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What does poetry have to do with coaching? Everything! Change is in the wind. As the fall season begins, a new series of uncommon conversations unfolds. Think Ten. Ten poems in ten weeks featuring ten unique coaches will launch on September 10 at noon EDT.
Host for Sept 10: Jeannie Ayres
Selected Poem: Sonnets To Orpheus, Part Two, XII by Rainer Maria Rilke
Using Roger Housden’s final book in his ten poem series, “Ten Poems to Change your Life Again and Again,” we will explore the poem for the first half of the hour, and how it relates to our coaching practices in the second half of the hour.
Jeannine Ayers, coach and creator of The Algonquin Poetry Club held in The Algonquin Club in New York City will launch this series with the first poem in the book: “Sonnets To Orpheus, Part Two, XII” by Rainer Maria Rilke.
Wednesday: September 17 Ellen Bass’s poem “Gate 22″ will be featured. Ellen Bass will facilitate the discussion!
Wednesday: September 24
“Each Moment A White Bull Steps Shining Into The World” by Jane Hirshfield will be discussed.
Be prepared to be surprised at the power of poetry and the uncommon conversation that is created.
Sonnets To Orpheus,
Part Two, XII
by Rainer Maria Rilke
Want the change. Be inspired by the flame
Where everything shines as it disappears.
The artist, when sketching, loves nothing so much
as the curve of the body as it turns away.
What locks itself in sameness has congealed.
Is it safer to be gray and numb?
What turns hard becomes rigid
and is easily shattered.
Pour yourself like a fountain.
Flow into the knowledge that what you are seeking
finishes often at the start, and, with ending, begins.
Every happiness is the child of a separation
it did not think it could survive. And Daphne,
becoming a laurel,
dares you to become the wind.
( translatedby Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy )
From “Ten Poems to Change your Life Again and Again”
by Roger Housden
This series is produced by Katherine Gotshall English.
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Thanks to Katharine Gotshall English for organizing another of her unique coaching events, Coaching Through Poetry.
It was my distinct pleasure to start off this series with the inspiring
poem by Rilke,” Sonnets to Orpheus, Part II”. A perfect poem to use with clients in a coaching situation, it begins with powerful words “Want the change.” By the use of 2 beautiful images, of the flame and the artist, the reader seizes the fleeting moments that bring us to the next
step in our life’s journey. When life stays the same dull and gray place, there is no movement forward.
The poet’s invitation to “pour ourselves like a fountain” into the next new place led to a lively discussion among the callers and very particular decisions were shared in areas where the coaches themselves were ready to take a new step in their own journey towards grasping a
new goal, either in their personal lives or as professional coaches, in the way they would encourage clients to take a creative look at their decision making process.
Poetry can lift our spirits upward, transport us to a deeper awareness within, all while encouraging us to turn outward towards the person right next to us. In the case of a coaching relationship, the use of poetry can help us to go deeper, while sharing the esthetic of a lovely art form and introducing another creative means for the client to find her own answers within the deepest part of her being.
I hope you will join the rest of the “Ten Poems to Change Your Life Again and Again” series produced by Katherine Gotshall English midweek midday for a half hour. You will be changed for the better in a moment’s time.
Jeannine Ayres,
Life/Spirit Coach “At The Water’s Edge”, where coaching is done in nature.