The pilot-imposed oscillation as described in the proceedings ("Authority and
Open Space) is an especially sweet piece of learning
Sent from my iPhone
On Feb 2, 2014, at 9:58 PM, Caitlin Frost <[email protected]> wrote:
> Thanks for this great story.
>
> As I read it I can relate to some beautiful hosting moments - and a few 'soul
> frying' moments also, where I was not moving in a slow and deliberate way.
> Like everything I find in hosting and living Open Space - it is simple, and
> sometimes not so simple - especially when I forget the simplicity.
>
> Caitlin.
>
>
> On Sun, Feb 2, 2014 at 1:52 PM, Derek W. Wade <[email protected]> wrote:
>> You all rock. If "learning is remembering something you already knew," then
>> I'm delighted with the gift of learning I've received from this
>> conversation.
>>
>> Back when I used to fly airplanes upside-down as a competitive sport, I
>> received a simple, profound lesson that I now realize I can apply to Open
>> Space.
>>
>> I was having breakfast with my coach, world aerobatic champion Nikolay
>> Timofeev. He was going to compete later that day in the "Unlimited" category
>> -- something he had been doing for many years -- and I was going to fly my
>> first competitive routine in the much less complicated "Sportsman" category.
>> A pilot's first Sportsman flight is a milestone: its the one and only time
>> in your aerobatic career to win a "best first time" award. I was nervous and
>> concerned about time; gulping my coffee, obsessively looking over the plan
>> of figures to be flown and judging criteria for each, checking and
>> re-checking the timetable of the day.
>>
>> I was nervous both because it was my first time flying at a more advanced
>> level, and also because we had had a few bobbles the previous few days,
>> including the canopy of the aircraft coming off in flight and falling to
>> earth who-knew-where. So I would be flying open-cockpit, the wind in my face
>> for the first time. A lot of unexpected firsts that were out of my control.
>>
>> Something compelled me to ask, "Nik, what's one piece of advice you can give
>> me for this flight?" I was hoping for something about altitudes or airspeeds
>> or specifics of the maneuvers to be flown.
>>
>> Nikolay finished chewing his bite of toast, took a measured, deliberate sip
>> of coffee, set his cup down carefully, laid both his hands palm-down on
>> either side of his breakfast, and said, "before flight, you must do
>> everything slow. Everything. You drink coffee, you do slow." He demonstrated
>> with a careful lift of his cup. "You walk out to airplane, slow. Steady.
>> Starter will be run around, get everyone in airplanes, go go go, now now
>> now. You breathe. You put on parachute slow. Get in airplane now -- but get
>> in slow." He accentuated with smooth, meditative movements of his hands, as
>> if doing tai chi at the breakfast table. "Touch airplane, feel it. Breathe.
>> Slow. That is best thing for this flight. All flights."
>>
>> It was a bit of a slap in the face -- what, I can't just have some pointers?
>> Doesn't he realize how many things I'm dealing with here? But I did as he
>> said. I left myself enough time that I could be deliberate and unhurried
>> with all my preparation. The starter did indeed try to hustle me along when
>> it was my turn to line up, but I smiled and yelled "thank you, got it"
>> before I began buckling the chute on.
>>
>> It was SO hard. At every step I felt the need to check on something, to
>> adjust some tiny little detail. But I did it. Slow and deliberate, just
>> breathing with each motion. Paying total attention to one thing at a time.
>>
>> It was the best flight I ever flew. It felt like the airplane had turned
>> transparent and I could see everything with 360-degree vision. At one point
>> I was in the middle of a maneuver called a hammerhead turn -- a vertical up
>> line until you run out of airspeed and then the engine's torque pivots the
>> plane to point downward -- and saw that my path would take me into a cloud.
>> Entering a cloud is illegal, and you're required to break off and restart
>> your flight with no official penalty, but it can break up the judges' flow
>> and result in lower marks. Without thinking I pulled the propeller pitch
>> back to act as a speedbrake -- nothing I had ever been trained to do -- and
>> completed that figure just under the cloud.
>>
>> Hours later I was still working out why it had worked, and why pulling the
>> throttle would not have worked. I didn't feel like I had made the decision,
>> I felt like the plane and I both did it. It mattered: I received best
>> first-time and best overall in category for that flight.
>>
>> Earlier in this thread, Harrison said:
>> "...coming to the circle scattered, confused and anxious is a good way to
>> fry your soul and create an environment that matches your state."
>>
>> And, David Osborne wrote:
>> "Trust = the safety condition for self-organization."
>>
>> So my lesson from you all is that whether the circle is drawn in the sky
>> with an airplane, or drawn on the ground and made of people, its critical to
>> treat that circle as a magic circle; to enter it with all awareness, calm,
>> trust, and respect due a place of power.
>>
>> I thank you all for the insight. I'll remember that flight -- and Nik's
>> lesson -- any time I attempt to Open Space.
>>
>>
>>>
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> The moment that you don't fear to share your heart, you are a free person.
> - Paulo Coelho
>
> UPCOMING Events
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> in Leadership and facilitation:
>
> Art of Hosting - BEYOND the BASICS
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> Mexico: January 29-31st, 2015
>
> CAITLIN FROST
> Coaching and Facilitation
> Certified Facilitator - The Work of Byron Katie
> Principal - Harvest Moon Consultants Ltd.
> www.caitlinfrost.ca
> _______________________________________________
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