9 Workshop Seven: Experience and Education
Download Workshop 7 here.
I: An Experience of Education [45 minutes]
For our first exercise today, I will group you into a dyad in a Zoom Breakout Room. Each participant will take one 15-minute turn as the experiencer and as the observer. Having fun is optional.
Please start by reviewing the instructions and getting settled. Decide who will take on the role of experiencer first. (5 min)
In this exercise, each experiencer will recall and explore their memory of a pleasurable educational experience. As the experiencer: follow your impulses toward sensory experience. Try to focus on your embodied sensations.
In the role of observer, follow the experiencer. Pay attention. Listen. Be engaged. Keep close track of the time.
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The observer begins the exercise by inviting the experiencer to take a moment to center themselves into their body. Invite the experiencer to sit comfortably and take a deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Notice how your body feels right now. Start at the top of the head, and gently scan down through the body, noticing what feels comfortable and what feels uncomfortable. Remember, you’re not trying to change anything, just notice how the body feels as you scan down evenly and notice each and every part of the body, all the way down to the toes.”
Next, the observer reminds the experiencer about the exercise prompt:
“Recall an experience in your life that was both pleasurable and educational. There is no right or wrong answer. Trust your intuition. Feel into an experience that shaped who you are, even if you can’t say exactly how or why. Take a few moments to hone-in on this experience (or “time”) in your life that was both pleasurable and educational. Feel free to close your eyes – or keep them closed – it may even help to place your hands firmly over your eyes, as you turn inward and experience your memories.
As you find a memory that strikes you as both pleasant and educational, describe it briefly. Please don’t go into detail and don’t try to explain why you’ve selected this memory. Just tell me briefly what you’ve chosen.”
Next, observer, ask: “How do you know this experience was pleasant? What do you sense in your body as you recall this experience?”
As the experiencer describes how the memory feels in their bodies, invite them to pay attention to their sensations. Ask (some of the following, but don’t rush through them!):
“Does that sensation have a color? Is it moving? Does it have a temperature? Is there an image associated with your sensation? As we take some time to track your sensation, what happens next?”
Allow approximately 5 minutes, maybe a little more, for the experiencer to track their sensations.
Then, ask them to return to the narrative of their memory. Ask: “As you recall that experience now, how do you imagine the pleasure it gave you contributed to its educational impact on you?”
Discuss this question for a few minutes.
Now, please switch roles