The Dawn of My Delight

My first crisis happened within 2 years of my 18 years of living in Japan happened in Kyoto,

Jaldhara had our young daughter Angelica in the pram, and had just said goodbye. I turned, and started heading down the escalator to go to Tokyo…

And I tripped. I tumbled down the stairs. And - by a remarkable confluence of unexpected factors - dislocated my arm. OUCH!

The worst part was being alone. Speaking no Japanese. Having no idea what to do next.

So I screamed. I screamed as loud as the air in my body would let me…

"Jaldhara !!! Come Back !!!"

She heard me, reappeared and, eventually an ambulance took me to hospital. It was just after STAT had rejected my second application to be a Director of a STAT-approved school.

Little did they realize the beast they had unleashed that day.

My crisis was partly existential. I had no identity. I was in a foreign culture, running a renegade school, in a language I couldn't speak, surrounded by signs I couldn't read.

And I simply hated the idea of running a teacher training school. I had begun to feel trapped by it, partly because - after teaching the same people for two years - I had run out of tricks.

Having the same group of people over many years, presents an altogether different kind of teaching challenge. Once I admitted to my Self that I hated it, I realized that what I hated was the feeling of having to have an identity as a "Training Director"

With a delightful, dawning realization, I began to see that I had ABSOLUTLEY NO RESTRICTIONS.

Now that I was out of the STAT game, I could - basically - construct my school anyway I like. And so I did.

I remember the liberation and joy this brought to my heart - and so began the long adventure of creating the "Alexander College" called BodyChance. College, because we have 137 trainees working towards a 4 year Diploma, in two different cities.

And I had to figure out a lot of weird and unexpected things:

• How groups and the market interacted with each other
• How the economy of your business shapes your learning structures
• How longterm students require a different kind of service
• How groups happen best when students lead them
• How administration, pedagogy and personality all fit together

In short, it was a deep and searching process of discovery, around the issues of how to run effective groups - in many different environments - something I have a lot to say about.

And if you want to get a glimpse into that, I suggest you consider my 8 week online course starting July 10th.

Group Teaching - Online & Off