This is the second blog in a serie of blogs about our experiences in Brazil, where we spent 5 weeks this year. The reason for our trip was capoeira. My partner teaches capoeira in the Hague. His capoeira name is Vitamina. He represents Grupo Engenho, a Brazilian capoeira group, in the Netherlands.
Depending on my partner
Sometimes you just don’t want to think or lead within new situations. In particularly when you are on vacation. A well deserved vacation for which you worked hard. This was the case when we were in Brazil. Normally I am self sufficient and the independant woman that I have been the last 31 years! But this year I decided to DEPEND on my partner. Luckily I had a good reason for my lay back behaviour. He speaks Portuguese and I just started learning the language in the plain towards Rio de Janeiro.
Stepping out of my Comfort Zone
After 3 weeks full of capoeira classes and learning the language on a daily basis I felt comfortable and energized to accompany our Portuguese landlady to her yoga class. Untill now Vitamina lead us through public transport, grocery shopping, negotiating on streets and in shops and socializing with Brazilian people. It felt great to step out of my comfort zone. Walking alone on the streets taking pictures. And speaking to people at the yoga class. With my background as a coach and I believe primarily because of my genuine interest in people the conversations went beyond the usual social talk.
Coaching in Portuguese
I even enlarged my comfort zone offering coaching to someone who was definitely in need. When I first met this person I already knew I would offer coaching, but at first meet my Portuguese was way too poor to be coaching in this language. After 3 full weeks of studying and speaking I felt ready. We did 2 sessions and it worked out well for the coachee. Again I was convinced! People of every culture bump up against the same universal themes, such as: guilt, grief and anger.
On a personal and professional level this trip to Brazil was quit amazing!!
By Chungmei Cheng
Orchid of Life -LifeCoaching
Hi,
Thank you for the great quality of your blog, every time i come here, i’m amazed.
black hattitude.