Introducing: AWE Education

AWE Education is an education and coaching company built for a changing world. We offer programming to support individuals and organizations on their quest to contribute to social and environmental healing.

I am building AWE Education with the goal of enabling individuals to experience the wonder of awe. A growing body of research indicates that awe increases happiness, improves biological markers of health, enhances critical thinking, reduces materialism, and increases the quality of interpersonal connection.

If all individuals could access a state of awe, imagine what could happen to our economy, our society and our environment? 

What Inspired AWE Education?

Awe could inspire the change we must make to survive in these turbulent times. This lofty-sounding goal is based on my own experience, transitioning out of a competitive corporate world to the world of polyvagal-informed education.

Starting just over a decade ago, I began to explore theories and modalities that allowed me to better understand my experience in the world. After almost 20-years in Market Analysis andMarketing Strategy, I was a bonafide grouch. I had spent considerable time acquiescing to the corporate quest for measurement and growth, and felt deeply unsatisfied in my work and my life.

The Mindful Way Through Depression made its way onto my desk in mid-2012. I pored over this book, and devotedly listened to the meditations on the DVD. This was my gateway into a new way of being. By 2015, my continual quest for understanding the 'why' of my experience consumed much of my spare time. It was becoming obvious that this exploration was becoming my calling.

In 2017, after an unfortunate personal experience in the workplace, I began to daydream about a Human Resources consulting service that facilitated personal transformation in the context where most people spend all day - in the workplace. It started out with the idea to enable people working in high-stress environments to express their honest emotions and needs in the workplace. I've been building on that idea ever since.

Later, I added to my vision: personal growth in the workplace can influence perspective so significantly that it alters relationships to the natural environment and society at large. With these ideas in mind, people can contribute to slowing the pace of environmental change and to rebuilding social programs that allow communities to flourish.

What Does the Future Hold for AWE Education?

It’s undeniable that change is taking place at an unprecedented rate. Environmental destruction, social exclusion, deep rooted animosity leading to violence of unprecedented levels troubles me and many of my clients. We’re not alone. The rate at which people experience personal unrest and a sense of injustice is climbing. It doesn’t matter what belief system you ascribe to, more and more people feel unheard and unheld in the current political and economic climate.

My approach, and that of AWE Education, is to support individuals in building their personal awareness. Through this awareness, individuals are empowered to make change: to change their relationships to themselves, to change their relationships to other people/beings, and to change their relationships to the environment. They can make change so that then can take decisions that support their own growth and advocate for the change they believe in.

That’s the beauty of coaching: it’s all about creating the supportive conditions that make change feel safe and accessible.

AWE Builds Connective Mindsets

With each change, individuals will inspire their peers through their action. When individuals chose action, that leads to collective change and healing.

We provide education that focuses on the individual, and how each individual contributes to shaping the world. With this perspective, organizations shift focus away from growth at all costs to growth in relation to the world around them (and the individuals within them).  

Committing to change on this scale is no small feat. It truly requires a willingness to shed the past, and accept anew perspective. To achieve this end, I’m dedicated to the application of novel technologies (like the Safe & Sound protocol), resourcing energy medicine, and the introduction of psychedelic psychotherapy. I firmly believe that these traditions open individuals – and society in general -  to new ideas and concepts that may never reach our conscious awareness otherwise.

Admittedly, I have big plans for AWE. Environmental change isn’t slowing down, so I don't plan to either.

What Modalities Does AWE Use in Coaching Programs?

Learning to support myself transformed my worldview... and my life. It wasn't an overnight process, though. It took lots of work to understand my psychological and physical conditions, and later, to experience awe and wonder.

Since 2012, I've studied:

• Polyvagal Theory with Dr Stephen Porges
• Clinical methods for polyvagal-informed practice with Deb Dana
• Compassionate Inquiry with Dr Gabor Mate
• Psychedelic Preparation/Integration at Johns Hopkins and with the Spirit Pharmacist
• Somatic Experiencing with Somatic Experiencing International
• Internal Family Systems with the IFS Institute
• Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction with Jon Kabat-Zinn
• Ecological Economics with David Korten and Jeremy Lent
• Regenerative Economics
• Systems View of Life with Fritjof Capra 
• Reiki with the International Center for Reiki Training
• Core Shamanism with the Foundation for Shamanic Studies
• Energy healing and shamanism with the Four Winds
• Taoist Philosophy with Damo Mitchell
• Bon Buddhist Tradition at Menla
• Traditional Tibetan Medicine at Sowa Rigpa Institute
• Anatomy Trains with Tom Myers
• Movement (MovNat, Pilates, QiGong, Yoga Tune Up)
• Agile Methodology

The truth is: I draw on each one of these traditions every time I design a program. The wisdom traditions (like Shamanism, Reiki, the Tao, Buddhism) provide so many approaches to living in harmony with oneself and with nature. The therapeutic modalities (like Polyvagal Theory, Compassionate Inquiry, Somatic Experiencing, Internal Family Systems) provide the tools to inquire about an experience, and the awareness to make change. Movement methodologies bring awareness to how we use our physiology, and provide us with a framework to experience life.

Who is the Ideal AWE Education Client?

AWE’s ideal client is anyone who wishes to understand their experience in the world, and to explore the possibility for change. This willingness to explore can be uncomfortable but is vital to building the life a person wishes to live.

I believe that each of us is capable of bringing significant change to the world. It’s just that we’ve lost touch with the how. The person that believes that there is the possibility to contribute to the world in a different way -  but can’t put their finger on how – that’s our ideal client.

This extends to the workplace, too. Organizations that understand they play a role in shaping the future of work and society can build training programs and design workplace culture that honours the individual as a pivotal part of the equation. People, when treated as assets, disengage from work. People, when treated like contributors, collaborate at work.

Contacting AWE Education

Should you have any questions about our services and approach, please get in touch! You can reach me via the contact form, or book a complimentary 30-minute consultation.

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