Providence in October Ain't Hard On the Eyes-Tales of a Zentangle(R) Teacher
In late October I was blessed to travel to Providence, Rhode Island to obtain my Zentangle Teacher certification. Southern New England is absolutely gorgeous in the late autumn. The fact that the seminar was held on the top floor the glorious art-deco Providence Biltmore Hotel, and my room was on the 12th floor, was pretty amazing too. The views were spectacular!
I always wanted to go to the seminar for the experience, but NOT to learn to teach. I told anyone that said, 'you should do classes' that was the last thing on earth I wanted to do. I would hate speaking in a roomful of strangers. And I had been to so many classes where there was always that one annoying person that kept derailing the class... and how would I ever handle that without Valium...or a mallet? Nope. Not cut out for teaching. Not for me. Never. BUT...then I got the unexpected opportunity to go-my company generously offered to send me if I would come back and lead sessions as part of our Corporate Wellness platform- so I jumped on it! I would enjoy the seminar and then 'suffer though' leading sessions at work as return payment. At least it was people that I knew for the most part. I could muddle through for that...so off to Providence I went.
The seminar was everything I dreamed it would be and more. The class itself was held in the grand ballroom. There were close to 160 people in my class from many different countries. We had classes on different Zentangle techniques and how to teach them. Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas (who created the Zentangle method) and their daughters, Molly and Martha, were amazing teachers and warm, welcoming human beings to boot! There were so many creative students there. The artwork was dazzling. Everyone was super supportive of one another. It was very nurturing and Kumbaya. The rooms, service and meals were first class and there was entertainment in the evening after supper. I learned so much and made so many new friends! The three days flew by to quickly!
So now I was back in Wisconsin, with my teaching certification and a company that was waiting for me to lead team-building sessions. The chips had fallen...the fertilizer was about to hit the fan. Now I had to teach. Crap.
My first official class was for our Front Desk Coordinators team. It was a team building event/retirement party for one of the team members who was leaving. Since it was a combo thing, they chose to have it at a local tequila bar rather than on campus. Let that sink in a moment...a MEDITATION class in a TV filled, sports bar....with copious amounts of booze. Talk about trial by fire. I obsessed for days about all of the things that could go wrong, no, that would go wrong...how I would go down in flames my first time taxi down the runway. I settled on the notion that no matter how bad it was, I could console myself with tequila afterward as it was close at hand. I'm not a drinker but I was willing to become one if it all went sideways.
The big day came, I went to the venue and found that our 'area' was not a separate room, but just a cordoned off section in the dining area. It started at 3PM so there were few customers, but TVs were blaring from every available wall space. I asked the bartender if she could turn the ones in our section off and got a glazed stare. No one had ever asked that before. She had to work to find the remote. But we got them off. I set up and the ladies came and settled in. I know all of them, at least to say hello to, so it wasn't a 'stranger danger' situation. I had practiced all of the things I wanted to include and techniques I wanted to teach a million times in the weeks before the session. I was as ready as I'd ever be...which didn't feel ready at all!
I started in, looking out across the 12 friendly, smiling faces and it all immediately clicked and fell into place. I didn't even have to look at my notes. They were eager to learn and have fun. Creating art with the Zentangle method has been a huge part of my life for going on 10 years now. Everything just flowed and I LOVED it! I was sharing something that I find so much joy in with others. What could be better than that?
I panicked a little bit more when I ventured out to teach my next 'all stranger' class but it turned out the same way. It's not difficult to teach your passion to people who are eager and want to learn it! So I've been teaching way more that I imagined I would (which as you recall was ...never...except for the much dreaded 'indentured service' sessions for work). I enjoy it so much and am anticipating expanding my repertoire of class techniques in anticipation of teaching even more. I'm hooked!
One of the things I love the most is that everyone in the class sees and hears the exact same instructions but in the end, when we put all of the tiles together for a mosaic, every tile is different and each one is beautiful in it's own way. There is no right or wrong. That in itself is a lesson. I'll leave you with these two mosaics from my class last night. Tangle on!
I always wanted to go to the seminar for the experience, but NOT to learn to teach. I told anyone that said, 'you should do classes' that was the last thing on earth I wanted to do. I would hate speaking in a roomful of strangers. And I had been to so many classes where there was always that one annoying person that kept derailing the class... and how would I ever handle that without Valium...or a mallet? Nope. Not cut out for teaching. Not for me. Never. BUT...then I got the unexpected opportunity to go-my company generously offered to send me if I would come back and lead sessions as part of our Corporate Wellness platform- so I jumped on it! I would enjoy the seminar and then 'suffer though' leading sessions at work as return payment. At least it was people that I knew for the most part. I could muddle through for that...so off to Providence I went.
My first official class was for our Front Desk Coordinators team. It was a team building event/retirement party for one of the team members who was leaving. Since it was a combo thing, they chose to have it at a local tequila bar rather than on campus. Let that sink in a moment...a MEDITATION class in a TV filled, sports bar....with copious amounts of booze. Talk about trial by fire. I obsessed for days about all of the things that could go wrong, no, that would go wrong...how I would go down in flames my first time taxi down the runway. I settled on the notion that no matter how bad it was, I could console myself with tequila afterward as it was close at hand. I'm not a drinker but I was willing to become one if it all went sideways.
The big day came, I went to the venue and found that our 'area' was not a separate room, but just a cordoned off section in the dining area. It started at 3PM so there were few customers, but TVs were blaring from every available wall space. I asked the bartender if she could turn the ones in our section off and got a glazed stare. No one had ever asked that before. She had to work to find the remote. But we got them off. I set up and the ladies came and settled in. I know all of them, at least to say hello to, so it wasn't a 'stranger danger' situation. I had practiced all of the things I wanted to include and techniques I wanted to teach a million times in the weeks before the session. I was as ready as I'd ever be...which didn't feel ready at all!
I started in, looking out across the 12 friendly, smiling faces and it all immediately clicked and fell into place. I didn't even have to look at my notes. They were eager to learn and have fun. Creating art with the Zentangle method has been a huge part of my life for going on 10 years now. Everything just flowed and I LOVED it! I was sharing something that I find so much joy in with others. What could be better than that?
I panicked a little bit more when I ventured out to teach my next 'all stranger' class but it turned out the same way. It's not difficult to teach your passion to people who are eager and want to learn it! So I've been teaching way more that I imagined I would (which as you recall was ...never...except for the much dreaded 'indentured service' sessions for work). I enjoy it so much and am anticipating expanding my repertoire of class techniques in anticipation of teaching even more. I'm hooked!
One of the things I love the most is that everyone in the class sees and hears the exact same instructions but in the end, when we put all of the tiles together for a mosaic, every tile is different and each one is beautiful in it's own way. There is no right or wrong. That in itself is a lesson. I'll leave you with these two mosaics from my class last night. Tangle on!
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