Today in our “What makes a community builder?” series we are honoured to have Elle (she/they), the creator of Summer of Rest, share her story. We love to hear from all our Creators on what community building means to them. If you’d like to share your story, please get in touch LINK.
Based in Nottingham, Elle’s business has always been rooted in what they refer to as ‘liberatory values’ and felt a lot of friction between how they wanted to operate and the spaces available to run an online business. They also identified feeling lonely when having to forge your own path (we can strongly identify!) so to find a supportive community like The Portal was vital. Elle has a lot to say about community building and doing things differently together, and we are here for it! Read on to find out more about Elle and her brilliant offer, the Summer of Rest.
"The times are urgent, let us slow down" - Bayo Akomolafe
Summer of Rest is an invitation to spend the month of August exploring the practice of rest, both on a personal level and in the context of the polycrisis. Like a radical summer camp of slowness. Summer of Rest asks: How might slowing down be an act of revolution?
In this 5-week course we'll untangle from the Western cultural obsession with urgency and immediacy. We'll meander slowly through somatic practices of rest, building a collection of resources to lean into when you need to ground and slow down. We'll explore the different facets of rest - physical, mental, energetic, relational - and notice what gets in the way so that we can build worlds filled with more softness and care.
Each week we'll meet:
- Each Sunday to commune and practice together
- Each Monday there will be prompts in Circle to digest as the week unfolds.
By the end of the summer there will be a library of everything we've explored
Summer of Rest is for burnt out creatives, tired change-makers, exhausted witches, and queers who just can’t shut their brain off.
It is for people who are feeling disillusioned and exhausted by existing in the polycrisis. Folks wanting to embody a world rooted in care, starting with their own experience. People wanting to begin (or reinvigorate) a practice that helps them reconnect to themselves and the world around them. Folks who want to be held in a container which honours slowness and tenderness.
Because I love the community of The Portal, and it's important to me (and my anti-capitalist business) to exist in spaces that stand outside the billionaire broligarchy club.
As this series is about “What makes a community builder?” Why does community building matter to you right now?
Because we're all deeply entangled. We're what we have. The toxic neo-liberal story of hyperindividualism has sown nothing but destruction and loneliness and I believe our work in this moment is to untangle the places we've internalised that tale. And honestly, the world is too much of a trash fire to be without others to lean on and lift up. Each of us has a part to play and we need each other.
Community building in a place where I am surrounded by others who are showing up with their own best efforts towards making this world a more liveable place for everyone.
Being in a space where creating and receiving are equally encouraged, and competition feels like being in a wildflower bed - it is present, but only because we all share the same resources. Our roots are entangled and supportive, there are no beneath- the- soil clippers attacking from behind.
I've been lucky enough to be interwoven in several online communities, some long term, some fleeting. The thing I'm most curious about right now is how to build in-person community to complement the digital.
Community is safety. It's how we, as little human animals, are able to survive and thrive.
Thank you so much Elle for sharing your story with us in our series “What Makes a Community Builder?”. We love hearing from our Creators. If you feel inspired by Elle’s community building story, please do connect with her on these links. And if you’re curious about setting up your offer on The Portal,
you can find out more here. 
