Inner Work-out with the beautiful teachers of De Kleinste Yoga School

I was delighted to take part in a team day with the beautiful teachers of De Kleinste Yoga school (The smallest yoga center) in Amsterdam.

We started the day with a yoga class, getting a quick sample of the uniqueness and passion of each teacher.

Practicing yoga helped us to fully arrive in our body and clear our mind, which was a great starting point for an Inner Work-out session.

We started with an “inner warm-up”: slowed down and gave attention to our inner state and to the social field around us, opening our hearts, and preparing for dialogue. The group moved into pairs in which each person shared a personal wish and received back a vivid reflection, of how it will look like once you achieve that wish.

Then I explained about open listening which requires letting go of assumptions, cynicism, and our urge to fix and solve, and just focus on staying with the other.

With that in mind, we paired again, and took a dialogue walk in the park, shared a personal life question, while the other practiced open listening and reflecting.

In the end, many people shared that just talking about a personal question, with someone else listening and not interruption brought them clarity and helped them to think about innovative ways forward with it.

Also, the fact that everyone had the opportunity to practice listening and to share a question created a sense of mutual trust and connection, that lasted after the session has ended.

For me, it was beautiful to see the level of connection and openness in the group deepening during the session, and how each pair inspired the rest to dive even deeper in the practice. Since I am also a part of the teachers of the yoga center, I felt that while I was responsible for guiding the session, everyone else took it seriously, and helped the session to succeed.

My learning as a facilitator was about holding space for the group while walking in the park. I am used to attending to the atmosphere in the room during sessions and respond to that, but attending to the atmosphere of multiple pairs while walking was new and surprisingly challenging for me.

Can’t wait for the coming Inner Work-out sessions at Baxter building, and Zoku!