Over the course of the past year and a half, I have been studying Rally (Rally!).

Studying it like I was doing a graduate degree in rallying, which I was. And also studying it because I needed to understand more about its kooky, marvel-filled magic.

It took me fifteen entire Rallies to do this. Trying to get a handle on the toughest questions about Rally:

What is it, exactly? What are the results and what are the effects? How does it change people and how does it change the world? How does it change my world?

And how do you talk about something that cannot be described in words?

I kept studying it.

I have gleaned considerable amounts of useful information from comments that people have left here on the blog. And I see how the way they interact with the material here changes after they have been on Rally.

(See Marisa’s sovereign and clear comment yesterday, so full of spaciousness and harmonious knowing– you can instantly tell that a Rally grad wrote it.)

People have sent sweet pictures and letters. And I have seen them do things after Rally. Fabulous, inspiring things!

But my main source of study has been my Kitchen Table program, which is now coming to a close after three intense years.

I’ve steadily been collecting evidence of the surprising and unexpected effects of Rally (Rally!) through observing how people change when they come back to our closed community after this experience.

Here’s some of what I’ve noticed…

Presence.

The people who have been on Rally are about a thousand billion times more present.

I don’t mean that they’re around more. I mean that they are so much more aware of their process and their experience. They’re more grounded and more sovereign.

Destuckification as the default.

They destuckify faster. Way faster.

They enter and exit situations and experiences more consciously.

When they’re in their stuff, they recognize that and do something to interact with it.

When someone else is having a moment and being in their stuff, the Rally grads are nearly always the ones who are able to show up with compassionate, wise, loving, permission-filled responses.

Beautiful boundaries.

The people who have been through Rally have stronger, healthier boundaries.

They apologize less. They blame less, placate less, falter less. They play more.

They are clear and intentional about what they need in any given interaction, and they ask for it, without attachment to whether or not they get it.

They remember how to play.

Rallions post-Rally are so much more likely to come up with creative, elegant, playful solutions to anything that’s not working.

They are more trusting about time. More aware of how time can be magic.

More likely to intentionally take a rabbit hole or take a time out (paws!). Or negotiate with a monster.

They’re less likely to go into intense avoidance mode, and more likely to remember to be curious about what is hiding inside of avoidance.

Congruence and harmoniousness.

When Rallygators get the thing they want, it feels satisfying and joyful for them, because they infused the whole process with intention.

They fractal flowered things. Sometimes with proxies.

They used their superpowers.

Speaking of superpowers…

They know so much more about superpowers. About their superpowers.

They trust their power more. They trust their instincts more.

They have MORE FUN.

That’s because they know how to make work be not-work. How to make it light-hearted.

And how to use costumes to channel different aspects of identity. You know who does this really well? Jenny.

But also it’s because they’re not impressed by their stuff.

The art of seeing pain but not being inside of it.

Once you have been on Rally (Rally!), you know so much more about your stuff. Your pain-fear-grief-anxiety-worry patterns.

And you recognize it for what it is — your stuff!

And when you forget, you go back to your force field and regroup. You make a blanket fort. You use the elevator shaft.

Hum more. Guilt less.

That’s how I would sum up the effects of Rally, actually.

The people who have been on Rally hum more. They guilt less.

They know about hidden solutions, and the patterns behind the patterns.

They use the tools. They can turn anything into a tool.

Rally is what changed the Kitchen Table.

Having Kitchen Table people come to Rally has completely changed our KT experience for the better.

Before we had Rally, there were times (not all the time, just occasionally) when it would seem to me that everyone was grinding wheels, while I was constantly modeling and reminding how to step out of the wheel-grinding.

But once a few KT-ers had rallied, I had allies. We were doing it together, and changing the culture, and then other people could figure out how to do it too.

We were a community of people who know how to do all the things that I was describing above. And it has spread.

So even people who haven’t rallied (I know, it’s hard to get here from Australia! Some day, my loves!) pick up the Rally-ness. They absorb the magic.

And we have seeded a deeper process of doing this work.

One more really important thing.

This. Since July 11, 2010 (or a week or so before that), I have invested insane amounts of time and money into Rally.

I have been willing, even happy, to run Rally at a loss — it takes three full weeks of each month to set up, [verb], recover, consolidate and review in order for a Rally to happen. That’s not calculating in what it takes to spread the word. Or to fill the Playground with toys.

And I have done this fifteen times. Totally 100% worth it. I do not have any resentment about the investment.

I got to be the venture capitalist, the inventor, the R&D team, the therapist, the explorer, the ship’s captain, and all of it. It has been amazing.

And I have learned that no matter what we charged for Rally, it would never cover what you actually get.

Never.

Because what’s the price of the equivalent of five years of therapy happening in a week? What’s the price of becoming someone who can generate creative solutions to stuck? Or the price of finally learning to trust your instincts? Or the price of being able to become secret friends with any project?

For the past six months I’ve been talking about how in 2012 Rally prices are going up so that they can be more congruent with what Rally is.

And I was doing the work so that I could be ready for Rally to cover its own expenses. I have graduated from my trainings. I have also learned (through Rally!) what it’s like when things are not reflecting congruence. Congruence is a door.

Here’s the announcing part.

On Sunday, January 1st (probably towards evening? Because everyone’s sleeping in?), we’ll bring Rally prices into congruence. To where they need to be now for Rally to carry itself without me paying for it.

There are nine Rallies in 2012. Two have already sold out. Two more are close to full. There will be only four Rallies in 2013.

If you want to come to Rally, and to do it at the old and much-lower prices, make this happen before Sunday. The page for signing up for Rally (Rally!) is here.

If you need a stowawayship scholarship, you can apply for one here.

And of course let it be clear that I love you completely and without reservation, whether or not you ever come to a Rally.

xox
Havi

Usual comment zen applies.

We all have our stuff. We’re all working on our stuff. It’s a process. We make this space safe by taking loving responsibility for our stuff and not putting it on other people. We play.

If you would like to say YAY RALLY, I would love that.

If you would like to sit with me in the giant communal blanket fort and drink tea or bourbon or whatever, that is welcome too.