The Game of Tao in portuguese
*NOTE: This article comes from a previous one (this one) and it was written in Portuguese originally. You'll be able to read it soon here - we're working to fix some technical issues with the translations app. Thanks for your understanding.
Filipa Pimentel
I remember that it was at the beginning of a bus journey from Porto to Viseu, on a cold day in November 2023, that Raphaël phoned me. I'd been hearing about the transformative power of the Game of Tao from key people in the context of the work I do in French-speaking environments for a long time, and when I tried to train myself to bring the game to Portugal, things didn't align easily.
It was my dear friend Josué (Réseau Transition.be) who proposed that I speak to the coordinator of the new Académie Tao. The phone call with Raphaël lasted the entire bus journey and was an epiphanic experience - when I hung up the phone, it was clear to me that we had made a pact of kinship and that we would support each other from then on in our personal and professional projects, even if I don't remember us saying these words out loud.
Months earlier, during the first meeting of the Université du Nous General Assembly (which I'm talking about here), I connected deeply with two people: Romain - during the hours of conversation about projects, life challenges, he told me about the Game of Tao and a process underway to amplify its reach - it was from him that I learnt the story of how the game is linked to the birth of the UDN; and Camila, a Belgian-Brazilian, who, for some unknown reason, I met in an embrace overflowing with emotion, after one of the sessions of that same event, without us ever having exchanged a word before.
I reflect on how there are projects that begin with important encounters. They are encounters with feelings of alignment that reverberate for years and are the basis of that kinship I was telling you about above. Anyway, before I tell you about the two Jogo do Tao events in Portugal, let me tell you about the game:
What is the GAME OF TAO anyway?
This game is classified as a tool for collective intelligence, for cultural change - it has the power to create processes of inner transition: processes of individual and collective awareness and regeneration.
The Game of Tao is designed to support those who want to become agents of change, responding to the call for a new sense of responsible citizenship from a growing fringe of the population and proposing the idea that life is a great game, essentially collective, which revolves around ‘I’ and ‘WE’, in a complementary way.
In this game, to help another player is to win: the Game of Tao is the art of exchange and co-operation, where everyone undertakes to contribute their help, their human and professional experience, to the accomplishment of the missions proposed by the other players. Collaboration is the rule, competition is out of the question.
The different perspectives of the other players are used to check the coherence of each participant's project through a journey through 4 worlds: the World of Earth to clarify your desire; the World of Fire to identify the fears and obstacles holding you back; the World of Water where you can find the qualities and support for your needs; and finally the World of Air, the world of rituals you need to put into practice to realise it.
The Game of Tao in Portugal
After that first conversation with Raphaël, during the journey from Porto to Viseu, many other conversations followed. Soon, the dream of collaborating and bringing the game to Portugal was no longer enough.
Rede Micélio (an emerging network of change agents in Portugal, which is still informal), in partnership with Académie Tao, organised the first two sessions of the game in Portugal with the intention that this would be the first step in a more complete project with the aim of spreading the game throughout Portugal. The second step would be to train facilitators of the Game of Tao.
Tao Experience
I rarely intend to dream big, but sometimes I overdo it. Probably because of the swelling inspiration that resulted from the conversations with Raphael, I infected a lot of people in Portugal and suddenly found myself dealing with a huge group of people who wanted to experience the Game. I also reached out to my ‘fellowship’ (just like in Lord of the Rings) who share this connection with the Tao: they, inspired and knowing that I was expected to respond to such a demand, surrounded me, supporting me, and the ‘fellowship’ came together in this configuration for the first time in April 2024 - Académie Tao, Transition network in francophone Belgium, Université du Nous, Rede Micélio, Transition Network, together!
Romain arrived in Viseu first. He came from Reunion Island, ill-prepared for Portugal's known '’April’s showers', a week before the event, to train Sofia and me. This ensured that there would be at least two tables playing in Portuguese. Raphäel and Josué would facilitate two more tables in English. Romain would support us during the two sessions of 3 hours each - 8 groups, each group with 5 or 6 people.
The day of the game followed the meeting of the Rede Micélio. The forest of Origens (one of the Transition groups/projects in Portugal) had already been prepared to welcome many people from the four corners of Portugal in the event of bad weather. A group had prepared tents, wooden houses and a caravan, hot meals and, go figure, my brotherhood of foreign men made my recipe for pastéis de nata (custard tarts) on the sly, using the services of a couple of accomplices who distracted me with important things that I had to see or do far away from the kitchen in the shed.
We were prepared for bad weather, but it was a big storm that we had on the day of the event - wind, thunder, pouring rain and bone-chilling cold. This was another one of those stories I often share of the resilience of this beautiful ‘transition’ (broad sense) community, told with humour, sharing the wonder that the participants felt: all the groups completed the processes full of depth, emotion, some of them, comically in tents falling down in the rain, in the forest of raging oaks, protecting the game boards and cards saying - ‘It's like we're on a ship, at sea! We won't abandon the ship!!!' - and Romain, wet to the bone, holding the tent as if it were the mainsail of a ship.
The group that came to experience the Tao game was diverse, but there was a lot of convergence in what was shared with me from the participants' experience. Here are three testimonies:
I really enjoyed the game, in that it challenges us to establish ideas and ideals, creates a strong connection with ourselves and also between the participants, puts each person's wisdom at the service of all, is eminently reflective and generative, allowing a precious alignment of each person on their life path.
It's a game that is much more than that, because it puts us in the Game of Life in a union of paths with each participant. I'm looking forward to learning more.’
José Soutelinho
I found the Tao Game to be an incredible tool. It takes us to a state of depth, of connection with the people in our group, of vulnerability, allowing us to listen and give our opinion, our feeling, with our heart.
It really was a transformative moment for me, to feel that energetic field where you can be body and soul at the service of the other person and take in what is being said to you - it was really marvellous. I also think that having the ‘Oracle’, at the end of the game, which helps us take action, is the icing on the cake. This is because everything we've been emotionally stirring up is given a path - there's a solution, a resolution or at least a start. I think this part is fundamental. Often we only go through the mental or emotional (in the processes) and then we don't move on to action, when we have some realisation. This game is really incredible in that respect.
Also, as I mentioned, I loved Raphaël's facilitation - I think he was excellent - and even though he probably didn't understand everything we were saying, because we didn't always speak English, he managed to sustain the group's energy very well and feel our emotions, always calmly and very welcomingly.
It was a marvellous experience that I hope to repeat.
Rita Marques
In Viseu I was able to discover the extent to which the Game of Tao can create a deep connection and activate the power of empathy, beyond language. I was with a warm and friendly group, in the little wooden school set in a clearing between the trees. I introduced the game in English, inviting people to express themselves in their mother tongue if they felt the need. The game allows you to explore the source of who you are, and it's easier to express it in your own language. And so it happened. I was the only one who didn't understand the words. But I could see, feel and support. It was very moving, people reached moments of deep, authentic expression and connection, with the support of the group. We were connected beyond words, to our humanity and our willingness to contribute to life.
Josué Dusoulier (facilitator)
Tao facilitator training
I spent the whole summer immersed in the forest of Origens, just like the year before. The experience showed me how my central nervous system regulates itself when I live in a forest 24 hours a day, with my bare feet on the ground, regulating my days to the rhythms of nature. I also witness the reinvigoration of the forest itself as the Origens project goes about its mission of regenerating the ecosystem. It's hard to explain how being present during this process impacts me - I recognise the ancient feeling of having grown up like this, with my brother and cousins, with no barriers separating us from the vegetation, the earth and the sounds of the animals. I remember that I myself was part of the greenery and the dirt. It was only at night that I washed myself of them, before going to bed.
I arrived at the end of June prepared to work tirelessly, both in the Transition Network and in preparing the training for facilitators of the Game of Tao. With the experience of the game, it was clear that it was important to train facilitators in Portugal. There would be 12 of them. Camila, whom I embraced endlessly at the Université du Nous (UDN) general assembly, would be the trainer, representing the UDN. Sofia and I would assist in the facilitation and, above all, in the creation of an energetic field, a space of security and connection, following Camila's lead. The training was scheduled for July and, until then, there was much more to do than I had imagined!
I should perhaps explain that the Game of Tao has existed for many years but, for a reason I don't know, it has been limited to French-speaking countries. There are no paths already mapped out in the process of bringing the game to a new territory, with a different language, a different cultural and economic context. If there aren't, we have to invent them! Who better to pave the way than my sweet friend/sister Susana and I? I've never had as much fun working with someone as I have with her - the fewer conditions there are for us to do a job properly, the more we find it funny. In short, crazy people... I smile when I think of the work sessions, at the table under the shed, me translating instructions and the texts of the letters, Susana working on the layout and graphics, with 45ºC, internet failures, the computer with a mind of its own, texts with inconsistencies. It was hours of despair and fits of laughter as if we were teenagers. The work we did had to be improved later on, but in the end we were able to provide all the contents of the latest version of the game in Portuguese to the new facilitators!
The two days of training began in a circle in a large clearing in the forest. The 12 trainees from all over the country (and Brazil!) were joined by two teenagers. One of them, my youngest daughter. Without me intervening, after much thought, Isabel (14) asked Camila if she could take part in the games/exercises facilitated by the trainees. Little did Camila know that by giving Isabel this opportunity, she was giving us both a life experience we'll never forget. The impact was great for her (who has already borne fruit) and profound for me: watching a woman blossom, watching her express her essence and her human values, detaching herself from me, from my shadow, was contrary to the pain a mother is said to feel when it happens. The opposite. Quite the opposite.
The two days of training ended in a circle in the same forest clearing. The sharing was profound and there was a lot of resistance to our meeting ending. I remember someone saying that the experience was like a shock, a slap in the face. I remember how we all felt connected to each other and ready to use the game as a tool for change. And I remember how we all felt grateful and in awe of the strong, wholehearted presence of our trainer - Camila.
Thank you to Camila, Raphaël, the Académie Tao and the Fond’action UdN.
I would also like to thank Sofia (our little fairy) and the Origins Project, on behalf of all new Tao facilitators!
*NOTE: Our strategy was to train 12 people and give them the tools to be able to implement the game in Portugal on their own, while keeping the group cohesive and continuously learning. The group continues to meet, with and without Camila's accompaniment, and some of the facilitators are listed here. If you want to experience the game of Tao, sign up and find a facilitator near you!
