When I was a kid in school, I would sometime sneak out a bit early and start walking home down a path through some woods behind the school. This was exciting for me because I new I was breaking a rule, but that path meant freedom for the afternoon. This went on for a couple days fairly smoothly. One day I ran into a teacher of mine who I really liked and respected. Quite casually he mentioned to me that he knew I had been leaving school early. I was shocked and very embarrassed. I asked him how he knew and he let me know that the teachers lounge overlooked the path that I took through the woods each day. He said that he and the other teachers had enjoyed a good laugh watching me take off daily. He didn't really need to tell me to stop at that point.
This was one of the first times that I became aware of multiple perspectives. There are very few tools in life that can contribute so much to learning and growing, whether it's benefiting from a different teacher, culture or activity. Some change methods teach this explicitly while other do so implicitly.
Unfortunately, because of competition, some schools or methodologies discourage studying from other teachers or in other schools. This is unfortunate because it can really deprive someone of a rich learning experience. In the Feldenkrais method, although there seems to be different factions, it is required that you are taught by several trainers. I believe Moshe Feldenkrais saw the wisdom of this approach and included it in the initial course design. This is also true in Aikido to some degree although you'll tend to see mostly teachers from one lineage collaborating.
In my experience, the most skilled change agents that I've met have almost always come from a variety of teachers, disciplines and contexts. One colleague, for example benefits from a background of NLP, EMDR, Painting and Drumming. Each of these modalities colors the way that he works with Clients. As a result, his work is extremely rich.
Although I still like to skip out of 'school' occasionally, I benefit from the idea that one of my teachers has my back.
0 comments:
Post a Comment