No matter what we learn, it is also the teacher we decide to learn it from, that makes the difference to the experience of learning – what we learn as well as the outcome.
One pupil in a class can learn the same math, from the same book, at the same level, from a teacher who encourages them to use math as a way to challenge themselves and to enjoy the process of learning it. As a result, they enjoy the learning and get more confidence and joy from it as they improve. Another teacher can direct that same pupil in a different direction – giving them the understanding that they are far from reaching their potential, that they are not smart enough or capable enough and that they will always have to work harder to achieve results. The effects of both approaches are lifelong and therefore deeply meaningful.
A teacher can create an atmosphere of respect and empowerment, which would allow learning to expand far beyond the material the students came to learn. Learning then becomes important as its own process and through this, an experience of fulfillment – of transformation, of awareness and of self-respect is created. Teachers who place the emphasis on empowering their own students, rather than solely on the knowledge they intend to teach, can create a positive lifelong impact.
I could see the light in her eyes as soon as she walked into the room for her appointment, and I already knew that the martial arts workshop she had been to was a success. “Was it that good?” I asked.
Prior to that workshop, we had a series of somatic bodywork sessions. It took her some time to decide about going to the workshop. A teacher from a different school taught it, and she felt a little guilty, as if somehow she would be betraying her current teacher. That teacher was somebody she knew very well and even if he had succeeded in teaching her great techniques, she found his style of teaching to be disturbing. She was preoccupied by his attitude and his problematic relationships with people around her, rather than with what she wanted to be learning.
As loyalty to her own family was an important value developed in her childhood, she couldn’t help but make her martial arts school into her second family. Even when she told me about the many emotional traumas she had experience, both in her family and with that teacher, she still chose loyalty over change. In sessions we had, I let her experience her own desires for personal growth and over time we created a clearer personal development plan, where she managed to foster loyalty to herself first – to her own intentions and desires. She realized repeatedly that doing what her heart wanted did not mean going against people around her, but that it actually empowered her and created positive change in herself and her surroundings.
It didn’t take long after that workshop for her to change to a different school, after she realized the impact the old teacher had been having on her choices. The change created a huge impact that amazed both of us. She continued to train, to develop and to enjoy her martial arts, but the energy that she put into it came from a completely different source and her calling became stronger and clearer.
If teachers understand the responsibility they have while being in front of a group – whether a group of children or adults – they might decide to act in a different way and eventually be a part of making the world a better place. A teacher influences their students far beyond the knowledge they deliver. We all as children have our share of traumas from school and with people that did their best to educate us. Learning became an activity that could easily be associated with negative feelings, when actually the act of teaching and learning is one of the most fulfilling experiences we as people can have. When teachers become aware that their role is not to advise, to judge, to tell their version of the ‘right’ way or only give their knowledge, they can then more comprehensively guide and encourage students to find their own path.
As a practitioner, just like as a teacher, I learned to always respect the person who is in front of me. My clients or students know best the answers to the questions in their own life. They might have come to me to learn the tools, gain some knowledge or learn about some new options they didn’t know of before, but my main role is to show them how much inner-wisdom they already have and how they can use it to activate their own inner beauty and potential. When the magic of teaching takes place, students can discover their own capacity to invite new things into their life through learning.
Teaching is a valuable way of communicating, only with a whole group of people. Each of those people is unique and special and each needs to find their own ways for personal expression and learning. As a teacher, when I can let people be their own individual selves and at the same time teach what the entire class wants to learn, I feel as if the world opens up to us and there can be great harmony while at the same time honoring their unique differences.
