For years our organization has shrived to 'be human.' It almost sounds silly, how could we (over a hundred yoga teachers and committed practitioners) 'be' anything else? I believe the issue is 'scale', that subtle affect of going so far past the past the 'tipping point' in the paradigm structuring relationships that you aren't even aware that there was such a point.
Earlier in the week, as I heard a commentator saying that a particular event was ' staged' (and they meant it in a derogatory manner). I was struck by the absurdity (as well as the lack of intention to genuinely serve) in the comment. Of course, when we are talking to individuals, small groups or large groups we need to be thoughtful of what we say. I would call this bringing consciousness and awareness to a relationship. In a one to one I can relate consciously in a way that simply won't work in a much larger group. When on the stage in front of millions of people, it is probably a more responsible thing to be aware of what one is saying ahead of time, and VERY thoughtful about delivery, phrasing and pace. However, simply by virture of this consciousness brought to the interaction one cannot doubt the authenticity of the moment. It is up to us to us to decide, to 'be with' the moment if you will, to trust our perception. We humans can perceive other humans acting with integrity even in extreme situations, if we are willing to be conscious and aware.
Recently Seth Godin wrote this:
Organizations will work tirelessly to de-personalize every communication medium they encounter.
You can read the entire post here. I think what we have consciously done, and consciously do day by day is to violate this law. We strive to put our 'humanness' into each and every communication, piece of paper and conversation. Its hard. It may cost more. But it feeds us, and allows us to retain a level of humanity and satisfaction that drifts away in most organizations. And its simply because we insist on being human. We insist on being conscious. And we insist on being aware. And in the presence of that insistence is where we begin to communicate from. And then we trust our audience - one person or many - to listen with open hearts and hear the subtly from which we speak.
So far, its working out ok. I think you can scale communications just fine, as long as you are aware and as long as the conscious heart felt intention is there from the beginning, and steadfastly insisted on throughout.
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I had a yoga teacher once who told me something about teaching big groups. I was early in my life as a yoga teacher and I reported to him excitedly that my classes had recently doubled in size. He asked, "How big are they now?"
ReplyDeleteI told him that they had gone from 6 to 12 people almost overnight.
He told me, "Well if you can teach 12 you can teach 25 and after that, size hardly matters."
I asked him "Why?"
He said, "After a certain point, the student realizes that they have to be a different kind of student. In a room with 100 people students cannot wait to be adjusted, there is just not time for the teacher to get to everyone. The student has to pay attention and be a bit more responsible for their learning."
So I think there is no denying that scale affects things like communication and relationships but I do not think that has to be negative thing. In big groups, sometimes people become better students, for instance. But it is different.
Reading your post I remembered how I felt walking into YogaYoga for the first time. I had had plenty of experience with big corporate yoga centers and expected YY to be the same and it was decidedly, refreshingly different. There was still soul.
So I agree with you, the human element is definitely still present. It is always a great place to walk into and to be part of.