Very soon you will have the chance to become a Zen Coach at Ängsbacka (oct 19-23). Meet Kavina Thorslund who is one of the certified coaches trained by Kåre Landfald.
THE FIRST TIME Kavina Thorslund came in contact with Zen Coaching was when she was working as a volunteer support during the No Mind festival at Ängsbacka during the summer of 2005.
- It was by Kåre Landfald personally, Kavina says. We were in the same sharing group, and he was in a way my mentor, and the way I was supported by him was very inspiring and made me curious about what he was doing.
Kavinas introduction to Zen Coaching was thus based entirely on Kåre as a person. Although she lived and worked at Ängsbacka for many years Kavina had little experience of Kåre’s workshops. She was therefore surprised at herself when she through a gut-feeling decided to join the training just a few days before the start in January 2010.
Like coming home
Kavina experienced after part 1, that Zen Coaching was like coming home – and a feeling of being the glue between many of her other interests, tools and talents, like meditation for instance. Meditation has for a long time been an important part in Kavinas life.
- Zen Coaching is like to meditate with another person, Kavina says. Together, we let things come and go. We can observe, relax and allow ourselves to just be, knowing that there is nothing that needs to be fixed, letting everything unfold by its own natural intelligence.
Zen body
Kavina has also been very involved in dance and improvised movements, having used the connection to the body, as a tool to experience the present moment. Therefore, it becomes very natural to ask the client questions like “What happens in your body right now as you say this?” For Kavina, Zen Coaching feels in a way very similar to improvised movements, as we listen to the moment and what is alive for us now.
Kavina being a trained bodyworker, feels that her treatments received a new dimension with Zen Coaching. – I don’t do so much fixing and manipulating anymore, instead I have a more inquisitive attitude, she says laughing. There is nothing wrong with the client, although he/she is tense. I feel much more empathy and curiosity for a client’s symptoms, and how I can meet the needs of the tense parts of the body.
Landmark Education
Even Kavinas leadership training in the Landmark Education program gets a new and refreshed meaning by Zen Coaching. Kavina explains that some of the distinctions of Landmark are about exploring and living the qualities that we are longing for in life. Zen Coaching has a softer way to connect with these needs.
Kavina is now alternating Zen Coaching sessions with massage treatments. – They give me the connection to experience different qualities, she says. So far, not the same people come for massage as for coaching. I do have some ideas though on how to combine the different sessions as it may add value to the client, like an “Embodied Zen Coaching” for example. Perhaps in time I will also do some combination with dance …
Finding the ease
For Kavina, the most challenging part of Zen Coaching is that it is so simple! She has for a long time carried a belief system that says that for a transformation to feel valuable, it must be difficult, complicated and intricate. The notion that one should work, fight and fix has run her entire life. Now as she is giving sessions, following Kåre’s mantra: “Relax & Enjoy”, and seeing that it still gives immense transformative results for the clients, she can let go of the idea of life as a struggle. With the help of Zen Coaching there is the possibility of success with ease, without having to take the twisty road.
Kavina has also found out what is the most important thing for her – relaxation and peacefulness. With the tools of Zen Coaching she gets to see that she is constantly choosing to live these qualities, being more and more content with here and now, in everyday life.
Read more about Kavina here!
Text: Petra Ariton
Photo: Private
The next chance to become a Zen Coach will be at Ängsbacka in october, 19 – 23rd.
