How well did the facilitator lead the group and create a safe space? Please explain and give examples.
Mary, you (co-)lead the session very well. Your naturally calm and professional facilitation style created a safe, inclusive and welcoming atmosphere and thus a safe space. You inspired wonderful discussions by asking open questions and guiding the group to the respective learning outcomes of the slides by adding more specific questions to wrap-up. You were very sensitive to the atmosphere and participants replies. Also, you responded competently and knowledgably.
How well did the facilitator explain this Skill using the PowerPoint presentation? Please give examples.
Your facilitation of the ‘stability and clarity’-slide has been beautiful. You stressed the importance of this duo and explained very well that it is possible to lose clarity when cultivating stability. Your calm voice, your knowledge of the content and your guiding of the group added up to a wonderful, complementary facilitation style. I particularly appreciated you mentioning neuroplasticity here. Very apt how you explained that meditation is one way to train the mind, referring not only to the essential fundament of CIT but also to the essence of skill 2, namely the cultivation of equanimity through the focused attention practice. Great you explained the nature of the practice as stabilizing. Here you asked wonderfully open questions and accordingly harvested great replies. This was very pure facilitation, not teaching, but inspiring participants to think about the concepts and engage. This is when knowledge becomes transformative. Great job, Mary!
Likewise, you guided knowledgably and very well through the ‘bodybuilder’ and the ‘violin’- slide by asking open questions how this image relates to the topic and stressing again the potential, yet challenge of training the mind as a muscle, taking time for slides and the group. Nice pace and professional and knowledgable facilitation.
How well did the facilitator explain and lead the activities in this Skill? Please explain and give specific examples.
N.a.
How well did the facilitator lead the Mindful Dialogues and Reflective Writing Exercises in this Skill? Please explain and give specific examples.
N.a.
What aspects of this Skill did you think the facilitator did exceptionally well? Please give examples.
Your very natural, professional facilitation has been outstanding. You inspired the group to engage, you explained the concepts very well and facilitated, not lectured, just as we are supposed to do. You were great at monitoring the group, the atmosphere and the chat, picking up the needs here, allowing space for participants and expressing great teamwork regarding your co-facilitators.
How well did the facilitator lead the Contemplative Practice in this Skill? Please explain and give specific examples.
Regarding the CP you introduced it excellently. Your very warm and inclusive invitation to join the meditation has been equally sensitive and professional. Great preparation by explaining posture and recap of resource. Wonderful wrap-up, equally inclusive by stressing that “we all are in it together”, again alluding to what we just learned: aspiration, practicing with patience, progress, not perfection. The pace of the CP, even taking into account the timing of the script, were a bit too long though considering it might be the very first practice for at least some of the participants. Here we as facilitator have to be flexible, adapting the script to the respective situation. Also, you could have waited a bit longer for replies here, sitting with the silence a bit longer as personal sharing after CPs usually take a bit longer. However, you filled the short gap with a personal observation, which was insightful and enriching.
What aspects of this Skill could the facilitator improve? Please give examples.
Regarding the parts you presented of skill 2 there are no improvements needed from my point of view. Regarding CP see remarks there, please.
However, please allow a more general remark. There were deep and enriching discussion going on in the chat. You and your team might have better embedded it here or there into the ongoing discussion of the session. It is difficult to follow two different threads at the same time. It might be distracting from the content being facilitated while discussion is going on in the chat. Both facilitators and people engaging in the written discussion might miss important content. A solution could be to either pick up those threads and intertwine them or invite the people to a certain code of conduct regarding the chat.
Do you recommend this facilitator to become certified?