Second week – Architecture Quest

I wrote a few posts this week on topics that I thought needed to be explained in detail. Now I want to summarize here the second week of my second session at Acton. Here are the highlights:

1. Meditation – As you could see in the previous post where I posted a screenshot of our schedule we decided to add a meditation session to each day, following the Eagles’ request. We’ve tried all kinds of meditation and eventually the Eagles just wanted to listen to meditative music for fifteen minutes. The Eagles find a corner in the studio, close their eyes and listen to the music. Alden passes near the Eagles and puts a drop of lavender oil on their forehead. The Eagles (and me too :)) really enjoy these fifteen minutes, and I find that it is a restart for everyone.
2. Yoga – This week we opened the morning with yoga! Twice! It was so successful. Alden chose yoga exercises for the Eagles, in a series of classes meant for adult beginners(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT0TepK01tQ). I was a little worried that they would have a hard time, but it seems that they are doing well, and Alden claimed that the previous year they tried the kids’ yoga and it was not challenging enough. In any case, I highly recommend to any teacher to include 15 minutes of yoga with the students every day. The internet is full of guides and lessons at different levels of difficulty, and there is no problem choosing your preferred guide and getting started. Yoga has so many wonderful benefits beyond fitness, and it does wonders for the atmosphere in the studio.
3. ArchitectureChallenge – This week the Eagles started planning their “Dream Acton”. We’ve rearranged the pairs, and this time we divided them into similar-age teams. The pairs really enjoyed working together and began to dream together about a pool, a video games room, a slide from the top of the building to the lower floor, and more. I promise to take pictures of the final products later.
4. Closing group – At the end of each day we have a fifteen-minute circle with the Eagles. At the beginning of the circle we do “Character call outs”: The Eagles call out good deeds they saw the other Eagles doing and indicate what desirable character trait the good deed examplifies. For example, “I saw that Daphne worked seriously in Khan and made progress of two percent, and I call that ‘hard work'”, or “I saw that Braden and Ann worked together nicely during the challenge and I call that ‘teamwork'”, etc. This conversation moves me every time, and I find it fascinating to see that the Eagles pay attention to each other, and know how to implement what they liked.

In general, the atmosphere in the studio has stabilized, and we now have time to address deep issues that require more attention. Alden and I hold coaching conversations with each Eagle separately, and during these conversations we reflect their difficulties to them and they try to figure out how they can cope with them. I plan to write a detailed post on coaching conversations, but I want to share with you that I fully understand how complex and important the role of a guide in the studio is, in the delicate guidance work of the Eagles. The goal is to allow each Eagle to fulfill her potential and, on the way there, to understand what makes it difficult for her to do so and how he can cope with difficulties. Working with the Eagles is not about showing them the way, but rather allowing each one of them to discover his own way. It’s complicated, but interesting and exciting.