Workshops

These workshops aim to assist the relationship building between educators and children in a non-verbal way to increase the joy of meaningful engagement.  The goal is to bring ease and support to teams.

As the title of this workshop suggests, you can picture a Centre where children are absorbed in their learning and the laughter of play rings out.  Educators engage and watch over their charges with a feeling of warmth radiating through their smiles of enjoyment.  Everybody is feeling nourished, even the parents who rush through the gate in the morning going to work after the gentle drop-off, take a piece of the tranquility with them.

Does this sound like your Centre?  

I was touched when a supportive director once gave me a book on Zen Philosophy.  The first page I opened read: -  Each step we take brings us closer to or further away from our goal.

This workshop can be a step closer to achieving your Centre’s goal particularly if the plan is that the day rarely goes to plan at all.  With the right tools, we see the difficulties as opportunities for tapping into our creativity and resourcefulness.  How do we cultivate such reserves and then draw on them?

Aikido relationship principles emerged from the Zen and Shinto practices in ancient Japan.  What can we learn from The Way (Do) to help us create a sense of purpose and meaning which influences our environment and the people around us positively? 

The use of Centre (hara)and its principles was embedded knowledge in ancient Japanese Culture and is responsible for the harmony or beauty we admire in that culture.  It is achieved with minimal words, striving or intellect; instead,  through connection with oneself first and then with others and also our environment.  This sense of connection then flows into our work or creations.  Science is now proving how effective the ancient practices were at creating peace and lasting well-being with its breakthroughs in the study of consciousness and the quantum field. 

The work of the child is play and the aim of Aikido is to make life play.  Aikido is a martial art that is not to teach us how to fight one another but to get along together.  There is a lot of pressure on our educators; duty of care, keeping abreast of the increasing amount of scientific information, documentation and the growing number of children needing learning support not to mention juggling their own personal and family lives.  In this workshop, we will explore ways to align within the mental and emotional pressures to think and act clearly.

Grounding is only one of four components of Centering.  To feel Centered is to feel whole, complete, and present - it is an active state of 'Being.  Modelling that to our children helps the children in our care retain their authenticity.

Before becoming a Diploma trained Educator in Early Childhood, I had spent significant time ‘on the mat’ learning Aikido.  Throughout my time as an educator, I was surprised by how much I drew on my knowledge of Aikido in my work.  When an accident earlier this year meant that I could no longer work at the Centre I loved, the idea came to me that it was time to create this workshop.

One of the outcomes is to enhance motivation to care for the vulnerable who cannot defend their rights, how to be that more secure anchor, support children in their play and extend our supervisory skills.  The effect of Centering is to lower the frequency of our brainwaves by bringing our energy to the Centre of our being, thus bringing them closer to the frequency of the brainwaves of a child.  Thus the child feels safer, secure, and supported and develops a sense of Belonging whilst reducing the stress on our precious educators.

When the child feels harmony within themselves and with those around them, Becoming happens…engaging with each other, the learning and the environment.

This workshop usually runs for two hours combining a theory element and a physical or experiential element.  I promise there are no strong throws!  It is recommended that this training be attended face to face, although, if necessary, it can be tailored to the online setting.  Support can be arranged following the session also.