Monthly Archives: September 2012

Taking time out to breathe

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Recently I have been busy putting lots of new programmes together in schools, youth centres, for mentoring projects as well as my own Coaching, NLP and Hypnotherapy.

As a Youth Coach and Mentor I find there is a lot of activity, in schools especially, at the start of a new academic year; coaching teachers around time management and implementation of new policies. Working with young people, enabling them to manage their new transitions within school and to new schools. Developing creative thinking and teaching.

As well as one of my new projects at Stormont House, where we are helping young people find their “Element” through creative activity and exploration, bassed on the work by Ken Robinson and in his book “The Element”.

So there is a lot going on, and I have to manage my own time and my own state too. Which reminded me of the work of David Shephard and Michael Mellows. They both place an importance on breathing. Taking time out to focus on your own breath.

I wonder if you just stopped reading for a moment and became aware of your own breathing, what you might notice?

This morning while writing my “Morning Notes”, a concept from “The Artists Way” I realised how tense I was, and how my breathing was caught up high in my chest. So I stopped what I was doing and simply took the time to focus on my breathing, nice deep breaths right down into my tummy.

A lot of us breathe with our shoulders, pulling them up to our ears as we breathe in, not realising that this doen’t really help, in fact it can make you even more tense. Simply allow your breath to drop right into your tummy and your rib cage to swing out.

By simply focusing on your breathing and letting your thoughts wonder off, coming back to your breathing, you are able to entre a far more calm and relaxed state.

So the next time you find you have a lot going on, are tense or nervous. Facing a group of challenging students, or going for an important meeting. Stop and take the time to breathe. Perhaps it might become part of your daily ritual, like meditation or yoga.

I would also be interested to hear any other techniques you might use, like counting to 10 or visualisations, so feel free to leave a comment.

“What would you choose to do if you had u...

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“What would you choose to do if you had unlimited resources?” was the question asked in the book I’m currently reading; Change your life in 7 days by Paul Mckenna. He says, just before asking the question, to open your thinking, to allow your mind to dream and dream big…well maybe some of those are my words too, but that’s the idea, to dream big.

So dream big I did, in fact it’s a dream that I’ve had before, it’s the one where I open a coaching centre for young people. It’s more than a coaching centre, it’s a place where young people receive coaching, creative, confidence, self esteem, career, communication training. All underpinned with the coaching ethos, to enable them to be the best they can be, doing what they love.

Working in groups and individually with coaches, NLPers, and creative practitioners. The work would explore all the senses, almost like a school…perhaps it is a school, an alternative school where the aim is to learn about self through the arts, creativity, coaching and NLP.

It would be like all the best projects I’ve ever done rolled into one. Visits to the theatre, where we explore the characters and their relationships to each other, seeing how we would play out their roles differently, returning back to the centre where we role play the events. Using a mixture of Forum Theatre, NLP, coaching and artwork.

We would also have creative development days, spending time exploring the minds of great creative thinkers from history, from present and of course the future. Young people have wonderfully creative minds, however tif hat creativity is not put to productive use it can create all sorts of problems. So we would look at how they can use their creativity in positive ways.

There are lots of young entrepreneurs projects, and I’m sure they do wonderful work. We would not only work with the young people and their ideas, we would also enable their ideas to take shape, creating role models for the future. And jobs right now, jobs doing what the young people love.

We would have healthy foods and exercise, team sports and meditation. A space where young people can discover what they are good at, where there skills lay, and a safe supportive place where they can explore their futures.

Of course this would be expensive, but it’s a dream, and while I’m dreaming lets have the very best in technology available, lets have a design space where the young people create the technologies of the future. With music and fashion studios. And at the front a shop where we sell what we create.

This is a wonderful dream, I wonder what your dreams might be? And who is there to help and support making our dreams come true?