Feb 3, 2020 | Transformational Presence
With great excitement, I announce two immersive mentoring and coaching programs in Costa Rica for 2021. Both will be held at Kantara, the Central American home for the Center for Transformational Presence.
One program offers a completely new four-day immersion experience: Enter the Silence: Hear the Wisdom of Your Soul, Rest in the Embrace of the Earth.
The other is a program that I have been offering in the Netherlands, Poland, and at Kantara for several years: Transformational Presence Leadership and Facilitation Mentoring Program (TPLM).
These two programs are scheduled for late January and early February 2021.
The Rancho, our open-air working space at Kantara
Before I describe each of these programs, a few words about how they fit into my transition towards retirement from leading the four Transformational Presence signature programs. Starting in 2021, my attention is turning towards one-on-one and small group immersive coaching and mentoring programs. My focus going forward is on helping leaders, coaches, and anyone committed to making a difference in the world further refine their personal transformational presence as dynamic, effective, and impactful servants for a greater good.
In addition, the spiritual teacher within me is now asking to have a more explicit role in my work. Bringing together the qualities of spiritual teacher and conscious leadership mentor feels like the right next step at this point in my public life.
I will continue to work both virtually and face-to-face. The face-to-face work will increasingly take place at my home base in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and at Kantara in Costa Rica. As an added benefit when we work at Kantara, Karen Montealegre, Certified Equine Learning Facilitator, joins me in supporting clients and small groups through coaching with the horses.
Below you will find a short description of each of these programs. If one of them calls out to you, please follow the links to learn more.
Enter the Silence – a 4-day Immersion Experience
Life is full and fast. Many of us live in a whirlwind of responsibilities, opportunities, challenges, and relationships. We do the best we can to keep up, yet sometimes we just need a break. There is a longing deep inside for stillness and quiet, for time and space, for serenity and peace.
Early morning meditation under the giant Guanacaste tree (the listening tree)
If you experience this longing inside, join me for four days in the beautiful tropical paradise known as Kantara. Kantara is an Arabic word meaning “bridge.” As a child, Karen Montealegre, creator of this paradise, dreamed of the word Kantara, having no idea what it meant. Yet she knew that someday she would create a place by that name.
Karen has extended an open invitation to offer Transformational Presence programs at Kantara. She is our host for this four-day immersion experience, Enter the Silence: Hear the Wisdom of Your Soul, Rest in the Embrace of the Earth. Along with the horses and donkeys of Kantara, Karen also co-facilitates a part of your experience.
The Enter the Silence immersion experience is limited to six participants in order to ensure a sense of intimacy, stillness, quiet, and reflection, with ourselves and with one another. The program is open to anyone who is ready to take a deep dive into who they are and the work they are called to bring to the world. Our time together will alternate between exercises and meditations for discovery, extended periods of intentional silence, walking the labyrinth, time with the land and the nature, and one-on-one time with me and with Karen and the horses.
Each period of intentional silence will be guided by a question, concept, discovery, or emerging insight. While I have loosely designed a structure for this program, the topics and questions that we work with will emerge from our group and personal exploration. In this way, our time together is somewhat customized for your individual journey as well as for the collective journey that unfolds for us together.
The labyrinth at Kantara is always available for a reflective pilgrimage walk.
Kantara has a way of bringing you the insights, awakening, healing, and illumination you need for the next part of your work in the world. The intentional periods of silence are times for you to be on your own, or to have one-on-one time with me, or to have a personal session with Karen and the horses. The horses of Kantara are amazing coaches, healers, and shamans. Each period of silence will be followed by time together as a group to share what is being discovered, what is shifting and transforming, and what new doors of possibility are opening.
To learn more, visit the Enter the Silence webpage.
Transformational Presence Leadership and Facilitation Mentoring Program (TPLM)
The Transformational Presence Leadership and Facilitation Mentoring Program (TPLM) is designed for those who wish to further refine their Transformational Presence skills and capacities as a leader, coach, and facilitator.The focus of the program is on leading and facilitating Transformational Presence concepts, frameworks, and tools in organizational, business, group, workshop and/or seminar settings.
Enrollment in the Costa Rica program is limited to six participants to ensure a high level of personal attention and support. Pre-requisites for the program are participation in the TPLC (Transformational Presence for Leaders and Coaches) and the Transformational Presence Supervised Mentor Coaching teleclass series.
The view across the canyon from the Rancho, our open-air workshop space at Kantara
Transformational Presence offers the essential foundational concepts, skill set, and capacities needed for navigating complexity and leading in today’s rapidly changing times. It’s a way of showing up in the world that creates the best possible culture or environment for accelerated growth, evolution, and personal/organizational/societal transformation.
Transformational Presence starts with alignment within ourselves, and then alignment with the greater purpose we feel called to serve. It means being aware of the dynamic and interactive energetic conversation that is constantly unfolding with ourselves and with the world around us. It’s being in dialogue with the ever-emerging potential of who we are as individuals, as organizations, as companies, and as a collective society.
In this era of the Great Breaking Open, the leaders and facilitators who will make the greatest impact for transformation and service are those who are skilled at navigating the complexities of a rapidly changing and uncertain world. They understand that everything—leadership, organizations, companies, governments, societies—is energy in motion. Therefore, they work with energy in order to impact form. They continue to expand their capacities for awareness, understanding, perception, resilience, compassion, and transformative action. And they constantly support those they serve to do the same.
This is what Transformational Presence is all about—creating a strong foundation for dynamic, engaged, progressive, and healthy communities, organizations, and social systems.
During our five days, each participant makes three presentations in front of the group. The first is 10-15 minutes, the second is 25-30 minutes, and the third is 40-45 minutes. Participants are encouraged to choose topics and formats that will serve them the most in their work.
An aerial view of Kantara, home of Transformational Presence in Central America
In the words of TPLM graduate and Certified Transformational Presence Coach Jo Boniszewski,
Whenever I am being coached or mentored by Alan, I feel myself growing in the moment. He is the only person I know who can give me very clear and direct comments on how to be more effective, and at the same time, make me feel amazing about who I am and what I do. In this five-day program, I once again took significant steps in my personal and professional development. Kantara is an incredibly beautiful and healing place. Being surrounded by nature and the elements made our work together even richer. Working with the horses helped deepen my awareness about how I connect and work with powerful leaders. Your experience in this program is certain to be both powerful and unforgettable.
To learn more about this program, visit the TPLM Costa Rica webpage.