Passing through a new doorway

I spent last week at the Westerbeke Ranch in Sonoma California at the second meeting of the 2015 VisionSeeker Continuum program with Hank Wesselman and Jill Kuykendall. This is an advanced, year long en devour of personal revelation and study led by these two amazing teachers of Shamanic traditions and practice.

It had been six months since the first meeting of this circle. This group of people all dedicated this year to this learning project and we congregate three times for a week to be led through another deep level of self revelation. I was aware of the huge growth, change and development I had experienced from our first gathering, but it was amazing how visible it was on each of us as we came together again.

On the third day of the meetings, I met Hank along the path leading back to the teaching room. He said to me “You really like this stuff, don’t you?” and I replied, “I love this stuff!” He paused and looked thoughtfully at me for a brief moment and said,” If you really want to learn, teach it, that’s what I did.” We resumed our walk and when we reached the door to the classroom and I crossed through, I realized I was walking in as a whole new version of myself.

I had been ambivalent toward taking up teaching. Although as a many, many years of study with many brilliant teachers of human consciousness and the shamanic path, I never really understood when it was appropriate to claim the title “teacher”, Hanks words gave me a new perspective as well as validation. I realized that “teacher” is the next level of “student”.

Upon reflection, I remembered that I had been taught this lesson once before, early in my adulthood. I trained the Japanese martial art, Aikido for quite some time. As a student of Aikido, you begin “training”. If you are diligent, your training advances and you demonstrate your of the mastery of your progressing skill level by preforming a test. Taking test after test, eventually, you reach the top of the ladder and the next test that presents is that to become Shodon, (1st degree black belt). To become Shodon, you must demonstrate that you have mastered all levels of your training during one test. If you succeed, you then become a “student”. Prior to this you are simply training to become a student. This new role of student hands you the responsibility of demonstrating correct technique to those who are training and appearing publicly when asked to demonstrate what Aikido is, and you begin to take up teaching within the dojo.

So, I realize now, I have completed my initiation of training, and am now taking up the new lessons of the student known as “teacher”.

Happy to be in service, I welcome inquiries about my teaching schedule and will keep you posted as they appear in case you would like to join the circle!