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4. By Yvette Elcock

Spirituality in Supervision

On Thursday 28^th May 2020 I was lucky enough to be part of our first regional Zoom meeting with the previous three having been face-to-face in those days pre-Covid.

The session was facilitated by an AOCS colleague, Maria Illife-Wood and it is fair to say that I found it really powerful.

Due to the topic, these are my personal reflections on my experience rather than a meeting summary.  I took fewer notes – more key words – and have tried to capture the impact of these key words now.

Reflections personal to my personal development:

• The power of slowing down and quietening noise to facilitate in the on-line space – almost a silent retreat on Zoom. Underneath the noise there is calm and stillness and …. I noticed that I physically stilled and that I relaxed my posture, and breathed more deeply.
• People don’t necessarily recognise how resilient they are and the trauma they have survived –I came across this recently Becoming a Trauma-Sensitive Coach
• Spirituality could be wisdom, intuition, presence, a tuning fork, or for me, the Universe.
• I related to the call to listen, not listen for something, and then something will emerge to pay attention to rather than the noise.
• Wisdom guided me to my childhood deliberate mistake – an incredibly powerful reframe. What do I do to nourish this?  What practices? What else besides my garden as a secure, safe base?  I’m now noticing that people don’t really figure.
• The world needs coaches who are not too tired to be present. And coaches need supervisors who are not too tired to be present too. And organisations need leaders who are not too tired to be present too.

Reflections on my professional deveopment as a supervisor:

• How to set up the spacious, slow, silent environment in a session?
• How to explore the noise to find the stillness?
• How to stick with emotions and feelings if the words don’t come?
• How to fall into presence rather than try to make it happen?
• How to find the wisdom within rather than apply a tool or technique?
• What do I tap into less? My head, heart, or gut? Where is the essence of the quantum field? (Revisit Danah Zohar work.)
• How to find the extraordinary that can happen in the ordinary? Some things might mean more now than when they first happened.
• How does all of this relate to cross-cultural work?

Deep gratitude to all present.

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