I recently dropped into a more than a move your booty dance class called Soul Motion in Berkeley (Thank you for inviting me dear Safoura!) Soul Motion is a conscious dance practice, where one dances intimately with the Self, acknowledges the resonance of other Bodies dancing around them, becomes a Solar System with the Community of Dancers and the Community finds their place within the Infinite Potential of the Universe. This magical formation is gently and humbly guided by a SuperNova-esq dancer Valerie, who is a subtle, loving and tells you specifically and concisely what you need to hear at the right moment facilitator. As I was reflecting on how Valerie made this orchestration made feel effortless, I bookmarked my observations for a great facilitator and leader. I also pondered on how these trades can Empower Agile Teams and Product Design as a whole:

• Subtle Directing: Trust your group's psyche and intelligence. Be subtle and gentle in your management. Open up to possibilities and surprises. Always ask what surprises are appearing in the field and what is needed now? 
• Loving Care, Respect & Allow Creativity to Flourish: Genuinely care about the individual Stars in your Group. Creation is all about the people and not the Product. "Product" is a byproduct of what can come to fruition with the Seeds of people. The best contribution that your group members can bring into the party is their creativity and ideas. If group members are encouraged to BE more of who they are and appreciated and welcomed to bring in their UNIQUE GIFTS to the process, they can make something awesome happen together in harmony. When the energetic field is set with loving and caring INTENTIONS, an extraordinary, creative love child Product would be born naturally. If people are happy, feeling loved, and trusting one another, the process you set to get to the finish line will be joyful and hurdles can be tackled with more ease and harmony.
• Be Specific and Focused: Be specific and be focused in your requests. This is about YOU committing to be in Service to the group of people you are managing/facilitating and trusting their potential. Also, this is about you supporting them with focused information in order to help solve what they are committed to solve. Commit to setting YOUR TEAM for success for extraordinary results.

.MY DANCE (My Intimate Star): As my lady feet (also pet named as my elephants sometimes) hit the shiny hardwood floor, the dance ring became a mirror to my Soul's yearnings. The lessons to be learned started to mirage in my body. Gliding with the rhythm, exchanging moves with other Bodies and dancing with the Energy thought me so much more about the things I would love to work on and grow to become a Whole Experience in this Body than a life lived in My Mind. Funny how that​ works. Body has it's own divine intelligence. Always listen to your BODY and other BODIES in Space! 

• How can I notice my fears and limitations when I am working and come out of that constricted state quickly, so that I can be in Service of the Creation at work? 

OUR DANCE (Two Stars in Solar System): Every single interaction with another Body shed light into my insecurities and fears. I learned a big deal about what I fear and what I go after through moving in space with another Body. I was VERY surprised how much judgement I carried. Or, shall I say how much judgement my EGO has. This made me think of work place as the dance floor and the Energy I am bringing into my work:

• What if emails, meetings, work sessions, kitchen chats, lunch outings, basically all business of conduct are our dance together?
• How can I be in discovery with another person in every step of the way in our process?
• How can I give and take in our dance together?

GROUP DANCE (All Stars in the Universe creating Magic): This was the part of the dance that required opening up my view to see and to feel what moves and what rhythms were around me. The idea of being in hard and soft focus made me think of working in a team as part of an organization. Team members need to be in focus while working on their tasks, but they also need to keep an eye on the bigger picture to make sure that their piece of work fits in organization's jigsaw. 

• How can my work can fit in the formation?
• How can I quickly and organically shift focus between my work and the work at large?
• What is needed?
• What can I give more of in my own unique way?

In conclusion, all our interactions are as part of a Big Dance Party called Life. The key to have a good time at work and at home is to be aware of our own party poopers. If we can ease into those parts that are limiting, we can grow, flourish, create and love what we do. Most importantly, it is crucial to be able to bring our unique gifts to the dance floor, so we can boogie with each other. If you want to experientially answer some of the questions that are suggested above, come to the Meetup that I am co facilitating with my friend Sean Halle on July 11th at 6:30pm in Berkeley Sports Basement. We will make work tangle with play and make magic happen!





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We all experience the boiling soup in our heads when an agreement on a delivery with a teammate manifests itself as a completely different outcome than the originally discussed idea. "Wait. Whaaat? Didn't we agree on so and so? I thought we were on the same page when they left the room galloping full gusto!!! I thought they were going to come back with what we finally agreed on... Arghhhhhh.... Why? What? Whyyyyyyy?"  I get how annoying this is. When I am in a state of what feels like my ideas are discarded and disrespected, my inner child starts screaming all tones of screams. Highs and lows. No medium range notes. Nada. I first doubt myself, then start either feeling angry at the person or I give up on the battle completely, because I have no more energy left to discuss the project any further. So, what to do?

• Take a deep deep blue breath and go back to the original meeting minutes to remember WHY the original decision took place at the first place.
• Then, imagine as if you are a little cute kitten. So cute. Once, you connect with your cute little inner kitten, get curious like a playful kitten would, WHY this person/group took a detour from the original agreement? Please really embody the kitten in your being. Otherwise, you will still be under the influence of your angry inner child. You might find out that the person generates ideas more comfortably when they work alone.
• Play a yes, and game to find the middle way to draft a new agreement and help and encourage the person to be more collaborative. Give yourself a pat on the shoulder, because you are helping someone grow.
• Record the new agreement.
• After everyone finally agrees for reals, just keep coming back the agreement notes for each iteration. Breathe, persist, repeat.

Persistence is a lesson I learned from MR. Claw. When he wants something, first he gets closer to his want. For example, he would go by the door and start staring at the door knob in silence. Then, he would make eye contact with me. Then, he moves his gaze back at the door knob, then looks at me, then looks at door knob again, then looks at me. He does this with patience and persistence. The moment I tell him he needs to use his cat door, he starts meowing at me persistently. I roll my eyes and open the door for him. So you see, he is a master persister. 

I have my fear patterns pointed at me by amazing Paula Colletto in her clown mask workshop last year in San Francisco. We were working on a trust fall exercise as a group. As actors, our task was to fall back behind, fully committed, trusting  that our exercise partner got our backs for life. Most importantly, we were to make sure to keep an eye contact with the audience while falling back like a graceful swan. Let me tell you, it was not a piece of freshly baked artisan loaf of bread. (I don't like cake.) Each time my partner increased the distance, thus raising the stakes, I either barked like chihuahua, annoyingly loud or completely went silent, closing my eyes and disappearing from my own body. Months later, I am realizing that getting loud and angry or disengaging and ghosting from the scene are two ways how I protect myself when a stressful event happens. This is very true for work or my improv scenes. Ten thousand light bulbs fusing through my brain with this amazing discovery!!! Thank you Paula for seeing my inner child through the veils of fear.

Realization is the first step to healing. I believe actualization will come by sharing this insight with my coworkers, family and friends, so that they can be compassionate and loving to my scared little child and not take it personally. Understanding my own patterns are helping me be more understanding with others. I inadvertantly am now noticing other people's fear/stress patterns and I say with my inside voice "Oh poor little one is just scared. It is going to be ok little one. I am here with you and we will figure things out. We have [few more days] before we hit that [deadline] and together we will make magic happen." 

Professionalism does not mean to act like a numb robot at work and suffer through a career and make others drawn down to Pacific Ocean with you. We are in this together. My healing is your healing. Your healing is my healing.

What are your patterns when compost hits the fan? If you find them, will you reveal them to everyone for the sake of global healing?