Do you have something that you’d love to be able to teach people online?
So do I.
I love meditating and facilitating energy healing. It’s how I connect with my deepest truth.
However, for years I felt it was too difficult to share this with others without it seeming like I was a wannabe spiritual teacher.
At the same time, I wanted more than anything to create community where practice and experience could be treasured and shared.
Often, when you go to learn meditation, you’re discouraged from sharing the experience with others. This can make it feel both lonely and frustrating. It turns a lot of people off from practice and does nothing to increase connection with others.
So five years I started to think about teaching meditation online. I kept feeling this inner nudge, saying, “Share your love. Share what matters most to you. It has helped you. It can help others.”
But I also had a big resistance. Most people knew me as the founder of Coaching Institute, a teacher of coaches. What would it feel like to share my spirituality with a professional audience?
I remember bracing myself against what I felt could potentially go nowhere – and decided to create the impact I wanted. I made a New Year’s resolution in 2018 to start offering an Online Meditation Group through the Zoom platform.
My plan was to make meditation more accessible by applying the principles of Group Coaching. I have a set of strategies for helping people learn any topic in a group environment. So I took the leap into the unknown and invited everyone I could to a group meditation meeting.
Was I nervous? Yes!!!
After some experimentation, I found a Session Plan that worked for teaching meditation, incorporating experiential energy exercises to help create relaxation, inner resources and acceptance along with time for sharing, questions, and processing.
I start the session by discussing a theme for the meditation (about 5-10 minutes).
Then I lead the group through three exercises focusing on breath, energy, and creativity. This takes about 10-15 minutes. This way, participants know they won’t be “left hanging” trying something for the first time.
It’s always so touching for me to see the faces of my participants, each in their own corner of the world, with their eyes closed, meditating with me. Here’s what my class looked like recently.
Then we discuss and process those exercises.
Next, we go through a guided meditation with minutes of silence spread throughout. This is where I allow my creative unconscious to take the lead and connect with everyone else’s creative unconscious. I get the thrill of being surprised by this flow. Intuitive guidance is mixed with an intention and the energy within all of us together.
Then we break for discussion. I might give some individual coaching to participants who raise their hands. Or simply appreciate and encourage their own shares, discoveries and truth. We often end a session on a shared group intention for the world or in small breakout rooms for more personal sharing.
In less than an hour, my participants have had a powerful experience from the comfort of their own home! Here’s a screenshot of the group shares from just one minute of a recent class.
It’s very gratifying to see that this was the first enjoyable experience of meditation that many of these people had ever had!
It’s an example of how Group Coaching can become partners with meditation and create real positive impact in the lives of community members all over the world.
I’m always amazed to see where people are joining from. Many people from countries I’ve never had a chance to visit – and yet here we are, conversing like good friends.
Often people are waking up in the middle of the night, participating from their beds, in order to meditate with us! It’s that important to them. It’s an incredibly powerful and inspiring group.
I started teaching meditation out of my personal passion for the topic, not as any kind of business decision. I had no idea where it would go. However, I’ve been able to lead more than 60,000 people in person through positive experiences of meditation.
It’s very fulfilling to hear from meditation group members who have been able to successfully access the benefits of meditation due to these sessions. Many had tried unsuccessfully to meditate for years before my group processes made it possible for them.
Is there something that you’re passionate about that you’d like to share?
Perhaps it’s time for you to step up to share it with the world!
Maybe you could teach it using the principles of Group Coaching, like I did!
This is part of a teaching series on Group Coaching – I hope you enjoy some of the other parts.
Magali Peysha