First things first.....pause awhile, make an inventory.
As the first post of this blog and at a time of reflection, I made an inventory of my professional and creative experience so far, finding clarity and encouragement! Try it yourself!
Hi, I’m Phil, but my friends also call me Dilberry, or Dil.
At heart an artist probably, I’m a coach, a therapist, a teacher, and love to write stuff down, sometimes for work, sometimes for fun (which ends up often being good work) and sometimes to see where the boat will drift....
At present, I own a CrossFit affiliate on an island called Anglesey where I teach people how to move better than they did before. I invent programmes of exercise that help people get stronger, fitter, leaner and faster and generally feel better about daily life on planet earth. I encourage where needed, push where needed and try to listen which is always needed.
I teach people about their breathing; about grounding and movement and how to use these to clear their heads, feel more alive, move more gracefully, feel less rushed and be more creative.
I’m a qualified sports masseur and movement specialist, with 10 years experience in helping people through pain syndromes and injury rehabilitation. I encourage where needed, push where needed and try to listen which is always needed.
I write a lot at present, keeping a reflective journal as well as working on a fictional book. I’ve worked with a body centred psychotherapist for a few years, learning things about how I breathe that have concretely, dramatically changed my life and that I now share with others.
My original training was art with a specialism in graphic design.
After some travelling and working as a cook and a barman (average cook, TERRIBLE barman), I fell into teaching.
I designed and delivered a National Diploma in Graphic Design from the ground up and I taught my students how to look, how to see more, draw better and how to develop and express their own creative process from a blank page.
I helped them prepare themselves and their portfolios for degree interviews, as they learned to make judgements and edit their own work for presentation. In the process of working with these young people, I became more aware of myself and my potential and they hopefully of their own selves and potential. It was a formative time for me as it was for them. That is the magic of a dynamic teacher-student relationship: everyone is changed.
I also worked with adults who had returned to learning; helping them to gain confidence in expressing themselves and - bravely in some cases - finding or reclaiming their creative voice.
After a while, I got so excited researching inspirational practices and people as a teacher, that I left my full time college job to work freelance as a designer, which had become my dream at that time.
I then branched off into illustration, working with art directors in the editorial and advertising worlds, presenting my portfolio, talking about my work and winning contracts through both physical meetings and online promotion.
When I felt the time was right for a change, my direction changed, but not - as I hope you’ll appreciate - the spirit of my work.
My hobby interest in physical training and fitness had some influence on my decision to train as a remedial and sports masseur and I established a small clinic with a good reputation. I also taught later on the same diploma course that I studied massage on.
After a while, I trained to become an advanced personal trainer. I was offering clients training sessions as follow ups to their treatment and rehabilitation, so they could be stronger and fitter and less prone to re-injury. Then, I discovered and was excited enough by the CrossFit approach and brand to become a certified trainer and open my own affiliate, which I still own at present.
I developed marketing strategies and branding for the gym business myself and later set up a small online personal coaching business called pbbodyproject, which I maintain and can use to work one to one with clients that interest me.
Over the lockdown periods of the last 12 months, I have been developing and offering online breathing and grounding classes for my members. These I have found exciting and fulfilling and I am considering adding them to the permanent timetable when we return to our facility.
One thing
The worlds of art, design and illustration and that of therapy, rehabilitation and coaching may seem very different, but I’ve come to see that they are all connected by one thing. Starting a blog is a way of making an on-going personal reflection of this as well as hopefully sharing some motivational and useful things for others on their own creative and professional journeys.
The one thing is joy. While it is certainly not always true that I have leapt around grinning from ear to ear in my work, I find, on reflection, this as a constant: I get deep satisfaction in sharing what I’m passionate about and I’m passionate about things I learn when I learn them in ways best suited to me. I can then apply them in ways and combinations that are singular to me.
The absolutely cool thing is this is true of everyone.
Of you.
Every single one of us is different. Singular. Every single leaf created is original in shape. If we can allow it, the knowledge, practices and skills that we are drawn to in life and work, can match with the nature of our particular being. Even more, the particular ways that each of us learns means that the more we are able to learn things in a manner suited to our particular nature, the wider the range of knowledge and skills we can learn and then use meaningfully. (More on this in another post I think!)
Joy is our strength, an energy. To be joyful in our work is a wonderful thing.
When I am fulfilled in what I am doing, there is a quiet joy and focus and I have more energy to give out. Through all of my learning and work so far, the joy of it I think comes from these two things:
1. When I learn something, I become excited about it because I integrate it in my understanding through the singular nature of how I learn and perceive things. My nature is more that of an artist, so I learn best intuitively, letting any facts I need to amass accumulate in concert with the processes I am practicing. For example, I am embarking on learning basic coding and am excited about practicing exercises and proving the facts about coding by doing.
2. Once I have learned something in ways that are more natural for me, I have begun to understand it emotionally / get a “feel” for it and want to share the thing! However, it is, I believe, the very excitement of the thing, now internalised, practiced (over years this can be) reflected on and thus proven, that I love to try to communicate to others. It is the quality of this communication that brings joy and invigorates the subject with vitality and excitement for the audience!
This is the vital and wonderful exchange of learning , practicing, applying , reflecting and then sharing with others that unifies the apparently different fields that I have worked in so far.
Drawing on intuition
I became a professional in the world of visual arts as a teacher to begin with and then as a freelance practitioner, which is kind of back to front classically. The energy and excitement I found in teaching and talking about my subject with my students overflowed so much that I had to follow that energy and work for myself, as a practitioner.
When I and my wife felt a change of direction was needed, I’m sure it was my interest in physical fitness had some influence on the direction it took, but the intuitive elements of good massage practice and the study of movement and postural mechanics has a strong connection with visual art and the tactile, visceral nature of drawing and mark making.
I think visually, so learning anatomy was not a huge challenge and all those life drawing sessions and observational drawing transferred with ease to an intuitive body reading of my clients’ postural mechanics.
I found that I had a good feeling for tissue and muscle tension; the subtle feedback from the paper as one draws is just as intuitive and subtle. As I got my new business established, I used my design know how and software skills to create marketing materials.
My later work as a strength and conditioning coach in my gym developed out of seeing movement patterns and working with people to establish more efficient ones. There is not much difference between clinic work, coaching work and observational drawing or visual composition in the sense that they are all about looking, then looking some more and then seeing. Seeing the people I’m working with, getting to know them, empathising and offering whatever it is I have learned that may help them.
Pause awhile, take stock...
Looking back over the various things I’ve learned and and the areas I have worked in so far, I’m excited, because as I write about them, I see that the common thread of my learning, integrating, using and then sharing knowledge is a golden thread that has unified the nature of all my work. This makes me feel, well, extremely happy and grateful and excited about continuing this process.
I have paused awhile, taking an inventory of sorts and found a common energetic thread that reflecting off a varied body of work; the unified nature of which I had never seen as clearly.
I am bolstered, encouraged and grateful.
I strongly encourage you to do the same. Take stock, write it down, externalise your reflections, speak it out into a recorder, reflect, realise and celebrate that you too, in your singular being, have a singular way of seeing. Right now, there are people out there who will benefit from what you know, the way you learned it and the way that you have applied it. Take a look......you might find that fresh energy and new directions suggest themselves!
Very well said Phil!