When I was asked about the Instructor Program, thoughts of the many years of teaching BMTH came up. In the old days, when I started in the IP 7 years ago in Honolulu, the outline given to Instructor Candidates consisted of 4 questions from which one had to build an entire talk – there were no outlines and Instructor Packets back then!
When I taught my first class at the Honolulu Center ago I was terrified to be in front of everyone – exposed, naked, vulnerable. Through the IP I learned to share my story. I learned to express myself, accept myself, love myself. I learned and I grew.
For me self-awareness has not always been easy. For years before coming to BMTH I had pushed my physical self to the limits; climbing mountains, rafting down wild rivers and traveling around the globe to find the next challenge. Yet teaching BMTH I was faced with the greatest challenge of my life – the struggle with my own mind and emotions. The struggles kept coming, and with them the growth. With each new situation, more of who I thought I was was left behind.
I became a teacher of teachers, passing on what I had learned from co-founders Paul & Cheryl Bucky and Joyzelle Beasley. I remember my first out of town class to the Big Island of Hawaii with my first Instructor Candidate Lani Fernandez. She gave me a Hawaiian-style bamboo attaché case saying, “You are an Instructor now, you need to play the part.”
The classes and stories continued, and then a few years ago I moved her to Tucson. The IP went through it’s changes, the outline grew – heck, I helped expand the Instructor Program to meet the growing need of Instructor Candidates. But the purpose of the teaching remained the same.
I remember the infamous 9-hour back-road drive to Phoenix with Bear; teaching the first class at Dr. Michael and Anneliese Blanchard’s house in Yuba City, CA; and the trip to San Jose to certify Paula Nunes and Tazz Powers (Thanks to Paula and her husband Mel – I hadn’t laughed that much in years!); then to Bakersfield, Greenwich Village, Syracuse, Los Angeles and other places.
No matter where I taught, the reactions and testimonials were the same: “I am amazed. I feel great. BMTH has done so and so for me.” Before BMTH, I had traveled around the world for many years and was assisted by the generosity of others, and now I had a way to return the gifts.
The Army says it is the toughest job you will ever love; I disagree. I am proud to be an Instructor of BMTH. I am proud of what it means and what the job involves. It’s about giving, its about helping people, its about caring. When you get down to it, what could be more important in life? When you get down to it, what else is there?
