shared their own feelings and impressions from the project they had experienced and created a relaxed atmosphere.' Moreover, every session was focused on trusting one another, talking about our feelings and emotions and getting to know ourselves more deeply. Denisa's favorite activity was blind walking - guiding and being guided. She needs to trust her guide partner, who puts her hand on a flower, for instance. We had different tasks at Erasmus+ project. One of them was focused on our inner being, which Patricia liked the most. Ikigai is a Japanese concept that means your ‘reason for being.’ ‘Iki’ in Japanese means ‘life,’ and ‘gai’ describes value or worth. Your ikigai is your life purpose or your bliss. It’s what brings you joy and inspires you to get out of bed every day.

When creating an Ikigai, we have to answer these questions: What you love What are you good at What you can be paid for What the world needs Why is Ikigai important? It helps us understand ourselves and find what we are good at. When you know your Ikigai and understand its meaning, you’re aligned with the work you’ve longed to do and the work the world needs you to do. This task was very demanding, but inspiring for me, but definitely for others as well. The biggest experience Tamara wants to tell you about is the concept of mindful eating. It started with a morning session where our great chefs came to talk about olive trees, which were literally everywhere. Our task was to choose one which is appealing to us and devote time to it, get to know its structure, leaves, branches. Soon they called us back. They called us back and told us to remember this moment as much as we could and that today's dinner will be special. Nobody had a clue what was going to happen as each dinner was perfect. Dinner time came, they gave us two olives at the entrance, and we had to sit in our usual places. The whole room was in such a relaxing and meditative mood. Candles, gloom and silence everywhere. The main word had Christian (one of the chefs). At the beginning, we got reminded of today's morning with closed eyes and remembering the tree. Later we had to put one olive in our mouth and just toss it gently in our mouths. And after a while we bite a small piece. The explosion of flavors at the moment was all over my mouth, and I didn't understand at all how intense the olive flavor was. Then we just continued with the dinner they had prepared for us, but the atmosphere from the beginning still remained. The concept of mindful eating is about food in which you are aware and feel only one specific food at the time." Jan

CONTACTS VulcanicaMente APS San Cesario di Lecce, Italy Project Managers: Sandra Perez & Jacopo Sgrò vulcanicamente.project@gmail.com Website: www.vulcanicamente.it Facebook: VulcanicaMente Instragram: vulcanicamente_lecce