A programme called We:align

Back in July 2020 I asked Louise, a participant in my We:Align group coaching programme if she would write about her experience. At that point, she was only halfway through but she was delighted to share her thoughts. Fast forward to September 2023 and this week Louise starts her Psychotherapy training at Brighton University.

I don’t claim this mine or as a result of the We:Align programme. Instead, I share this as a celebration and an example of another brilliant person doing important work in her own way. It’s also a reminder that we can all keep growing and keep practising what we learn.

Yoga is as strong as you make it and takes you as deep as you are willing to go.

Louise has these words on her website and I think they are also true of my We:Align programme. Perhaps they are also true of life.

For now, let me hand over to Louise.

Louise Dale, Primary School Teacher, Yoga Teacher, Writer and Wannabe Psychologist

I am very lucky. I have a good friend who is brilliant.

She is quite different to me but we have a lot in common. We lived in the same city (a long time ago) for only a brief period of time but somehow since then we have ensured that our paths keep crossing and our friendship grows and stands the test of time. Like me she is an educator, a yoga teacher and dedicated student. We both love stationery.

I am a sort of wannabe psychologist. She is a real one.

She says she would never dance under the stars naked, I might.  More about this some other time.

Perhaps.

Anyway.

We always have plenty to talk about but can do silence together too. She is actually very good at silence. It’s her super-power – one of many.

If you had a trusted friend like this who also happened to be delivering an on-line course (during the Covid-19 lockdown nonetheless) that was designed to help women to grow their potential and find ways of working differently and if you were a woman with two careers and several interests and in a bit of a pickle about which career to grow and which passions to pursue, would you be tempted to sign up?

Furthermore, if the programme focused on over-coming self-doubt whilst embracing action and core values in a connected and supportive group knowing you were someone who often lacked confidence and was fearful of getting ideas above your stations, would you want to turn it down?

No, me neither. So I didn’t.

I knew it would be good. I knew it would be balanced and have integrity. I knew it would be intelligently constructed and coherently but gently delivered. I knew it would bring about change and I also sensed it would, at times, be difficult.

However, I did not know it would be quite as good as it is.

I am half way through We:Align and the fact that I am already prepared to share my experiences publically is evidence itself of the powerful effect the sessions have already had on me. I am a reasonably private person and to be honest, rather than share my insecurities, I like to give the rest of the world the impression that I am perfect.

Of course I am not and luckily this same good friend of mine told me many years ago that “perfection doesn’t exist.” Perhaps she was cleverly planting the seed that would one day grow into an uncontrollable urge to sign up for a course that would make me embrace my imperfections and vulnerabilities and consequently live my dreams…

Maybe.

Anyway.

Over the years I have acquired a few skills but I have a habit of thinking I do not have enough skills or have not honed those I do have quite as finely as I should have. Therefore, whilst I do share the skills I have, it is often in a small and understated way. I dream big but act small because in my mind there is always someone else who is going to be much better placed than me to act big.  Also, if I keep things small and safe maybe no one will know that I am not perfect.

One of my maybe skills (and real passions) is writing. I had a typewriter aged eight on which I tapped away for hours writing my versions of Malory Towers and The Famous Five. I had pen pals galore and half written books coming out of my ears. I love the physical act of writing. I love being able to take the time to arrange and rearrange my thoughts on paper and to articulate ideas far more effectively than I ever seem to be able to through the spoken word. I wrote throughout university, I wrote after university, I wrote children’s books in my head about a girl on a tropical island when I lived in Sri Lanka. I write reams about yogic philosophy. I write to friends and go to the literal post office to send actual letters despite all the technology in today’s world telling me that this is slightly ridiculous.

Apart from these friendly missives though most of what I write usually stays with me.

Unpublished.

Not any more though.

As I said I am only half way through the We: Align programme but somehow I suddenly find myself properly registered as an auto entrepreneur in France and I seem to have a website. A website that not only makes my lovely, little Parisian home yoga studio a bit more out there and easier to find out about but that also serves as a home for my writing.

Somehow the magic of We:Align seems to have put me under a spell that has led me to focus, take action, be braver and be bolder.

These professional steps are just part of the story, there are also the small matters of growing compassion, improved relationships, refined parenting, a dalliance with femininity and a leaning into vulnerability but they are other stories. Did I mention that I am a fairly private person?

As with all good spells it is the incantation that matters. It is the power of well-timed words that will bring about change.

“Alignment brings ease.” - Sarah Philp

“Brilliant women have brilliant inner critics.” - Sarah Philp

“Whenever we put language around an emotion, it reduces the emotional charge of the situation.” - Sarah Philp

“Recognising your life’s purpose can feel really big and maybe it’s not easy to articulate your thing, your inner thing, your energy….” - Sarah Philp

“What ideas, feelings and wants have you pushed away in the past? What do you daydream about?” - Sarah Philp

“The inner critic will shout loudly and doesn’t wait to be asked but your inner mentor is quieter and doesn’t interrupt. She waits to be asked. What question do you have for her today?” - Sarah Philp

I am very lucky. I have a good friend called Sarah Philp.

When your nervous system has been calmed, your brain primed and your creativity inspired, Sarah will gently bombard you with a sea of the wisest of words and then set you free to brightly shine in your own unique and worthy way.

Sarah has created a programme that encapsulates everything she is and puts her wealth of knowledge, skills and experiences to their very best use. A programme that is sensible, positive, clear and quite simply beautiful.