Online Dyad Groups

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As part of our devotion to the dyad way of self-discovery, we host free monthly Online Dyad Groups. Details of their format and so on are given below.

If you wish to be added to our mailing list for the dates of our dyad groups, just let us know.

Format

Each Online Dyad Group is a Zoom meeting that lasts for two hours. In UK time, the meeting begins at 7 pm and ends at 9 pm.

The schedule includes a brief introduction by Emma followed by two 45-minute dyads. 

Intro talk (15 min)
Dyad 1 (45 min)
Break (10 min)
Dyad 2 (45 min)
Closing talk (5 min)

For the dyads, participants are assigned to breakout rooms in pairs.

There’s a 10-minute break between the two dyads. 

You are welcome to join for the full session, or just the first (or second) dyad if you prefer - whatever works best for you. (For the first dyad, join us at 7pm [UK time]. For the second, join us at 8pm.)

Questions / Instructions

You can work on any question/instruction of your own choosing. If you need ideas, see these Dyad Questions and Instructions.

We recommend having pen and paper handy in case you need to write down your dyad partner’s instruction. 

Dyad Change-overs

When in a dyad, you get 4 turns at being the contemplating-communicating partner, and 4 turns at being the listening partner.

Each ‘turn’ lasts 5 minutes. At the start of each turn, the current listening partner gives the other partner their instruction: “Tell me … “

At the end of 5 minutes, the current listening partner says “Thank you,” and then the two of you switch roles, beginning with giving the instruction.

The whole dyad lasts 40 minutes, plus around 5 minutes for initial greetings and discussing change-over arrangements.

In Zoom dyads, the 5-minute change-overs need to be self-managed, either by you or your dyad partner.

The simplest way to manage change-overs is for one of you to set a clock timer to go off every five minutes.

When it’s time to change over, just do a hand signal and/or say “That’s five minutes.”

A more automatic way to manage change-over times is to play the usual "Gong Timer" recording used on Enlightenment Intensives — see below

(NOTE: The less experienced among you will probably want to leave all this to more experienced participants, which is perfectly fine.)

The Gong Timer

One way to manage change-over times is for one of the dyad partners to use the "Gong Timer" audio recording, which signals when to change over

The snag is, Zoom automatically filters out all sounds other than human voices! That means, only the one playing it can hear it.

However, there are simple ways to override that. These are explained below. But first — how to get hold of the gong timer itself?

The Gong Timer Audio File

The gong-timer recording used on Enlightenment Intensives is available to download as a digital file (MP3 format) from the link below:

You can play this with any audio app, such as QuickTime.

Sharing the Gong Sounds

Once you have the audio file ready to play, the way to share the gong sounds with your dyad partners depends on whether you are using Zoom on a computer or on a mobile device.

On a computer

Once you're moved into a Zoom breakout room to start a new dyad...

  1. Click the green "Share Screen" option at the bottom of your Zoom screen.

  2. This brings up a bunch of "Basic" sharing options. However, you should click on the "Advanced" options tab.

  3. Select the "Computer Audio" option, and then click the “Share” button.

This should enable the sound of your Gong Timer (playing on your computer) to be heard by your dyad partner.

On a mobile device

This is a two-step process:

  1. First, you select an option to not filter out background sounds via the general app settings (you only need to do this once).

  2. Second, you must manually enable this option whenever you want to use it.

Here are those two steps:

STEP 1: CHANGING THE ZOOM APP’S GENERAL SETTINGS

In the app's overall settings, under “Audio”, there’s an option called "Original sound". This overrides the Zoom setting that normally filters out all background sounds.

  1. Go to your app's settings via the "•••"/"More" button.

  2. Under the SETTINGS options, click "Audio".

  3. Under the AUDIO options, select "Original audio".

That's a general settings change that makes audio sharing possible. The next step is to switch it ON whenever you want to use it in a dyad.

STEP 2: MANUALLY ACTIVATING "ORIGINAL AUDIO" FOR A DYAD 

Even though you’ve selected “original audio” in the settings, it’s still disabled by default. You have to manually enable it whenever you actually want to use it (to share the gong sounds).

You should do this as soon as you enter a breakout room for a dyad. 

  • Once you're been moved into a breakout room to start a new dyad, click the "•••"/"More" button on your Zoom screen.

  • Click "Enable Original Sound". You should see something like “Original sound on” appearing in a corner of your screen.

That's it (hopefully). This enables you to share the sound of the Gong Timer playing on your device with your dyad partner.

  • P.S. Don't forget to check your Gong Timer’s volume beforehand!