We believe that Radical Hospitality is an essential piece of setting up a strong and welcoming container as a facilitator.  One aspect of this is to welcome all of who the participants (and facilitators) are into the space.   We welcome the parts of you that are sad, glad, angry, content.  We welcome your children and your pets.  You are welcome to eat, drink, lay down, be outside, be on and off camera (if online).  If you are in person, we invite you to listen to your own Soul and do what you need. Everything that we do is by invitation only. All of who you are is welcome here.

What do we mean by all?  In our general culture, “all” usually means our mind, body and spirit and often in that order.  Big shout out to Brandi Mack for creating the acronym PIES (physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual) to help to expand the conversation.  However, for me, it felt like there were still some pieces missing.  Fast forward to creating a workshop on popular education with Jeanne Rewa this Nov. 2022.  I realized that I could change the order of the acronym to add in community and Jeanne wisely said that we need to add in environment.  I felt that adding in community was essential to the definition of ‘self’ because we are not alone.  Who ‘I’ am is because of who ‘we’ are.  This includes not just those we choose to be in community with, but also the context of the world today, the land we are on, and those who came before us.

Herein was born SPICEE.  

To welcome our whole selves means to create spaces for ourselves and each other that invite in the:

Spiritual: your Wise self, your gut, your inner knowing, your connection to the Sacred

Physical: your body, your movement, your physical presence

Intellectual: your mind, your imagination, your creativity, your thinking

Community: your love network, your identity, your ancestors, your plancestors, pets, family

Emotions: your heart, your feelings, your underlying needs, your reactions and responses

Environment: the context you are in, the natural environment, plants, animals, the context of the world, the space that you occupy

How do you feel in your heart and in your body when you contemplate that the whole self is SPICEE?  Are there other parts that you would add or things you would change?

If this acronym feels useful for you, here are a few ways that I’ve been using it in the facilitation of popular education spaces online:

1. Outline of the agenda:

1. As I design the gathering: Using the popular education spiral, I begin with step three and identified what the issue or focus will be for the workshop.  Once that is identified, I make sure that I engage SPICEE in every aspect of the training.  I do not touch on every aspect in each of the parts of the spiral, but by the end of the gathering, I have included a practice that touches on every aspect of a person’s SPICEE self.  This is because different people are able to access learning in different ways on different days.  By doing something in all of the SPICEE ways, then I am welcoming different learning styles and needs of the moment.

2. During the gathering, we want to create a strong enough container that people are clear on what is happening and porous enough to respond to what is happening in the present moment. Emergence allows for the gathering to actually meet the needs of the people who are present. During the gathering, I keep an eye out for how people are responding to different practices in relationship to their SPICEE levels.  Having a few extra ideas for the needs for people’s SPICEEselves can help with shifting as needed.  

1. Personal and Group Wellness check in: 

1. Prior to the gathering: I check in with myself and my co-facilitators to see if we need anything to be the SPICEE level that allows us to be present to the participants and to hold space for them in a generative way.  You can talk with your co-facilitators about your needs and theirs using this acronym and ask what each person needs for support to be present for the gathering.

2. During the gathering: in the 5-10 min in the beginning when people are slowly trickling into a space, I put up a slide that says “Self Check In: How are your SPICEE levels?”  Underneath I have a basic definition of each.  This process gives the participants who arrive at the hour something to do to ground themselves and it’s a nice way for everyone to gently enter into the space and feel that whatever time they came in is exactly the right time because they are coming into a practice that is self-directed and easy to join into. 

3. Incorporate rest into the gathering. Traditionally, we believe that if we have slept ‘enough’ then we should be energized or rested. As I’ve learned from Dr. Dalton-Smith’s work, “Sleep is not Rest.” Dr. Dalton-Smith shares that there are 7 types of rest: 1. Physical Rest, 2.Mental Rest, 3.Sensory Rest, 4. Creative Rest, 5.Emotional Rest, 6. Social Rest, 7. Spiritual Rest. As you prepare for the gathering, creating spaces for people to rest will allow participants to show up more fully. One easy way to do this is to shift from the idea of a ‘break’ during the gathering into a time for ‘self-love,’ ‘respite,’ or ‘pause.’ The word break means that it’s a time away from what we are doing. Instead, I will invite participants to take a Pause before we take a time for self-love, listen to their Wise self, and determine what it is that their Soul is asking of them in this time. Once the answer as arisen for them, then, the participant can go and do what their Soul needs.

If you use any of these, please share your feedback!  If you have other ways that you are using SPICEE, please let us know.  We want to keep learning with you.   Also, on the Healing by Choice! Blog, I offer a few ways that you can use this tool for individual self-reflection.

May your SPICEE self have what you need.