Methodology and Evaluation
The Training methodology and evaluation are entwined. Together we work out what you need and then help you to find it. We encourage the use of the group as a micro-cosmos of your life and also as a support network, within which to develop and test your new skills.
Again the Medicine Wheel is of help here. Since we are training as "Agents of Change" to support transformation in these modern times, you will use this cycle to look at the issues in your life and for the clients who come along. We follow a cycle of "action-research" respecting the person and their environment. This learning cycle follows:
It is a training and evaluation method which is flexible, dynamic and continuously re-defined according to the actual situation of each person and the context within which they live. It is an approach intended to develop the adult responsibility of each learner. Each learner works on her own path at her own pace, affirming and celebrating their achievements with rites of passage in the training group.
Again the Medicine Wheel is of help here. Since we are training as "Agents of Change" to support transformation in these modern times, you will use this cycle to look at the issues in your life and for the clients who come along. We follow a cycle of "action-research" respecting the person and their environment. This learning cycle follows:
- What is the apparent problem and symptoms? What might be the real basic human needs behind these symptoms? Feel, hear, see and sense to explore the people and their crises using the most complete and complex model possible. The Medicine Wheel is very useful here to remind us to include the different elements and their life cycles. Explore and define the history, location, problems, strengths, needs and goals of each person within these large and complex frameworks
- Analyse, evaluate, discriminate, filter, select and decide. What skills and limitations do you have related to this need? Plan an action: resources, skills, people and timetable. Designing specific interventions or training necessary for each person within this complex and dynamic framework. Together we plan your rites of passage, your Heroes Journey.
- Action to carry out your plan: contact, conflict, creativity, transformation, change, death, loss, leave, make, grow, etcetera. As trainers or Agents of Change we accompany the process of each person with consistency, authenticity and compassion. Carrying out the planned Rites of Passage.
- Reflection, evaluation, integration and learning. Rest, digestion, relaxation, sleep, dreaming, gestation and meditation
It is a training and evaluation method which is flexible, dynamic and continuously re-defined according to the actual situation of each person and the context within which they live. It is an approach intended to develop the adult responsibility of each learner. Each learner works on her own path at her own pace, affirming and celebrating their achievements with rites of passage in the training group.
Initial Phases of the Training
The initial phases in the Training follow the Medicine Wheel cycle. Here we propose some ongoing reading and homework you might like to do.
As we develop a Shamanistic practice we are aware that all the 'techniques and tools' we use are deeply affected by our own 'person', This means that our story, our strengths and weaknesses, our neurosis, our skills, ...are all present and influencing any work we do. These influence how we hear and diagnose, how we interpret, the kinds of tools we choose and the ways we tend to use them.
This is the same for everyone, and is mostly unconscious. But if we want to have an effective and ethical practice then we must be conscious of our own strengths and weaknesses. This is for safe practice especially as we begin to develop our sensitivity, to do journey work and to use more powerful tools.
Remember the homework is to be done without any pressure, all work at own rhythm, in your own way.... it is your work for yourself. I do not mark anything. This is not like school homework, done, marked and forgotten. This is an ongoing process. I am still working on these, exploring and discovering my deeper roots, pains and hidden strengths, making peace with myself. These are some of the basic tools we use.
We begin with the body, the Earth, your roots and the Inner child.
Know Thyself - First take the plank out of your own eye
Explore the History of your body:
Your gestation and birth, breastfeeding, illnesses, accidents, ... stories and feelings about your body and its basic functions (eating, peeing, defecating, digesting, farting, mucuses, odours, ... movement, touch, genitals, ... teeth, hair, ...), operations, illnesses, abilities, aesthetic appearance, ageing, ... Many of our attitudes and neurosis were born in early family dynamics around these issues.
Explore the History of the emotions in your early family up to now in your life:
The primary emotions are Anger, fear, joy, love, sadness. Other emotional experiences like exhilaration, jealousy, hate, ... are usually combinations of the basic 5, one being repressed and distorted by another. Which were allowed and not in your early family? Who expressed what and how? Then in your later relationships what happens with the emotions ... with partners, at work, with men, with women, ... ? What happens when other people express the emotions? Emotional intelligence is expressing the right emotion to the right person at the right level in the right moment (from Aristotle)
Family Tree:
These are your ancestors, they are your roots and genes. A great part of your power lies in fully belonging to your ancestors, taking them into your heart, honouring them, asking for help and support. Explore gently with respect: names, locations, dates of birth, marriage and death, .... then other important information like: excluded people, abortions, extra relationships, illnesses, alcoholism, those who went to war, those who were in the church, ... professions, .... "I am because they were. I am fruit of many generations of longing, of desire for life ... with its pains and specific family neuroses".
As we develop a Shamanistic practice we are aware that all the 'techniques and tools' we use are deeply affected by our own 'person', This means that our story, our strengths and weaknesses, our neurosis, our skills, ...are all present and influencing any work we do. These influence how we hear and diagnose, how we interpret, the kinds of tools we choose and the ways we tend to use them.
This is the same for everyone, and is mostly unconscious. But if we want to have an effective and ethical practice then we must be conscious of our own strengths and weaknesses. This is for safe practice especially as we begin to develop our sensitivity, to do journey work and to use more powerful tools.
Remember the homework is to be done without any pressure, all work at own rhythm, in your own way.... it is your work for yourself. I do not mark anything. This is not like school homework, done, marked and forgotten. This is an ongoing process. I am still working on these, exploring and discovering my deeper roots, pains and hidden strengths, making peace with myself. These are some of the basic tools we use.
We begin with the body, the Earth, your roots and the Inner child.
Know Thyself - First take the plank out of your own eye
Explore the History of your body:
Your gestation and birth, breastfeeding, illnesses, accidents, ... stories and feelings about your body and its basic functions (eating, peeing, defecating, digesting, farting, mucuses, odours, ... movement, touch, genitals, ... teeth, hair, ...), operations, illnesses, abilities, aesthetic appearance, ageing, ... Many of our attitudes and neurosis were born in early family dynamics around these issues.
Explore the History of the emotions in your early family up to now in your life:
The primary emotions are Anger, fear, joy, love, sadness. Other emotional experiences like exhilaration, jealousy, hate, ... are usually combinations of the basic 5, one being repressed and distorted by another. Which were allowed and not in your early family? Who expressed what and how? Then in your later relationships what happens with the emotions ... with partners, at work, with men, with women, ... ? What happens when other people express the emotions? Emotional intelligence is expressing the right emotion to the right person at the right level in the right moment (from Aristotle)
Family Tree:
These are your ancestors, they are your roots and genes. A great part of your power lies in fully belonging to your ancestors, taking them into your heart, honouring them, asking for help and support. Explore gently with respect: names, locations, dates of birth, marriage and death, .... then other important information like: excluded people, abortions, extra relationships, illnesses, alcoholism, those who went to war, those who were in the church, ... professions, .... "I am because they were. I am fruit of many generations of longing, of desire for life ... with its pains and specific family neuroses".