"YOU ARE A RIVER
A river creates her own pattern.
She starts with a few drops of curiosity in one direction, followed by a trickle of play in another,
and eventually the route is engraved for greater surges of creativity and streams of delight to follow.
She carries herself across the land with the untamed joy of her own emergence."
― Eila Kundrie Carrico,
author of The Other Side of the River: Stories of Women, Water and the World.
Welcome to the program Lideranças Femininas
now in English: an international confluence of rivers...
Since 2019, there have been 9 editions of this program completed. Each woman who participates in the program has a different experience, because they have a different intention and question when they come to it.
It is important to emphasize that it is not me (Amanda) or the Flow Game that brings any outcome, but your choices being supported by the field of acceptance and encouragement that is established between us, as a group.
We also value the diversity of thoughts, intentions, questions, and life contexts.
What is it like to be part of this?
A few testimonials from past editions:
"It was one of the richest and most intense experiences I have ever had, because I had the opportunity to get to know myself and realize my behavior patterns in an environment of extreme trust. Sustaining the group demands presence, just as we need to be whole in our daily lives, and being in this female space was very intense for my professional and personal moment. As my work with financial education demands to touch on people's sensitive points, being in a safe environment to talk about my own was essential. Moreover, of course: the questions brought by the Flow Game are perfect! Questions that will resonate for a lifetime."
- Vanessa Rodrigues - financial educator and financial planner
"I decided to join the group when I discovered my burnout, and I had no idea how much evolution was ahead of me. It was the support and encouragement I needed to have the courage to get out of where I was and make moves to be where I am today. The Flow Game practice is magic... I felt supported in all the sessions, not only with my own questions, but with the Flow Game cards and reflections from the group. Everything was connected. Today, I feel good. I am proud of my trajectory, grateful for the learnings, and reacting very differently to the challenges on my journey. They keep coming, but my attitude and thinking have changed and, with that, everything feels lighter. I am already missing the monthly meetings. I think that the most precious thing I take with me is precisely this power of the collective, of the feminine, of sharing."
- Aline Carvalho, writer and entrepreneur
"My experience was light and deep at the same time. The time during the meetings was magical: with each question, mine and other's, a portal of reflections and insights would open. For me, it was very precious to realize that each month I worked consciously and unconsciously on the intentions addressed in the program."
Lara Pascom, public relations consultant
"I loved the experience of growing as a group. What struck me the most was how powerful it is to make our intentions clear to trusted people. I felt welcomed and comfortable to be vulnerable with women I only met online, already during the program. This is also very special. There is a feminist song that says: 'Friend, help me because I can't walk alone. I can walk fine on my own, but with you I can do it better.' This program was for me the realization that alone I walk well, but with other women I walk better."
- Ingrid Neuman, design coordinator in the financial market, artist and curious
"It was important that the program had several months... we had this time to mature the questions, there were many insights! At the beginning of the program, I thought I was going to choose 1 project and focus 100% on it, put it into action, but what I realized is that, for me, my need was to develop the leadership of my own life: to understand my needs, to position myself for each thing I do, in each collective I inhabit. I am in a phase of opening myself up to possibilities to experiment with my leadership, my action, and my ability to generate impact. Recognizing this was important so that now, I can define the next steps towards the vision I have for myself and my life."
Giovanna Martins, nutritionist and entrepreneur
"This was the best program in the world in bringing me closer to who I am, looking at myself with patience and care, but also with practicality and action. It made me take a more holistic view of myself, allow myself to speak up and also try to work out. My biggest learning from the process, for sure, was to have more patience, then connect with my internal time and create my rituals to sharpen my ability to listen to my intuition."
- Beatriz Vivanco, systemic designer
"The process with the Flow Game was essential for me. I came back from a sabbatical period with so many wishes and ideals, but without knowing what to do or how. The process helped me to organize my ideas and think more concretely about how I want to get started. It was important because it helped me to know where to go and what new knowledge I need to seek, without jumping all over the place. And this is the path I have been following ever since, with more tranquility, more confidence, and more safety."
- Ana Teresa Lima, psychologist
"It's funny because sometimes we only see the effect of some things over time, because these changes don't happen overnight. Sometimes we have an intention, and we put it on paper, clarify this intention, clarify our desires, clarify what we need - this whole process that the Flow Game brings - and maybe we underestimate this symbolic act (of putting it on paper), of managing our desires in a practical way... sometimes we think it has no effect. A while ago I did the Flow Game process, and I was thinking about my journey, and how things were triggered by the simple fact that I just put my wishes, my intentions in order, and how things were happening according to that - it seems even magical! For example, if there is something that is blocking me, something that needs to happen, it seems like out of nowhere it happens - it's kind of crazy - but I feel like it only happened because I organized it all... and I think the Flow Game brought that to me... I came to that conclusion after a long time. And now, whenever I have some project or some dream, I try to do this process by myself..."
- Cecília Stephan - artist, singer
Here is the open invitation to the 10th edition
This is an invitation to go deeper into the most important inquiries of your life, maybe your leadership or "source keeping" process too, and seek wisdom council from other women, in a small, cozy and committed circle of presence and creation.
Every month, for 9 months, in the middle Saturday of the month, we meet to share our intentions, ask for what we need and offer what we can, with respect and care for each other.
Our calling question is:
How may we follow - and stay close with - our soul's calling?
Other parallel open inquiries:
- How may we unleash the natural power (life force) of leading from and surrendering to our heart's and soul's longing?
- How may we recognize our enoughness, and learn how to rest in our own power?
- What is the art that we want to create?
Also, this is a journey of self directed learning, so you choose which direction you set for your development: this means you are invited to choose your own personal inquiry question - the intention and aspiration that reflects where you are in your own unique path.
We will use the Flow Game as our main practice of dialogue, intention-setting and creation, with the support of other facilitation techniques, including the practice of Collective Presencing.
My co-host is Jenna Büchy, a dear friend from Berlin.
DATES AND TIMES
session 1. September 16th 2023
session 2. October 14th 2023
session 3. November 18th 2023
session 4. December 9th 2023
session 5. January 20th 2024
session 6. February 17th 2024
session 7. March 16th 2024
session 8. April 20th 2024
session 9. May 18th 2024
On Zoom,
Saturdays 2pm CET (9am or 10am BRT, depending on the time of the year) - every sessions lasts 3 hours.
THE PROGRAM INCLUDES
- the monthly group sessions in the dates above
- monthly 1-1 sessions with Amanda in between the group sessions: these have the purpose of checking in on a more detailed level considering your unique scenario, and support your individual unfoldment.
- other occasional, optional and self organized experiments we often do with the community of participants from current and past editions (sometimes we do extra meetings according to the needs of the group) - and long term access to that (we have a whatsapp group for this, if you want to join).
INVESTMENT
€ 700 for the 9 months (€ 77/month), that can also be paid in US dollars or Brazilian Reais (please check the exchange rates). If this is too much for you, please consider making your own offer and payment plan.
Scholarships on demand.
"IS THIS FOR ME?"
This program is for any woman - from any age and any background - who resonates with the invitation. It is for you who is living a transition time, or you that has been "in transition" for a long time already. It is for you who is experimenting with new ways of living, working and is curious to learn from others on similar paths. It is also for you who is a leader in your domain, organization or community and doesn't want to hold it all alone.
Your hosts
amanda zamparo
I'm from São Paulo - Brasil, July 1992. I have +8 years of experience with group facilitation, education and community building in different contexts.
in 2019, I created the program "Lideranças Femininas", from my practice with the Flow Game (a group process for dialogue and leadership development) and my studies on feminine wisdom.
here, I help visionaries female leaders to ask the right questions to better understand where they are at, and where are they going to.
I've been working with artists, scientists, therapists, designers, engineers, teachers and small entrepreneurs to make conscious decisions about their lives and work projects.
in 2020, I also started to work with women from the corporate world that want to develop their own authentic style of leadership. they feel overwhelmed with the predominant aggressive leadership style in their environment, and they just want to be themselves as leaders.
since 2020, I have been involved with "subtle sensing" practices (yin practices), such as Collective Presencing (by Ria Baeck and others), and Multidimensional Healing (by Helene Abiassi and others), which have helped me refine my practice and understanding of leadership (presence, listening, compassion).
recently, I've also become an international Steward of the Flow Game practice.
my research in the past years has been about the connection between intimacy, community, and leadership, how men and women can share power and responsibility, and what does it mean to be in harmony with yin and yang forces inside me.
most of my work follows the principles of collective construction of knowledge, based on the craft of precise questions and the practice of dialogue. all content is woven from a deeper look at our lived experiences, so that you and your life are your main laboratory / workshop / classroom.
since 2022, I've started having the courage to call myself an artist too, and my art is about love - I am still studying possibilities on how to show this art publicly, as the art pieces have been very intimate experiences I offer to specific groups giving very particular social conditions.
today, I carry the inquiry "how might I gather the resources and the people to create the very specific art I want to create, and make it more accessible - with ease, joy and discipline?" and I open this space for the 10th edition to be the sacred space of creation and freedom we are thirsty for.
welcome!
Jenna Büchy
I am Jenna, born in 1985 in Western Germany, living in Berlin, Europe. As a dialogue host and systemic therapist, I accompany individuals and collectives through their processes of renewal, transition, and healing.
Following a deep longing in my heart, I am on a journey to find and offer nourishment and healing, connection and belonging in committed community.
I long to understand and facilitate how we, collectively, tend the well-being of the smaller and larger communities of life of which we are a part, so that they may nourish us and every living being around and after us.
I seek to experience and enable committed care for that which is broken and hurt among us and within us - as this is how we grow into the next stage of our existence, individually and collectively.
I believe that we all have a part to play in the larger orchestra of life, and I want to facilitate tapping into the flow of whatever life wants to live through us in this present moment. Wise leadership, to me, is being in synchrony with this flow.
As a dialogue host and systemic therapist, I mainly work with, through and towards trusting relationships and generative conversations. I believe in the power of intention and presence, circle practice and self-organized co-creation. My practices are the Art of Hosting and Harvesting Conversations that Matter, Collective Presencing, the Flow Game, and emotion-focused mindfulness-based systemic therapy. My main fields of application are citizen participation and stakeholder engagement, public administration, education and science, and civil-society organizations – from large-group processes to team workshops, from coaching individuals to hosting therapeutic processes for families.
I am positioned as a white, queer, able-bodied, and cis-gendered female, with experience of adverse mental health, equipped with university degrees in political and social sciences and a certificate in systemic therapy, living in a democratic European country in peace, with a passport that allows me to travel almost everywhere in the world and a wallet that has been sufficiently filled during most of my life. "How may I serve life with my natural power and live my leadership responsibly?", is a question I carry.
I will joyfully support Amanda in co-holding this program and the group, offering my harvesting of essences from the sessions and our shared journey.
Welcome!
Common Questions
Do I need to have a project or be in a leadership position to join this circle?
No. You also don't need to want to "improve" or change anything about yourself or the world, you can come just because you want to be here, even if there is no big ambition. Many participants of previous editions come in with a big project or a big leadership challenge and during their process, life happens, and suddenly different insights become available - and you are invited to go as deep as you want. A "soul's calling" can be many things, and it is really up to you to tell us what is yours. This also means that your inquiry question can change every month, or stay the same - you choose.
"We can have the highest degree of authentic self-esteem just by being completely ordinary and average. Then we say to ourselves as to our beloved: That you are, is enough. What you are is a gift. How you are is a delight. Who you are is a ‘a mystery’."
— Yasuhiko Genku Kimura
What can this program do for me?
This is a 9 month journey that can really enable transformations - depending on the questions you ask: every question you ask works like a wish you make. Be careful with what you ask for - because you will likely receive some version of it - sometimes sooner than you expect!
After working with this approach for 4 years now, I have witnessed women unfolding their love, power and wisdom in many different ways:
- by giving birth to something that wants to exist in the world, sourcing a project that requires commitment, focus and dedication
- by leading teams inside the organization they work for, in formal leadership positions
- by understanding how to navigate the complexity of relationships, leading or being led by colleagues, clients, business partners, friendships and intimate relationships
- by embracing "self leadership" as having self love and self respect on big decisions they make for themselves
- by learning how to balance the needs of rest, self realization, autonomy, interdependence and belonging
Also, one of the biggest gifts of this process is the connection you will make with other women in the circle. Many participants of previous editions find new friends and also new meanings of friendship here, and new opportunities emerge from those connections.
How does the Flow Game work?
You came in with a question of your own. You take your time to craft your personal question.
Everyone in the group will do the same. The question needs to be personal, open, regenerative, and precise.
We open a space for check ins - every person shares their question and their intention.
We then start playing, one person at a time - the game will function as a catalyst for your process, giving you inputs (sometimes very unexpected!) for your reflection. You can let these inputs affect you, and you might consider now different points of view: you can ask for wisdom council, more intuitions from the group.
We invite dialogue, and you can also give contributions to others as they ask for your wisdom as well. There is a lot of resonant learning, usually - people learning from people. And every session is very unique.
Because everything starts with your question - and usually there is an emotional charge in the question - the games often invites more of that emotion to come alive, to find its path of expression. Crying, laughing and being angry is allowed. The nature of the game invites our humanness to play - and this is why this game is always a hosted process. We hold the intensity that might emerge - the insights and the unfoldment. You might not arrive at an answer, yet you will probably arrive somewhere new - in the direction of your intention.
TO JOIN US
Please contact me here >>> (or send a direct email to amandazfranco@gmail.com) to schedule our first call.
In this call, we will check in with your inspiration to join the program and understand how it may help you in your creative journeys. By the end of the call, we want to arrive at some clarity on your personal inquiry and intention. Then, if you decide to join us, I will ask you to fill a registration form to confirm your participation.
Thank you!