FREE Learning Resources

2023-11-02: Waking up to high-tech AI with human-tech PIA

Just because we can, does not mean we should! AI is hitting the headlines again. I am a human being, like you, impacted by AI in countless ways that I am increasingly beginning to recognise. I have been feeling a growing concern and it has taken time for me to surface what my concern is about…. as Hannah Arendt cautioned us in the aftermath of the Second World War, it is imperative we “think what we are doing”. Just because we can do something does not mean we should…

[download AI article here]

2022: Potent Alchemy newslsetter – Everywhere I am, I am

In this newsletter, I reflect on the actions by Vladimir Putin – ordering the Russian army to invade Ukraine, reeking havoc and destruction on its people, their homes, infrastructure, national identity and way of life. I reflect on what we do and do not do, in the face of circumstances and how easily any of us can slip into “just doing my job”. How can we wake up to all that non-consciously drives us to do what we do not WANT to do? Surely this is a question that none of us can escape if we want to free ourselves from the war within that perpetuates the war out there?

[download newsletter]

2021/2022: Re-balancing Nature’s inclusional dance

In this article in the very last bonanza Winter 2021 edition the eO&P Journal, I draw attention to the contradiction that arises when we separate ourselves from nature. The attached pdf lists the contents of the entire volume and includes an introduction of all the other chapters… in case you want to seek them out for expansive contemplation. Below is my opening paragraph:

“Everywhere I am, I am. I am everywhere. I am nature. I am not apart from it nor a part within it. The very idea of thinking in ‘parts’ and ‘wholes’ is, I suggest, another incarnation of reductionist and linear thinking, revealed in the binary proposition embedded in the notion that we should or could be moving ‘from ego to eco’ to ‘save the planet’. This framing perpetuates the myth that ‘human’ is outside of planet and can do things to it; can control what happens to it. This belies the reality that we are inextricably enmeshed with all that is planet. In othering planet we miss the point – planet is us. Saving planet is saving ourselves; to save ourselves we need to re-turn to what throws us out of balance: Ourselves, in context; and what we make of ourselves, in context – recognising that what we make of ourselves in context, finds context changing. This is acknowledging the principles of autopoiesis and natural inclusion at play in our natural world. In what follows, I illuminate these principles, showing that a practice of self-centering is neither egotistical nor contrary to eco; rather it is essential to re-balancing the patterns that are carrying us towards schismogenesis.” [download pdf]

2021: No way is the only way!

Presence in Action opens a naturally inclusional, complexity-attuned way of engaging with ourselves and others, that affords deeply generative and transformative benefits to all involved. In this chapter Louie shares examples of how PIA supports her supervision with groups of practitioners from diverse disciplines and walks of life. [download pdf]

To purchase the book, follow the hyperlink in: Gardiner, L. J. N. (2021c) No way is the only way!, in Birch, J. (ed), Coaching Supervision Groups: Resourcing Practitioners. London: Routledge

2021: Moving Bodies – countering digital disembodiment

Discover how you can stay tuned in to yourself and deepen your interactions with others whilst online, especially in supervision and coaching relationships. [download pdf].

To purchase the book, follow the hyperlink in: Gardiner, L. J. N. (2021b) Moving bodies: countering digital disembodiment, in Birch, J. (ed), Coaching Supervision Groups: Resourcing Practitioners. London: Routledge.

2020: Strangeness in the familiar…

Presence in Action carries me home to myself. It helps me find coherence in the grounded reality of my existence in each moment. Read more about this, our upcoming events, and some poems and musings from our most recent POPIA (Power of Presence in Action) graduates. [download pdf]

2019: Attending, Daring, Becoming – making boundary-play conscious 

The emergence of PIA Collective was sourced through individuals and then groups engaging with me in the simple, recursive acuity practice held within the framework of the P6 Constellation. This framework was invoked into being by the invitation of a small group of supervisees who wanted more from me. In this account, I show through the lens of natural inclusion, how usual notions of power, analytical and deterministic change models, leadership etc. are challenged [download pdf]

To purchase the book, follow the hyperlink in: Gardiner, L. J. N. (2019) Attending, daring, becoming: making boundary-play conscious, in Birch, J. & Welch, P. (eds), Coaching Supervision: Advancing Practice, Changing Landscapes, 1st edition. London: Routledge, 103-125.

2019: Seven simple rules – an alternative lens

In this chapter Jo Birch and Louie Gardiner discern Seven Simple Rules that support Supervision practice at its most generative – leveraging insights drawn from complex adaptive systems theory [download pdf].

To purchase the book, follow the hyperlink in: Birch, J. & Gardiner, L. J. N. (2019) Seven simple rules: An alternative lens, in Birch, J. & Welch, P. (eds), Coaching Supervision: Advancing Practice, Changing Landscapes. London: Routledge, 21-34.

2018: In the Presence of Innocence

I shall never forget the day Innocence returned to my life. Her (re‐)birthing came on Friday, 23rd March 2018 in the hamlet of Caux, Switzerland. She-with-the Red-Nose-who-had-no-name came in service to a small group of people gathered to prepare and plan for the Caux Forum, due to take place in The Caux Palace, 28 June – 5 August 2018. The Caux Forum – sourced largely by volunteers – consists of a series of themed, conference gatherings  destined to bring people from across the globe to grapple with and respond to some of the most troubling challenges and issues of our time. What part did Innocence play in its preparations? [download pdf]

2018: Review: The Origin of Life Patterns—in the Natural Inclusion of Space in Flux

This review stands as a metalogue (Bateson 1972:12) of Alan Rayner’s principle of Natural Inclusion. As such, it not only offers a reflective commentary of the book but includes a reflexive account of what has been evoked and invoked in me, on my reading of it whilst undertaking my own doctoral studies. [download pdf]

2018: The power of presence in relationships – An article by Tracey Emerson

In June of this year, Tracey Emerson took part in a workshop, The Power of Presence in Relationships, at the Children in Scotland headquarters. This was delivered by Louie Gardiner and Karen Beveridge. In the article below, Tracey outlines how gaining a better understanding of the P6 Constellation, a practical approach that encourages and enables the self-management of stress and encourages practitioners to reflect on their emotions, has proved invaluable to her professional development. [download from Children in Scotland]

2018: Portals to the Collective Mind

This paper sets the scene for a workshop that I and the three Pioneer Practitioners of the P6 Constellation delivered at the EMCC 2018 conference in Amsterdam. In it I explore what we mean by evidence-based practice and research-based evidence… [download pdf]

2017: Portals, Patterns and Paradigm shifts

Louie hosted a masterclass at the international EMCC (European Mentoring and Coaching Council) conference in Edinburgh 2017. some 40+ participants came to gain a taste of the dance that is Presence in Action. This paper offers some underpinning principles to the experiential workshop facilitated on the day. [download  pdf]

2016: Safeguarding my own Trustworthiness
This article is a personal illumination and a mutual exploration involving Louie and the reader.  She offers new and different ways of seeing and understanding ‘trust-making’ and ‘trustworthiness’ which are founded in her experiences of facilitating and engaging in group learning.  [download pdf]

2015: Completion of REAL
This article by Francis Evans, MB of IofC-UK, and short video offer a snapshot of a learning journey that began in 2010 for 12 REAL participants from Initiatives of Change in the UK.  Louie accompanied each person over a 12-month period supporting them to re-connect, heal and regenerate their relationships with themselves, others and with IofC. [download pdf]

2014-10: Changing the Game of Change-making
The P6 Constellation is a methodology that sets conditions for transformational change in human systems – individuals, groups, organisations. This article describes the P6 Constellation and how it came into being. [download pdf]

2014-09: The Sweet Bitter of No
Louie reflects on the outcome of the Scottish Referendum on 18 Sept 2014 and poses some provocative questions about ‘now what?’  [download pdf]

2014-06: IofC – long-term change-making across time and place (Chapter updated post-REAL, 2015)
This chapter by Louie in The Collaboratory (Katrin Muff, 2014) , explores the systemic conditions that appear to have supported the emergent evolution of Initiatives of Change (IofC), a global fellowship that has endured over some eighty years. Each year members converge in Caux, high above Montreux in Switzerland to catalyse dialogue and inspire action to address issues affecting people in communities across the world. The chapter offers insights into how IofC creates and holds a community space; and integrates the spirit and practice of “quiet time” into a community-building process enabling transformation at personal, group and systemic levels. download pdf]

2014-05: Scottish Referendum – complexity perspectives
Louie writes: “In agreeing to write this article, I am psychologically and soulfully stepping into the conversation on the Scottish Referendum. Practically I am already in. I live in Scotland by choice. It is my home…” [download pdf]

2014-04: IofC Seed Behaviours
These Seed Behaviours express what people in IofC do when we are at our best. The behaviours are aspirational and inspirational – and as such, are challenging. The following descriptions are written in first person as it is for each of us to take these on as our own.  This document was honed and agreed by those participating in the first REAL programme in IofC-UK. [download pdf]

2013: Adaptive Capacity
In this article first published in Coaching Today April 2013 Diane Parker comments: “This theme of adapting in relationship with other is further echoed in Louie Gardiner’s fascinating piece on human systems dynamics, as she uses her own experience of writing her article to demonstrate complex adaptive systems in action.” [download pdf]