Welcome to a journey working with STORY as a living being
Once a week | Live Online
New cycle starting soon! Express your day/time preferences HERE
What if Story isn’t just something you tell… but a being you live and collaborate with?
Join an intimate, guided group experience rooted in the groundbreaking course The Biology of Story, created by filmmaker and professor Amnon Buchbinder (1958-2019), who claimed that true Story demonstrates all the properties of life, brings about change, cognition and connection, and even helps us to evolve as a species.
A collaboration between Resounding Media Inc. and Metaphora International
The iteration of The Biology of Story course will be facilitated by Paulo de Tarso Fonseca Silva, Story Mediator and founder of Metaphora International. He was specially invited to teach The Biology of Story by intellectual property owner Producer Geneviève Appleton of Resounding Media Inc.
It’s about joining a community of inquiry and craft, where stories are not content, but living systems to be listened to and collaborated with through presence, dialogue and transformation, both creative and personal.
Let us know about your preferences
About
with The Biology of Story
Story Mediation is a craft. It’s about learning to listen differently with integrity and presence – to yourself, to others, and to the stories that move through us. It’s inclusive, grounded, and practical. It invites us to engage Story, the living structure and process, as something we honour, respect and collaborate with.
The Udemy Course Materials
...consisting of 16 units of lecture videos and interview clips with story experts, quizzes and short creative writing assignments, helps you to...
Cultivate a flow of inspiration and make a deeper connection to the wellsprings of your creative or professional practice as stories come to you more readily.
Connect with the patterns of Story in your own life to empower imaginative problem-solving and path-finding.
Accomplish more effective communication and collaboration as you use Story to reveal points of connection and deepen empathy.
Identify and resist destructive personal, collective, and social narratives, connecting instead with the life-enhancing processes carried in real stories.
Join Professor Amnon Buchbinder and 14 visionary story practitioners as they reveal the principles that underlie all uses of Story in more than 70 richly illustrated video clips.
"Story is a living being."
Course Creator/Writer/Director/Producer/Lecturer
The Biology of Story Co-Producer and Instructor at York University, Udemy, and in private workshops
Through Story Mediation
The Magic of Story
The World is Made of Stories
Connected to Stories of Place
The Process of Story
The Structure of Story
The Values of Story
The Habitat of Story
Belief in Story
The Source of Story
The Roots of Story
How Stories Grow
How Stories Connect
Story vs. Anti-Story
Formula Narratives
Fundamentalist Narratives
The New Story
Fill the form to express your interest and share your scheduling preferences.
Meet your guide
Paulo de Tarso Fonseca Silva is a Story Mediator, adult educator, published author and founder of Metaphora International.
With a background in Education and Hospitality, Paulo initiated the Collaborative Story Craft method and developed Story Mediation as a distinct practice. Passionate about fostering connection, he works with individuals and groups from diverse and intercultural contexts, creating intentional spaces for curiosity, sensemaking, mutual learning, and creativity. He specializes in helping people and organizations harness the power of storytelling to:
build trust and authentic communication
develop inclusive and sustainable practices
craft meaningful personal and collective change
promote equity, well-being, and lasting impact
As an immigrant, proud father, and children’s author, Paulo brings a blend of creativity, cultural awareness, and care to his practice. He looks forward to sharing his insights on how we can collaborate with Story—as a living, dynamic presence.
"Paulo's Storytelling workshops are consistently brilliant. His storytelling exercises are the most engaging and playful group work methods I've encountered.
Paulo's approach delivers deep inquiry with a light and responsive touch. He weaves intelligence, empathy, and a sprinkle of magic into his work.
I have attended many workshops with Paulo and Geneviève Appleton through the Biology of Story course. Paulo's approach was spellbinding and compassionate, allowing me to create and share stories I'd never dared tell before.
If you want to dive into the art of crafting stories and growing your consciousness, you could not find a better curator or more supportive facilitator than Paulo de Tarso Fonesca Silva."
"Paulo demonstrated through his facilitation of this process a new way of working collaboratively with stories. The process gave a method of viewing story and hearing the stories of others that has brought about creative transformation and new possibilities on a deep level."
"For the first time, through this way of working led by Paulo, the structure of narrative and story as an organic development tool, opened up a new perspective for me on the possibilities of working with people and the community. Although it is not typical therapeutic work, the effect that he achieves with his approach in this program is to illuminate the factors of each narrative constructively, practically, but also multi-valued.
Brilliant and unobtrusive, an excellent support that the participant undoubtedly gains.."
The Biology of Story with Story Mediation
Curious minds who sense Story as more than “narrative” or “content.”
Educators seeking to deepen their learning practices.
Storytellers, writers, artists, creators of all types, narrative therapists, and change agents wanting to work at a deeper level.
Anyone in a moment of transition or transformation.
16 weeks of facilitated group sessions (live via Zoom) – with workshops, story-based reflections, dialogue, and practices.
50% off lifetime access to the full Biology of Story online course on Udemy (normally a $99 US value).
Personalized Story Mediation support – Opportunities for deep listening, insight, and action guided by Paulo de Tarso F. Silva.
A peer learning community – storytellers, educators, artists, and coaches, among others.
Certificate of completion from The Biology of Story and Metaphora International.
Absorb: Watch approx. 30 mins of video lectures and interviews from the Biology of Story course either with the group or at your own pace and take an optional quiz to ensure comprehension.
Reflect: Apply key ideas and craft stories using the Biology of Story prompts and Metaphora’s Story Mediation practices. Observe how you show up in your own stories.
Connect: Join the weekly 3-hour live sessions to go deeper with Paulo and the group.
Transform: Experience how the meaning of your own stories deepen–and sometimes even shift for the better–when shared and analyzed with the Biology of Story-Metaphora process.
Duration: 16 x 3-hour weekly live Zoom sessions in English.
When: New group starting after February 2026. Express day/time preferences HERE.
Base time zone: (Ottawa: UTC -4).
*Please click the button to check the time in your location:
Observing daylight saving time
$400 US / $550 CAD* (or equivalent in Euros) per participant - other arrangements possible upon request and agreement.
Personalized invoices and receipts will be provided.
Payment by Wise, eTransfer or Stripe are possible - details will be sent by email.
*Includes lifetime access to The Biology of Story Udemy Course + all facilitation (3 hours per week x 16 weeks).
Fill the form to express your interest and share your availability.
SAMPLE
Clip 1: Learning How The Magic Works
What if there was magic? A mysterious power hidden in plain sight all around us, touching us, touched by us--daily? Well, that magic, that mysterious power does exist. Its name is Story. Based upon the award-winning interactive documentary about how we work with story, and how story works with us, https://biologyofstory.com, The Biology of Story Course examines what is Story, how it works with us, and the gifts it holds in store.