Wandering

The hardest instruction to give and the hardest to receive: go out, and do not do anything.

How it runs

1. Describe the boundary out loud and make sure everyone can name it back. The ridge, the track, the river, the fence.
2. Give the return time and the signal. Nothing else.
3. “There is no task.” Say it, then say it again when someone asks what they should look for, and again when someone asks whether they can go with a friend. They can — but the first time, ask people to go alone.
4. Let them go in different directions, spaced by a minute or two.
5. On return: no immediate circle. Tea, then Story of the Day an hour later.

Facilitator notes

• The first twenty minutes of a wander are usually spent being annoyed. The useful part starts after that, which is why an hour is the minimum and ninety minutes is better.
• Do not add journalling, photography or collection. Every addition gives people somewhere to hide from the emptiness, which is the material.
• Group leaders and teachers find this the most uncomfortable session of the week. That is worth naming afterwards: what does it tell you about how you run your own programmes?

Why the north-east

Wandering is filed here, in the hour before dawn, because it is where direction comes from rather than where it is executed. People come back from a wander with a question more often than with an answer — and a question is what the north-east is for.