SHOOP® goes Global: A Journey of Letting Go in Kuala Lumpur
Juggling - taking photos, being part of the experience and the facilitator is not easy - I have very few photos. I love the in the moment vibe of this one, and the fact you can see a little of the lush greenery.
Something special happened recently - SHOOP® flew… and landed in the vibrant city of Kuala Lumpur. I was working alongside the Funder Group of The Wellbeing Project and lead Facilitator Laura Bacon during their retreat, where funders gather to immerse themselves in local culture, wellbeing practices, and shared learning.
The journey began weeks before our in-person gathering...
Through our first virtual meeting, we created a moment to pause from our busy lives and begin connecting as a group. I introduced the concept of letting go to explore what it meant to each of us in this particular moment of our lives and work. Through group discussions and an improvisational game (yes, on Zoom), we began exploring the theory and practice of letting go - physically, mentally, and socially.
From these early conversations it was clear that this space had opened up more meaning and ideas about letting go than people had considered before. People could see the fun, freeing aspects of the concept, letting go of perfectionism for example but also there are tensions. If I let go of everything, i’m not being responsible for what I need to do.
The process had begun. There are no answers but we all had some new things to thing about.
Connection builds gradually...
The night before our SHOOP® workshop, we wandered the streets of Kuala Lumpur on a food tour, taking in the city's flavours and energy together. Yet even then, there was that familiar dance of sussing each other out. As a newbie to the group, I felt that subtle pressure to impress, while participants perhaps held their own skepticism about what lay ahead. Some of us were carrying the weight of life back home - when you're juggling responsibilities across time zones, the idea of 'letting go' can feel more like a threat than an invitation.
I had my own letting go to do - releasing the anxiety about facilitating SHOOP® in a new country, with participants from across the globe. How would cultural differences play out? But this is where I needed to trust in the SHOOP® process itself. It's not a rigid framework imposed on a group, but rather a co-created experience that evolves with each unique collection of people. We build it together, each choice and conversation informing how we participate.
Momentum built...
And that's exactly what happened. As momentum built, we found ourselves in a moment of joy - having a silent disco outdoors, surrounded by the city's greenery. For me, it will easily make my top 5 SHOOP® silent disco experiences. It did make me smile that by track 2, we were all back inside in the air con!
The whole experience culminated in deep conversations, using various techniques to help people connect their experience of letting go with their lives and work in social change. These conversations belonged to the participants - my role was simply to help them emerge.
What next...
As I write this, I'm sitting with my own curiosity about how this experience has settled for the participants. I’m about to start having recorded conversations with people from this experience, to explore their reflections and discover what seeds were planted during our time together. I wanted to write this blog and capture my initial thoughts, before their reflections begin to reshape my own understanding of what we created together.
This first international SHOOP® wasn't just about bringing a practice to a new place - it was about creating space for funders to reimagine their role in social change in ways that honour both wellbeing and impact. Perhaps most powerfully, the group considered what letting go could mean for them as a collective. In a funding landscape that often reinforces traditional power dynamics, what might it look like to collectively embrace letting go? How might it transform the way we think about impact, control, and trust in social change work?
For my practice, with SHOOP®, it was wonderful to see it once again meet a group exactly where they are and open up new conversations. Whether in Manchester or Kuala Lumpur, the practice adapts and flows, just like the process of letting go itself.
How do you build connection when you are working in a world of uncertainty, challenge and change?
