Owning Your Space. Knowing Your Boundaries

Friday, May 17th 10am–1pm (CET)
Taking space and nourishing boundaries are extremely important topics to address in our spatial practice if we want to stay healthy and connected to life's endless possibilities. With this 3h-workshop, I am offering a safe space for you to explore your limitation patterns and reconnect to the joy of taking space and nourishing your limits.
One of the things I have struggled with the most during my professional experience is setting clear boundaries. I guess many of you can relate to feeling overwhelmed, drained and exhausted because of carrying too many tasks on your shoulders. Wanting to fulfil society's expectations - be the perfect architect, the perfect daughter, the perfect mother, the perfect teacher, the perfect partner, the perfect colleague - I often lost myself. I felt that there was no space for me. 
To protect myself, I started to say No. Something new for me. But it didn't help because I began to build barriers and hide behind walls. I began being defensive and lost the joy of experimenting, creating, and being connected and in service.

Are you also the one who finds yourself holding the space for others? Who is holding the space for you? 

Owning my space and knowing my boundaries is about showing up and nourishing my limitations. It is not about saying no. It is a practice of being connected to myself and others simultaneously. This is why now I celebrate every Yes and every No. 

Here is my take on why so many people in architecture struggle with setting clear boundaries. 

01. We are under the spell of scarcity that manifests in feelings of not having enough and not being enough. I used to say yes to anything coming my way because I thought I might not have this opportunity again. I thought I should be able to be an architect who covers all the classical phases of the project, and even more, instead of being confident with my special perspective on spatial production, I thought I should be someone else.  
02. Reproductive and relational spatial practice is not yet valued as much as spatial production. While in other disciplines like social work, setting boundaries and receiving regular support through mentoring and supervision are part of the education and professional practice, in architecture, we learn to design in individual authorship, and receiving support is perceived as a weakness.
In my humble opinion, taking space and nourishing boundaries are extremely important topics to address in our spatial practice if we want to stay healthy and connected to the endless possibilities of life. This is why I am offering a 3-hour workshop to establish a practice of owning your space and knowing your boundaries.
With this 3h-workshop, I am offering a safe space for you to explore your limitation patterns and reconnect to the joy of taking space and nourishing your limits. You will have the opportunity to celebrate your Yes and your No and create a practice of being conscious of your space and boundaries while feeling held by the group.

The 3 hours offer a safe space for you to learn and get inspiration on:

– how and where to make space and take space. 
– what are your limitation patterns– shift from scarcity to a practice of being enough.
– celebrate your yes and your no, and feel confident with your practice.
– showing up and feeling connected to like-minded people in a safe space I hold.
The workshop is online on zoom on Friday, May 17th, 10am – 1pm (CET). You can join from any place in the world. After the workshop, you will receive a recording that is yours to keep forever and return to the practice when needed.