Happy Saturday to You!
I don’t normally write blogs on the weekend because I need to rest from the week’s work in order to maintain some balance in my life.
Since I’ve been on the road teaching, I’ve lost my sense of what day it is and got all set up with images and the likes to write my blog before I realized it was Saturday.
Oh well, I’m happy to share the experience we are having in class.
Yesterday was a fast pace. Here you can see me teaching my students about values memes; a “meme” is an “idea.”
When coaching people to health, the first thing that must be done if coaching is to be effective is to determine what their dream or motive is and it is important to hear how they are languaging their problems and their dreams.
It is our job as coaches to help our clients discover sufficient motive for change or they won’t follow the program they’ve requested and paid for!
Once we know what someone’s dream is, we can look at the hierarchy of values memes and see where their dream falls on that scale.
If for instance, their dream is to be an accomplished and powerful athlete, we know they are in the red values meme structure.
Using my “tell them what they want to hear, but give them what they need” approach, we can then coach them how each action item on their program (that they NEED to do) will help them achieve their goals.
Determining where someone is at in the values meme structure is an essential tool for communicating as well.
Once we understand their values structure, we also understand what is important to them and why they behave the way they do.
If for example, we as the coach are oriented toward the green values meme (equality for all), but our client is oriented toward the red values meme (being powerful), they are likely to find our approach or communications fluffy, wishy-washy, wimpy, or even a distraction from what they want.
A person who is situated at the red values meme level talking to a coach who is at a green level could likely feel like there is a disconnect.
A CHEK HLC 2 or 3 Practitioner would know to adjust their communications to meet their (red in this case) client where they are.
We covered many things yesterday and some in the class had to deal with the reality that Holistic Lifestyle Coaching comes with a wide variety of types of people and challenges that some didn’t think they would be confronted with.
I had to do a little reality Chek with them. This is kind of like the mother who thinks that just because her son goes to an expensive private school that her child will never be exposed to sex, drugs or violence!and therefore, ignores that as a potential reality and doesn’t educate her child adequately to handle what is inevitable in most social circles.
Yesterday was tai-chi ruler day. I learned the tai-chi ruler method from Master Fong Ha (learn more at www.fongha.com) and did it for years to master it and learn the healing potential the exercise offers.
This practice is definitely one of the most powerful chi cultivation exercises I’ve ever used.
As you can see in the photos above, I taught them the exercise in the classroom, and then we headed to the park to practice in the sunshine.
Once we got to the park and started practicing, many children started emulating us by holding water bottles, sticks, and other objects in their hands.
I saw them making this effort and went to them to give them a little instruction.
While visiting the children (a school group probably about 5th grade), I asked them if they’d like to learn how to use their voices to heal themselves and others. They loved that idea.
So I taught them how to do the “OM” chant, how to use the tone scale, and how to find what part of their body needs more energy with a voice scanning technique I use.
They were amazed at how good it made them feel and were actually as good at it as any of the adults I teach.
After we finished a few minutes of chanting “OM”, one of the girls looked at her friend and said, “Wow! I’ve never seen you relax before!” She then turned to me and said, “this girl is the most hyper of all off us and can’t ever relax and now, look at her!”
Then the girl she was speaking about looked at me with wonder and asked, “How did this make me feel so relaxed. I’ve never felt this way and I feel so good!”
I explained how the method works to create harmony in the body-mind and encouraged all the kids to practice. As they left with their teachers, they were all chanting “OM” and were quite happy.
That made my day!
One of the mothers’ was with them and she was very grateful, as was one of the schoolteachers. My students really enjoyed watching the whole event and hopefully, it inspired them to share they love and knowledge with children.
Several CHEK Practitioners made brief visits to the class yesterday. Gigi Barlow came by and gave me some delicious REAL Bars – a natural whole food cocoa bar that I can enjoy. She and her husband John own the Greensquare Tavern here in NYC.
CHEK Faculty Instructor Tomi Toles has been visiting from time to time during our course.
It’s always lovely to see him here and New York. I’m glad he’s here to help all the people wanting to see me from this area as well as the other Chek Practitioners. Great to see you Tomi!
Today is our last day so I’ll be tying all the concepts together for everyone. Hopefully they will all be alert and ready for this big, final day together.
I hope you all have a lovely day wherever you are.
The next time I blog, I’ll be in Sweden in preparation to teach and see clients there.
I’m excited to get to Sweden because each segment of my trip gets me closer to home! I teach because I know it helps people, but I’m very much looking forward to the day when I don’t have to travel, or talk so much.
I’m working hard now to create a good base of CHEK Professionals so that when I’m ready to rest, they can take over with offering sound health advice to the world.
Love and chi,
Paul Chek
