Online, starts April 7  

At Work in the Ruins

How do we stay in relationship and what have we learned about collaboration that we need now in these times of turbulent change?

It would be easy to believe we are facing the end of the world. But as our oldest myths and stories remind us -- the end of the world as we know it is not the end of the world.

So what can we do when we are facing chaos and finding ourselves sitting in the ruins -- however you are experiencing right now?

How can we make a space within ourselves and together to turn and face the sense of loss, grief, anger and overwhelm that breakdown thrusts upon us?

How can we stay together when everything around us seems to be falling apart?

Especially as people who have worked as changemakers and who hold spaces for people to make good change together, what do we need to learn from these times?

The work of Dougald Hine, captured in his book At Work in the Ruins offers us four tasks that can help us make sense of what is taking place.

There is work to do, even in the ruins.

Join us for a collective inquiry into how we accompany each other in this time of collapse and explore the four tasks facing us in the ruins.

5 online sessions

Online on or around April 22

Play a FLOW GAME for Earth Day

If you've ever experienced a Flow Game, you know it is a playful way to handle the really serious stuff of life and work. Now we turn our focus to people and planet -- all over the world, Flow Game hosts are offering games for Earth Day 2026.

Together with a small circle of players you'll go on a journey that will move you.

With the serendipity of the Game and the other players at your back as Wisdom Council, you'll dive into your question -- have fun -- and uncover next steps.

All you need to do is:

• Have a look at what really matters to you right now
• Shape a question
• Find a Flow Game near you

Earth Day is April 22 and hosts will be offering at the times and dates of their choice.

Find out more about the Flow Game and reserve your spot at the table!

In person or online

Denmark, May 1 - 3  

The Heart of Practice

Many of us feel that we are at an important inflexion point in the world. 

At this time of confusion and turmoil, your solid ground is inside you and between you and others. What we do now will ripple into the future. 

Toke Møller, Mary Alice Arthur, Rowan Simonsen and Maja Rottbøll been exploring individually and collectively for decades about what the heart of practice really means.

What lies beneath the practice patterns we love and use? What can make the difference now? What are the mother practices that can hold us in these times?

Together we will dive deeply into what's at the very heart of practice and the practice of the heart as a host, a leader, a team mate, an activist, a thought leader and as a deeply rooted human being.

We will look at what's at the core and what's at the edges, and give you spaciousness to discover the best of you.

Join an amazing group of practitioners from around the world, held in one of the most beautiful places in Denmark.

Online, March 2  

The Art of Powerful Questions

This is a free online session offered as a follow up to the session during IAF's Facilitation Week in February

One of the fastest ways to create change, find creativity or kickstart innovation is through the Art of Powerful Questions.

A question can open new doors, let in some fresh thinking, close the gap between people, be a bridge to understanding. You can hold a serious question and still find the inquiry fresh and fun!

Finding, shaping and living a powerful question is a key leadership and life skill everyone needs in their back pocket. For facilitators and those who work in groups, questions are the key to good process

Join me for a quick 90 online session to find, craft and sharpen a question that matters to you now and then to experience taking that question into the Flow Game to receive some good wisdom from your peers.

This offering is supported by five Flow Game hosts from around the world.

Online Oct 27 & Nov 3, 10, 17  

Beyond Facilitation 

Working with stories to find the future in the present

Are you navigating the unknown? Is uncertainty in the future sapping the life out of groups you work with? 

Come and learn the powerful method of Collective Story Harvest and learn how this narrative method that can be applied in your upcoming projects precisely because it can support generative listening, deeper understanding, and stronger co-created outcomes.

We will hear current real time experiences from practitioners who are working at the edge of chaos and change.

Using what we learn from their experiences, we'll take a deeper look at the Collective Story Harvest method and test -- piece by piece -- how we can use each part strategically to anchor our work in a more connecting and cohesive way in this time of even greater change.

Come and be in learning with a circle of international colleagues. 

 Online October 27 & November 3, 11, 17

Click to find out more!

Guelph, September 20  

The Art of Powerful Questions

No matter if you engage in social or environmental changes as an activist, team leader, coach, evaluator, donor or policy maker, finding, crafting and sharpening a powerful question is a key leadership and life skill.

Simply offering a question already sets something in motion – it is the simplest intervention you can make into any system. A powerful question is a doorway into a different perspective, even a new reality.

During the morning we will take a deeper look at how to find and work with questions that matter to you. You'll take away both new insight and ways to work practically with the art of questions.

In the afternoon we'll take these questions into The Flow Game and practice being Wisdom Council for each other. You'll gain a new perspective on what matters most and experience what it can be like when everyone you meet is actively on your success team.

Gain a powerful, practical skill that will make all the difference! 

This workshop will be followed by an optional Art of Hosting practitioner gathering the following day

Online February 28

Hosting at the Edge

What does hosting conversations that matter mean in times like these?  

As group process people, we are being called into more and more challenging spaces as the frameworks of "business as usual" disappear and solid foundations shake. We face uncertainty at work and the unraveling of communities. The people we work with often cannot see a clear pathway forward.

Join us in an online community conversation space for questions like:

• What is hosting or facilitation in these times?
• Do conversations still matter and what conversations matter now?
• Where can I find some support as the going gets tougher?
• Where do I put my energy now?

There will be two sessions will follow the same, simple format. The core of our time together will be Open Space.

Participation is free.

Online February 28

Hong Kong, November 21 - 24

The Art of Hosting

We invite you to join us for the Art of Hosting and Harvesting meaningful Conversations, focusing on the question: How can we reconnect to our shared humanity so we can weave a thriving future for all?

In these past years, our world has transformed at breakneck speed. Yet beneath the turbulence, an unshaken truth endures—a quiet, stubborn love for the places we call home.  

So we ask: Can we mend our fragmented world and co-create a future that honors our shared humanity, embraces complexity, and reclaims neglected interdependence? How do we stand in these broken places, listen across divides, and plant seeds of intention for a collective tomorrow?  

Perhaps now is the time to return to essentials — to truly listen and support each other and to find generative ways to work and co-create together.  

This is where The Art of Hosting and Harvesting Conversations That Matter becomes vital. Join us on our 4-day transformative journey designed to equip you with the tools to:

• Host dialogues that bridge divides
• Navigate diversity with curiosity
• Cultivate shared understanding
• Harness our collective wisdom to shape tomorrow

Together, we’ll learn, grow, and put these practices into action-building foundations for a future woven from courage, connection, and hope.

Online August 27/28

The "Who Am I Now?" Conversations

Feel like you need a place to stop and figure out who you are now?

So many of us are facing challenges in life that seem never-ending. The pace of change feels overwhelming. It leaves us asking deep inside: "Who am I now in the face of this?"while trying to keep up on the outside.

We feel it too. That's why we're offering a open series of conversations you can join with others who are also asking "Who am I now? What is mine to do?" Together we'll look for the wisdom that comes when you have a conversation that really matters.

The "Who am I Now?" Conversations are designed as a two hour "sabbatical" from your everyday life. Give yourself the time to really sink into the conversation and be in inquiry with us. This is a time to slow down in order to go fast.

Our next conversation takes place: 

August 27: 3:00 - 5:00 pm Pacific / 6:00 - 8:00 pm Eastern /  which is also August 28 8:00 - 10:00 East Coast Australia / 10:00 - 12:00 New Zealand

These conversations are anchored by Mary Alice Arthur & Amy Lenzo, two very seasoned online group hosts, with a changing team of other talents bringing their unique contributions.

Online August 27/28

FREE

Innsbruck, Austria, May 4

Come in -- Chill out -- Connect Together

It's time for those who practice Art of Hosting and those interested in participatory practice to gather!

You are warmly welcome to join us in a time when we will come together, connect and share the magic of Art of Hosting.

If your practice has been on pause or sleeping, if you've been deeply in it, if you remember how it feels to host together and create brave and transformational spaces, this is for you!

We will gather in celebration of everything that we have learned, are learning now and are creating into the future.

While the main language will be German, whatever language you speak, we'll make sure you have a great time!

There will be other events to attend on the Friday before and the Monday after this informal gathering. And Innsbruck is a lovely place to enjoy!

All are Welcome. 

Hosted with the kind support of Haus der Begnung 

Aug 27 - Sept 1

AoH Practitioners Gathering 

Last year marked 10 years since our landmark international practitioners gathering at Štatenberg in Slovenia, and 20 years since the beginnings of AoH nearby. When we gathered again in 2022, it felt like both the end of a first cycle and the beginning of something new. That’s why we named our event Homecoming.

Now in 2023, we feel called to light the fire again and invite our global practice field to gather once more.

This year our calling question is: What is hosting now – and how can staying in practice together serve us and the world? 

Our focus will be around practice -- what are the edges, the boundaries and the calls to deepen what we know and take it to new places? Our intention is to take inspiration and solace from nature and to allow ourselves to be held, hosted and nourished by the land around us. 

This is a gathering for practitioners to focus on their practice together. We welcome practitioners from all types of participatory practice modalities to come and share. And we invite participants from all over the world.

You are warmly invited to join us!

Statenberg, Slovenia 

December 27

Join us at the fire 

Join us for a time of story and ceremony, where we'll blend sacred space with sharing our hearts. We'll remember where we've been and dream about the future. We'll practice human being-ness together.

Through the magic of Spatial-chat, we'll be sitting in a circle around a crackling fire. We can't wait to see you.

Online Monday, December 27 for 2.5 hours beginning at 10:00 Pacific / 1:00 pm Eastern / 19:00 CET.

We're looking forward to  a time of story & ceremony together to bring this challenging year to a graceful completion. 

If there is enough demand we will hold an additional circle on the 28th. 

Online January 1 - 7

By The Fireside

With all the challenges in life, it can be easy to forget the person who most needs your attention, you. The most positive thing you can give to yourself is the gift of knowing and owning your story. Being at home in yourself means the past can offer up wisdom, the present can be an opportunity and the future can present unexpected gifts. With story as your ally you know yourself as capable, confident, and competent. You can weather what comes.

Join us around the virtual campfire for a deeply personal journey into your own story. We will support you to turn your story from what defines you into your champion for success.

If you are wondering who you are now, and where your story goes from here; if you want to understand yourself so you can step forward with strength and vision; if you're looking for companions to help you face the unknown with curiosity and courage, then BY THE FIRESIDE is for you. 

Three live sessions, three self-paced videos, two optional Story Cafés to meet with your story buddies.

Guaranteed to jump start your experience and success in 2024!

Let us host you into your own brilliance!

A week long intensive

Join at any time

THE STORY DOJO Online Community

THE STORY DOJO was created as a place to explore, ideate and practice the power of story. Join us around the virtual campfire as we inquire into a new topic and build capacity and companionship each month.

Focusing on Mary Alice's story practice and her book 365 ALIVE! each month will have a new theme enabling you to step deeper and deeper into the power of story for your life and work.

Your membership includes: 

Fireside Conversation: On the second Monday of the month a speaker or speakers join us to give voice to our theme. Calls last 90 minutes and are recoded.

Office Hours: A place to meet and get input on your stories and answers to your questions. Or adjourn to a "private table" and talk about the topic of your choice. Join us on the fourth Monday of the month any time during the 90 minute window.

A digital library of 50+ hours of content: Eight sessions speaker + Q&A sessions from the 65 ALIVE! livestream series and 75 interviews from the STORY THE FUTURE Online Summit. That's 42 hours of recorded material!

Online meetings second and fourth Monday each month

Both monthly and annual membership options available

A simple way to kickstart your storytelling

Love Stories

The past two years have been tough. It’s easy to focus on the drama of it all, but I’ve decided that I’d rather live in a love story.

There are so many ways to express love. One of the best is by sharing stories; reminding people how they’ve sparked love and learning in us and for others.

Stories are a great reminder that we already know how to love. 

And the more we practice, the more love there is. So I’m making this invitation for others to join me in sending out small stories to change the world. One love story at a time…

Every day for 28 days, you'll receive a postcard with a prompt.

Use it to think about a story and send it to someone you care about. Maybe someone you haven't seen for awhile. Or someone you haven't spoken to for a long time. Say something that's in your mind and on your heart. There's no better time then now.

Choose your contribution

A weekly shot of story inspiration

365 ALIVE! comes to your inbox

Sign up for a weekly shot of story inspiration directly to your inbox

Feeling like you could use an energetic shot in the arm when you face the coming week? Running low on inspiration?

My book 365 ALIVE! find your voice. Claim your story. Live your brilliant life. was created to help you discover the power of story and uncover your own best future through the stories you tell. It is full of beautiful images and quotes that form the heart of a 52 week journey.

But I made far more than 52 of these offerings and now they are ready to come to you to light up your imagination and inspire your steps forward.

 Every Sunday, receive an inspiring quote to move your heart, plus a powerful question to tickle your mind.

Let story raise you up!

Free