Manifest: Feedback

Musing…

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller

Guidance goes a long way, sometimes goes full circle. Sometimes the message you get is what you need to hear; sometimes you are too close to your activity, your work, your art, your writing, your endeavor, to know if it’s reaching its desired effect.  

Charise’s Turn:

I’ve never been a proponent of holding yoga postures; my teacher taught from a perspective that in the age we are living in we are already under a lot of pressure. We need to unwind, flow, tap into the underlying energy principles that support physical exertion. Now that I’m teaching in workplace environments where people are mostly sedentary and besieged by email communication, my students want to exert themselves. They need to break through a certain numbing effect of our technological lifestyle. I was asked to bring more intensity to our yoga practice. I could have decided that this is not my way, or the best way, but I took it as a message to push the practice into a more co-creative direction with my students. I am now getting more specific requests to address their needs – “hip openers that don’t tax the knees”, “ something to help alleviate pain in the IT band”.  We’ve developed more variations, new combinations, taken a little more time to do or repeat a sequence, without compromising the integrity of the SynergyYoga approach. Feedback is bringing forward a coaching style of teaching where I’m teaching with them rather than to them; and it's more fun and fulfilling all the way around!

Get Fired Up:

Ask for feedback; find out what is working and what can be enhanced or tweaked about your creative work or endeavor.  Feedback feeds you!