Coach Bentz
11-14-2006, 08:05 AM
It's a little difficult to describe exactly what an Instructor Certification seminar if you haven't been to one yet. I could keep it simple, and do my best Keanu Reeves impression, and sum it up with... "Whoa!" And that'd be pretty accurate! But I know how folks like little things like... you know, details, so I'll do my best to share my impression.
I'll start off by saying that this is my second time around (having gotten my start at Iota) and this will affect my perception of how things went down.
Obviously, the content of the class was centered around the three wings of CST. The coaches covered not only what they are, how they work, and how deep you can go with each of them, but more importantly, how they work together, synergistically, to create a whole system which is called CST. The net result of being able to utilize all of these wings at the same time, within your personal practice and with clients, creates a greater effect than any one of them could alone. This was covered at Iota, but I believe Coach Sonnon has improved the organization of this material since then.
If you've peeked into the requirements for attending an IC, there is a lot of physical preparation. This is for a very good reason... a certification seminar is a lot of WORK! Even though we shifted often between Prasara, Intuflow, and Clubbell practice, the result was a lot of sweat and soreness! The coaches were very good about sharing stories and keeping the mood light as all this sweat is flying. The good Rev. Doctor Wilson was in prime form once again, shifting from cop to standup comic mode in seconds. I knew it was going to be a great class when I heard the first "Hallelujah" on Friday, and I wasn't disappointed. I believe it was Saturday afternoon when I turned around after a Clubbell exercise, and witnessed Dave Owens gettin' himself a good old fashioned healin'! It might've been his demons were cast out... I don't know very much about those kinds of things. But something must’ve worked, because Dave had perfect shock absorption when he hit the floor!! :)
Speaking of shock absorption, we did some really cool exercises to get a feel for stored elastic energy.
A particularly fun part of the class was course design. Our groups had to create a class for a particular demographic (assigned by the coaches), addressing concerns of that target audience, and getting up in front of the class to tag-team teach the material we came up with. This was interesting to see how each team applied their understanding to craft a solution to the problems presented. My group had the pleasure of designing something for seniors, working on improving hip mobility and improving their access to squat down. (I share that because one obviously passionate and concerned member of our team was most interested in helping our seniors make it down to the toilet. I won't mention any names to protect the guilty, but I have it on good authority that this kind soul actually needed the program we designed, being so sore after the second day of IC that they were nearly unable to squat down to porcelain height themselves!)
Another addition to the IC was the switch from a half ICS test (5 minutes of mills, 5 of swipes) to a full Trial by Fire (130 mills, swipes, and hammer swings) incorporating all 6 degrees of freedom. This is no easy thing on any given day, and particularly not after two days of really hard work and DOMS. Everyone there performed really well just showing up for that! The sheer volume of work involved gives you a really clear picture of where your performance is leaking, and also giving you a good taste of the top of the training hierarchy pyramid... exploring your mental/emotional preparedness, or toughness. I should also mention we also got some great form refinements on mills by Coach Sonnon beforehand.
Meeting and watching the other participants perform was also a real treat. I saw a lot of great Prasara, and large Clubbells being handled quite well. (It is awesome to see folks running over and doing extra work testing out their technique on the Bruiser and Bruiser Jr.) I really enjoyed watching Camron demonstrate her Prasara skills, and even watching her bail out Coach Wilson on a few demonstrations!! I also got to witness a rather unusual new exercise, a Clubbell yield to nose park!!! (don’t try that at home, kids!)
Overall, this seminar was just incredible! I highly recommend anyone looking to dramatically improve their performance in CST to get themselves to a CST instructor or coach nearby, or to the next certification seminar. The videos are great resources, but your performance will simply skyrocket when you get that live feedback to help maximize the benefits you're getting from the effort you're putting into your training.
A big THANK YOU to the Head Coaches for all their effort, demonstrations, smiles, good humor, and stories. Nikolay, of course, did his usual masterful job of keeping everything running smoothly behind the scenes. To all my fellow students, it was awesome to meet and train with you, and I'm looking forward to seeing your progress. And Joseph, my illustrious dry-erase-dust-catching bodyworking-guru roommate, it was awesome!
Looking forward to seeing the crowd again in Bellingham in the near future!
Brian
I'll start off by saying that this is my second time around (having gotten my start at Iota) and this will affect my perception of how things went down.
Obviously, the content of the class was centered around the three wings of CST. The coaches covered not only what they are, how they work, and how deep you can go with each of them, but more importantly, how they work together, synergistically, to create a whole system which is called CST. The net result of being able to utilize all of these wings at the same time, within your personal practice and with clients, creates a greater effect than any one of them could alone. This was covered at Iota, but I believe Coach Sonnon has improved the organization of this material since then.
If you've peeked into the requirements for attending an IC, there is a lot of physical preparation. This is for a very good reason... a certification seminar is a lot of WORK! Even though we shifted often between Prasara, Intuflow, and Clubbell practice, the result was a lot of sweat and soreness! The coaches were very good about sharing stories and keeping the mood light as all this sweat is flying. The good Rev. Doctor Wilson was in prime form once again, shifting from cop to standup comic mode in seconds. I knew it was going to be a great class when I heard the first "Hallelujah" on Friday, and I wasn't disappointed. I believe it was Saturday afternoon when I turned around after a Clubbell exercise, and witnessed Dave Owens gettin' himself a good old fashioned healin'! It might've been his demons were cast out... I don't know very much about those kinds of things. But something must’ve worked, because Dave had perfect shock absorption when he hit the floor!! :)
Speaking of shock absorption, we did some really cool exercises to get a feel for stored elastic energy.
A particularly fun part of the class was course design. Our groups had to create a class for a particular demographic (assigned by the coaches), addressing concerns of that target audience, and getting up in front of the class to tag-team teach the material we came up with. This was interesting to see how each team applied their understanding to craft a solution to the problems presented. My group had the pleasure of designing something for seniors, working on improving hip mobility and improving their access to squat down. (I share that because one obviously passionate and concerned member of our team was most interested in helping our seniors make it down to the toilet. I won't mention any names to protect the guilty, but I have it on good authority that this kind soul actually needed the program we designed, being so sore after the second day of IC that they were nearly unable to squat down to porcelain height themselves!)
Another addition to the IC was the switch from a half ICS test (5 minutes of mills, 5 of swipes) to a full Trial by Fire (130 mills, swipes, and hammer swings) incorporating all 6 degrees of freedom. This is no easy thing on any given day, and particularly not after two days of really hard work and DOMS. Everyone there performed really well just showing up for that! The sheer volume of work involved gives you a really clear picture of where your performance is leaking, and also giving you a good taste of the top of the training hierarchy pyramid... exploring your mental/emotional preparedness, or toughness. I should also mention we also got some great form refinements on mills by Coach Sonnon beforehand.
Meeting and watching the other participants perform was also a real treat. I saw a lot of great Prasara, and large Clubbells being handled quite well. (It is awesome to see folks running over and doing extra work testing out their technique on the Bruiser and Bruiser Jr.) I really enjoyed watching Camron demonstrate her Prasara skills, and even watching her bail out Coach Wilson on a few demonstrations!! I also got to witness a rather unusual new exercise, a Clubbell yield to nose park!!! (don’t try that at home, kids!)
Overall, this seminar was just incredible! I highly recommend anyone looking to dramatically improve their performance in CST to get themselves to a CST instructor or coach nearby, or to the next certification seminar. The videos are great resources, but your performance will simply skyrocket when you get that live feedback to help maximize the benefits you're getting from the effort you're putting into your training.
A big THANK YOU to the Head Coaches for all their effort, demonstrations, smiles, good humor, and stories. Nikolay, of course, did his usual masterful job of keeping everything running smoothly behind the scenes. To all my fellow students, it was awesome to meet and train with you, and I'm looking forward to seeing your progress. And Joseph, my illustrious dry-erase-dust-catching bodyworking-guru roommate, it was awesome!
Looking forward to seeing the crowd again in Bellingham in the near future!
Brian