So I spent all last week at Rally (Rally!) and it was Rally #10, and it was marvelous.

And I thought it would be fun okay maybe not fun but useful? interesting? to take a bunch of notes about how it went and then share them with you.

In the spirit of the spangly Revue review.

Wait!

Except that as soon as I started, my fuzzball monsters went into Extreme Disapproval Mode because a) what if I bore people to death and b) all my good notes are at the Playground so I might forget all the important parts and then what’s the point!?!!?

So here’s the plan.

I’m writing up some thoughts to put here. And the monsters and I can have a little chat in the margins while I do this, just like we would at Rally. And maybe I’ll share some of that with you later, if they’re up for it.

In the meantime, REVUE! Let’s do it. In no particular order.

New traditions that showed up at this Rally.

Puffball fights in the hammock!

I’m not even sure what this means.

But there were puffballs. Neon puffballs. And a hammock. And somehow this turned into a thing.

I don’t know where this is going. Mud wrestling? Bubble wars? It’s hard to say.

Also the best part of this was that Chuck was at Rally! And she was the one who had sent us the hammock for the Refueling Station! Which she had never used! Awesome.

And a continuation of fairly recent traditions.

Extreme Fairy Door Play.

Like with all good traditions and customs, the Moving of the Fairy Door has gradually become more and more baroque.

It used to be that if you saw the fairy door, you’d put it somewhere else.

But now we’ve upped the ante and have been outdoing each other by placing it in the most hilarious, unusual and creative places.

Much of my time this Rally was spent cracking up every time I discovered the fairy door in another unlikely-to-ridiculous location. Or not being able to find it at all and having to go search for it. Fun!

The addition of evening Shiva Nata.

We started this at the last Rally. Not an official class. Just ten minutes of extra Shiva Nata.

And splitting things up so the morning class is more mind-bendy and the later one is just silly crazed flailing to music.

People can join in or just watch or do a little of both. As you wish.

I’ve been doing this after the old Turkish lady yoga and before the Chickening. And it’s absolutely amazing. Energizing and silly and really, really powerful, all at the same time.

Extra bonus superpowers.

During the chicken we do a thing called Schmurphling, during which we get to choose superpowers that we want (unless we decide to go all silent retreat, which is always an option).

And at the last Rally, people wanted extra bonus superpowers. And why not?

So this time I just included that in the schmurphling and we did extra bonus superpowers for anyone who wanted some. Love it. This is a keeper.

Some interesting things about Rally #10.

Lunch being more casual.

Fewer group lunches and more of people doing their own thing or going off in twos and threes.

More sharing of the Refueling Station.

At past rallies, sometimes you’d see someone napping and someone else on the bean bag chair blowing bubbles, but this time there was hanging out in the refueling station. That was new.

Skewing a bit older?

We usually get a pretty broad mix of ages. Anywhere from 25-65 is pretty normal, though we’ve had both younger and older as well.

This wasn’t a large rally so I don’t know if this is a thing or not, but half of our rallions were over fifty. And they all seemed to have more energy than me! Huh.

Some things we changed for this Rally.

Let’s see.

I did a lot of systems documentation.

We added new bulletin boards in the Galley, specifically for people to put up business cards. If you’ve been to a previous Rally or a Shiva Nata training and you want me to put up your card, just mail it to us!

And we took some video of me teaching Shiva Nata on the first day (just me, not the students), though I don’t know if I’m going to use it for anything.

Thoughts and ideas for future Rallies.

1. Something to do with qualities.

I pretty much constantly find myself invoking qualities of Rally and the Playground.

Things like:

Play. Creativity. Support. Spaciousness. Sovereignty. Flexibility. Agility. Adaptability. Harmony. Curiosity. Delight. Wonder. Reflection. Safety. Trust. Flow. Experimentation. Inclusivity. Light-heartedness. Love. Courage. Focus. Inspiration. Possibility.

So many! I think I might put them up on the wall of the Refueling Station on little cards.

2. Filling in the PLUM. Especially the foods section.

The Playground User Manual (aka the PLUM) is still my favorite thing ever.

I love walking into the Playground and seeing someone sprawled on the floor, poring over it. And then using stuff from it later, and having magical results.

There are still some sections that need a lot of work, and I think it’s time for the Section of Yum to get some love.

Especially with more people doing lunch on their own. Maybe I’ll write up some favorite places. Or ask other people to make pages for theirs.

Or make a short list of all the gluten-free stuff on the street. Stuff like that.

Stray observations.

We totally need a Talking Room. When we get a building, I’m going to make sure there’s a way to do that.

In the meantime, I think we’re going to have to make more use of the storage room closet in the hall for that.

What I worked on

My personal focus/theme/project/mission for this Rally ended up being called Revue and Revenue.

And it was all about learning about and tracking the connections. Asking slightly future me what happens in my business when I spend more time on Entry and Exit. More time documenting what happens as I work.

It was very interesting.

It turns out there are more connections than I’d thought, and that this process of Revue-ing and Reviewing is a really big deal not just for my business but for me, personally and for everything I do.

And that sharing the notes is important too.

Favorite part?

Oh so hard to decide!

The Wednesday evening wine and cheesening was absolutely lovely.

The fits of giggles were many.

The Adoration of the Butt-monsters was intense and hilarious.

And I always love that moment at the very end of Rally when the space is totally trashed, and everyone is exhausted, happy and blowing kisses towards the Playground as they make their goodbyes.

Play with me! And comment zen for today.

If you would like to do a Revue for something and you want a place to put it, go for it.

And if you have been to a Rally and want to share favorite memories, that’s welcome too.

And if you have interest in processing a thing which has happened or favorite rituals or things you want to try, that sounds good too.

As always, we remember that this is a process, and a process is really a tiny, sweet thing, so we tread gently.

We recognize our stuff, we let other people have their stuff, we take responsibility for our experience and we don’t tell each other what to do.

Love to the rallygators (past and future!), to the commenter mice, the Beloved Lurkers and everyone who reads.