Thursday, March 18, 2010

Running a business and teaching a Feldenkrais lesson


I had an interesting conversation tonight with a fellow West Seattle businessman at a West Seattle Chamber event.

We met at a previous function a few months ago and talked about our similar ways of looking at life. He studied martial arts, and I worked in a profession that was partially based on the martial arts, Judo in fact.

After talking with him a bit tonight I was curious how long he'd worked for himself, and how long it took him to feel successful in his current venture.
He told me he started working for himself at the age of 13 when he lived in Argentina and was in his current business for 10 years.

The conversation got really interesting when he started talking about the way he viewed his business and how he took time often to step away from it, to get a different view of it.
Some key things I remember him saying as a way of running his business were:

Stay creative
Be flexible
Step outside your business sphere on occasion to get a different look or perspective
Have fun and play with the process
Don't be afraid to make mistakes, sometimes these are really gifts
Have a strong foundation to build upon

Now, if you've ever had a Feldenkrais lesson, either in a class format or a private lesson you may recognize the above points as things we also use to enhance the learning process.

So running a business can be like giving a Feldenkrais lesson....who knew?

For more on the Feldenkrais Method:
http://www.feldenkrais.com/

Erik LaSeur GCFT
Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher
Alki Feldenkrais

http://www.alkimoves.com/

2 comments:

Unknown said...

HI Erik,
Congratulations on your new life! I enjoy reading your blog, really like your point of view and observations. I even like the schedule you keep of writing!
Keep it up!
Linda

Erik said...

Linda - thanks for the note. Writing has always been a challenge for me, but it's also a great way to become clearer about what it is I do.