One of the fun aspects of doing a personalized learning journey, like the one I’m going into with regard to personal coaching, is the ability to give myself assignments.

Now, I’m sure many of you reading are saying, “What!? GIVE yourself an assignment? Isn’t life busy enough, and won’t that weigh you down?”

Well my dear readers, assignments you give yourself can be fun, so long as you give yourself fun assignments, and let your interests and “what’s emerging” in you be your guide – not someone else’s “story” or needs.

One of the principles that Julia Stewart talks about in her Free Coaching Class in one of the Coaching Groundwork classes is Curiosity. So I thought I would share with you what I call a “visual report” about “What am I Curious About?”. The photos included are all my own, and hopefully they give you a peek into some of my creative process and inquiry.

So, what are YOU curious about?

Last night I attended a free “Coaching Salon” that happened to be held at a coffee shop in my neighborhood in Minneapolis. It was a really enjoyable time seeing how three very different coaches worked with clients, and the tools and techniques they used. I even got a 12-minute demo coaching session, where in the end I threw confetti in the air to celebrate a situation I’m in rather than worrying about it!

Nicole Lynskey, Grif Sadow, and Beth Wallace (pictured left to right) host a monthly Coaching Salon in Minneapolis at the Dunn Brothers Coffee Shop next to Loring Park. It’s a fun and safe way for folks to learn about coaching and try it out for the first time. And it’s FREE!

I was first very impressed by their professionalism and caring, as even in this fun introductory meeting, Beth Wallace emphasized a mutual agreement of confidentiality with regard to the participants and the possible situations they would be coached. With that said, I do want to share some wonderful observations about their coaching styles, as they were all just incredibly talented!

Each of them incorporated some kind of “physical movement or exercise” into their coaching sessions. Whether it was getting up out of chairs and moving to another area in the room to envision a more supportive living environment, having a client take deep breaths and scan their body to find where their situation might be “held” , or asking someone to place their hand on their heart, and then speak ideas that their heart would tell them – each of these exercises seemed to ground each “client” in the present.

I also liked how each coach really put their own personality into their coaching.

Nicole Lynskey seemed to reflect her connection with nature and landscapes by asking questions like “What do you see as the ‘path’ from here to there?” and was just wonderfully and positively goal oriented.

Grif Sadow (who coached me), gave a lot of permission for me to feel the feelings I had, and had a very bold spirit that helped me not make excuses or limit my experience. He coached me to a point where I said “I want to have a party now!” and we both tore up paper to make confetti and threw it in the air! Awesome!

Beth Wallace was a natural and compassionate listener! She was a textbook example in my opinion of Julia Stewart‘s principle of “Priming the Pump” - while keeping connected to deep listening. She made a great insight with a client = “You really do know where you are right now. You just don’t like it.” Which was a bold statment that validated unspoken aspects of what her client was seeking coaching.

What an exciting night! This is probably a great way for coaches to network and attract new potential clients. Something else that illustrates “The Power of Free” (I think I’ll be putting This Book on my reading list soon too!)

I may go next month just to watch again!

Well, it seems that Julia Stewart is just putting more free coaching courses up on the School of Coaching Mastery web site, so I’m very thrilled! One step at a time though for me. I’m still letting my learning and insights integrate and ruminate – maybe “ferment” if you will. I love the metaphor of “fermentation” – using transformation to give life-giving qualities to things!

This class was about Priming the Pump – allowing for silences and pauses within the rising energy between you and a client, so that the silence too can propel them to sharing more. It was also about Building a Scaffolding – preparing and guiding others through resources, tools, strategies, be they physical or behavioral.

I have to say – my assignments are piling up! LOL. As a web designer, I’m gravely in need of putting up a resource list or “Scaffolding” for my clients and potential clients. I also constantly need to assess and collect my own Scaffolding of resources and tools so that I can both support my clients and support my own self-development and even personal and emotional needs.

I’ll be putting up my “assignments” for this class soon, so you can read more in detail, but I just wanted to get this blog post up sooner! I need to develop a resource page too on my own web stie – http://www.holisticgeek.com/

There’s also another lesson I learned in this class, and it was something that Julia said to one of the other students (I’m paraphrasing again):

“I can’t help but notice the lightness in your voice when you talk about this past situation that was probably painful for you. That lightness can be powerful, and will most likely attract people to you.”

So, for the last three days maybe, I’ve taken this to heart in my conversations with others, and when I speak and interact with others, whether it’s a client, my partner, a friend, or even maybe someone whom I’m having a conflict. My partner started noticing right away.

“Did something change or shift with you, Scott?”

I have to admit, I’m laughing and smiling more, and other things in life that might have troubled me, and I might have shown them more outwardly, seem to be “lighter.” It really makes me wonder..

How much does our language and speech affect our emotional health – or even physical health? If we choose to be lighter in our speech and attitudes about situations or small conflict, how can that change how we navigate through these tough times?

For me, I’m finding myself not dwelling in hurt feelings or “the mud” of conflict by reminding myself of this “lightness” of voice and thought. Instead, I’ve been able to voice my needs better, and try to keep conflict more on track to positive outcomes.

I “fired” one of my clients this week, and I think that I showed a lot of restraint from going into “the story” with them and focusing on keeping the momentum going in a professional way, and offering up ways to make the new arrangement a positive one, because in the past we were both not getting our needs met with one another. And of coarse, I’m learning that even through getting my own needs met, setting good and healthy boundaries, etc, that others may or may not enjoy the boundary setting, and that their reactions are of their choosing, or perhaps a result of “living in their stories” too.

I think that the great value for me thus far with the Coaching Groundwork Class is that I’m learning tools for myself too in getting my own needs met and for maintaining and establishing healthy relationships and boundaries with clients and friends. I’m even enjoying my favorite clients and friends even more now. There’s a bit of a “shedding of old skin” that I’m going through, and Julia’s insights and principles are helping me to explore new ideas and ways of thinking.

I say Yippee!

I recently had lunch with a friend of mine who is graduating with his Master’s degree in Psychology, and is on a track to receive his license in Marriage and Family Therapy. I’m really proud of him for all of the strides he’s made!

We talked about how I was taking a coaching course, and he encouraged me to check out the school he went to and look into their coaching certification class (which it might be fun to check out – but part of me is not very interested in re-joining academia for one institution’s approach).

We started talking about Mission Statement, Goals, Objectives, etc. – and a huge statement just flew out of my mouth, and I had to write it down.

“I don’t think I’m interested in the conventional Mission-Objectives-Goals-Criterion-Evaluation model of business development and coaching. I would much rather help people to find the patterns and insights around the edges of chaos and resistance, so that they could more clearly see ‘what is emerging’ in them, so that they can DISCOVER their life instead of just planning it.”

Wow, where did that come from??!

I’ve always been interested in those moments where you hear “audacious statements” that people make – those times where their passion is engaged, and gems of wisdom and discovery just flow out of their normal everyday speech.

My friend was silent for a while, and later he said, “Yeah you should check out the program, but I think you might butt heads with the director!”

We both had good laugh when I said, “Well when is that a new thing with me?”

My friend has loaned me his coaching books from a class he took, so I’m very excited to read some supplemental information while I take my class.

On Thursday next week, I’m also attending a “Coaching Salon” at a coffee shop in my neighborhood.

My journey is gaining momentum and richness already!

The second Coaching Groundwork class in the Free Coach Training course I’m taking was about “Being Curious and Fine Tuning Your Antenna.” I love how Julia Stewart talks about expanding our intuition and testing it out, picking up on other external stimuli and using it to check in with a client.

But.. For me, this class was more about one BIG statement that she said, that hit me like a freight train. Here’s my paraphrasing of the statement:

Our “Story” is what we make up about the “stuff” in our lives. We choose to live in our stories, but really, they are “made up” and they aren’t true.

Whoa! This statement came to me at a time where I think I needed it most!
(Julia, are you running a coaching class or are you coaching me?!)
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I’m so glad that I listened to this first 2-hour class again, and as they say in show business, “This time with more feeling.”  I also gave myself the assignment of creating my own introduction and to answer the questions asked of the participants in the recording:

• Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
• Why is Coaching important?
• Why might it be important to the world?
• What kinds of clients do you think you might work with?  or Who might choose you?

So, apart from the PDF introduction about me, I really took away vast amounts of insight and information from just this first class. 

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Now that I’ve “committed myself” to taking the Free Coach Training program, and to blog about my synthesized learning into the realms of Coaching, I think that now, early in the process, I should step back and set the stage somewhat. I’ve already listened to the first 2-hour recorded class, but I know that I’ll need to go back and listen again, and find ways to self-engage in the process, rather than just listen.

Critical Questions I should ask myself as I’m beginning a new “Learning Journey” are:

• How do I want to synthesize my learning?  Through journaling? Art? Imaginary Dialogues? Engaging with friends in practice?  All of the above?
• Do I want to supplement other activities along with the course to make this experience uniquely my own? (I think the answer to this is YES!)
• How will I keep and organize a portfolio?  How can I “harvest” my learning through these mechanisms in a self-regulating feedback loop?
• What are my own questions that matter throughout the experience of learning about coaching?  (I’m sure I’ll talk about my interest in Appreciative Inquiry and the process of formulating my own questions quite a bit in this blog.)

I believe that keeping this blog will help me with a lot of “meta-learning” throughout the process, and I can let my interests wander and flow a bit.  This is my own “Learning Journey” – so I should embrace it!  I want this to be a very “intentional” process as well.

(Incidentally, here’s a link to another blog I did in 2006 when I embarked on a similar Learning Journey into the realm of Bicycling)

Already, in addition to this class, I’ve signed up for a Free Coaching Salon that’s taking place at a coffee shop near where I live on August 19!  Seems there are so many things to do and learn surrounding this topic.

So, in the spirit of “unschooling” that I’m so very accustomed to, on this blog, you may see reflective journal entries, essays, imaginary dialogues, maybe recorded conversations, pictures, drawings, art,  photography, you name it.  I’m opening myself up for discovery.

Let’s see how far “down the rabbit hole” we can go!

For a while now, I’ve been interested in the idea of learning more about the profession of Coaching or Life Coaching. In my practice doing bodywork and energy healing (and often with my web design clients), my clients share a lot of personal information and ask for advice or guidance. I’ve been known to mediate disputes with friends, listen to and counsel folks in need, and have been encouraged to pursue coaching as an adjunct to what I do on multiple occasions.

So, I’m jumping in, and taking a FREE Coach Training program (yes you heard that! FREE!) from the School of Coaching Mastery. Finding this course was quite a synchronous event for me, as Julia Stewart just recently released this coaching class for free in late July.

Now before you raise an eyebrow.. Julia speaks about why she’s freely offering this full coaching class with a certification option on the school’s web site.

I love it! As an “unschooler” these days (valuing my own self-directed and intrinsic learning first and foremost), I was previously resigned to either having to pay a lot of money for my own learning, or I would have just completely “self-designed” a path for myself based on my curiosity. This Coach Training Program is a great starting point for me in this self-design, and I’m just thrilled that Julia seems to “get it” with regard to the concept of Learning, vs. “just-paying-for-education.”

So, I’ve decided to blog about the experience here, and to make a portion of my site be my “playground” for my Learning Journey into coaching. I’ll also post some reflections from each class, background information about me, and most likely a lot of my own personal philosophy on learning (and most likely how unschooling fits into things).

And, if you’re interested in taking the class too, I’d love a companion or two to share in this learning journey. Just go to the Free Coach Training web site from the School of Coaching Mastery to sign up for yourself!

Happy Learning, and I’ll be in touch soon!
-Scott