During these last days of August I can feel how the island slows down the breath. Or maybe it is only me.
I have had an exceptionally well balanced season up to know. I´m very grateful that without overloading my schedule I still have been fortunate to observe and share my teaching with many people from different places and very diverse backgrounds. During this time of the year I teach international groups and private classes that give me a very heterogeneous landscape of the world beyond my quiet and intimate country life.
On the other side, the off season period is more homogeneous as I dive into regular classes for local people and I travel for my teaching in the mainland. Though both contexts are interesting spaces for discovery, the big contrasts of the summer season give me some special and extraordinary feedback that I find of great help for myself and the development of my work.
When I was young I studied Sociology but never really knew which was the origin of my interest in social behavior and the human nature. Later, while I was a fashion designer, I had no clue about why I had landed with so much ease and pleasure in the field of creativity while my mood was more inclined towards organization and management.
Now I know why all these things happened. I needed the skills of observation as well as the talent of creativity to be a good teacher (my heart profession). They say that you never really know why you are doing certain things in the present moment but when you look to the past you can perfectly understand the hidden reasons. This is the case for me. I hope that this timeline approach helps me in the future to understand why I embark today in the adventures that I choose!
I think that observation is the most amazing tool for research and inquiry. In this time of observing life through so many students I have been able to validate some of my intuitions. I do not collect data in an orthodox way, but data is registered inside me in a way that makes sense. I give for granted that my personal filters are part of the equation so I want to share this as personal opinions, not as proven science.
I have seen how much our experiences are regulated by the level of opening we bring into them. Openness refers to our ability to keep good distance between our preconceived ideas or personal memories and what life is offering us in a given moment. Openness is even more. It is a type of freshness and innocence;our ability to take the best out of each situation, being available to richness, insight, discovery and learning.
The first thing that a teacher of any field can do is help students to be in this mood of openness and curiosity. How to do it? From my experience I believe that it helps very much to offer the knowledge without making it too exclusive or strict, inviting students to always refer to themselves when the time to validate something comes. I believe that openness is related to having an internal sensation of freedom and choice.
People who feel victims of the world who tend to see drama everywhere normally have a harder time to experience openness because they don´t feel free. On the other side, people that know that they participate actively from their personal reality tend to be more open. It is not hard to guess which of them enjoy more the challenges of life and learn faster!
The good thing to know is thatour personalitiesare not stagnant programs, they are dynamic experiences of behaviors, thoughts, habits and emotions. And they can be redefined and recreated through our awakening and willingness to make a change, wether big or small.
I have confirmed with these observations thatit is much more efficient if we want to improve our movement skills to address first the education of attention and attitude. When we retrain the mind through awareness the body naturally follows into more integrated and healthier landscapes.
As a conclusion, we need to know if we want to we see life as a place full of storms(drama, fear and loss) or we want to see it as an experience in which we want to express our passion and openness. In our decision we´ll define our whole life experience. Which is our choice as students and teachers?
Ilustration: www.agathebb.com
