Staying Nimble and Adjusting to Change

It’s been a long time since I’ve written a blog post. Mostly because, to be honest, I prefer to be out there working with people rather than writing. But this time of staying at home has given me an opportunity to sharpen up my writing game along with learning a whole new set of online training skills.I used to think I would hate online training. And not in a million years would I have wanted to teach an online class. I felt like the value of meeting face to face with people was so important that nothing else would do.And now here we are without that option.

Witness my new studio and studio manager:

And as it turns out, I love online training and teaching. I feel like I learn something new every day. I definitely miss the in-person work, but I now feel like the work online is still valuable - and in some cases, it is helping people build skills and capabilities that they wouldn’t have otherwise. And it is helping us all stay healthy and sane.I am eternally grateful to the friends and colleagues who have taught me, over the past month, how to move what I do to an online setting. A friend who has been teaching online for years offered two workshops designed to help those of us who are just now learning. Those workshops were so incredibly helpful. Other friends volunteered to be pretend class participants so I could try my hand at teaching online and deal with the logistical issues in an informal setting before I taught an actual class.I learned from other people’s mishaps - like the Zoom meeting I was attending that was crashed by a porn site. The host very thoughtfully sent out an article afterward about how to make Zoom meetings more secure and I have been following those guidelines. Thankfully Zoom has also improved their security features.

And then my brave and wonderful clients stepped in. They have been willing to figure out how to set up an exercise space at home, what kind of technology they want to use to participate, gather and/or purchase exercise equipment to have on hand for our training sessions or classes, and figure out how to be seen in the camera during our time together.

I really hope we’ll get back to in-person training and teaching soon. I miss seeing everyone! But I expect that process will be slow and that for some, online training and class participation may become something they prefer.If you are interested in participating in online training or classes with me, please contact me so we can set up a time to talk further!