Concerto For Double Bass

He is a drunk leaning companionably

Around a lamp post and doing up

With intermittent concentration

Another drunk’s coat

 

He is a polite but devoted Valentino

Cheek to cheek, forgetting the next stop

He is feeling the pulse of the fat lady

Or cutting her in half.

 

But close your eyes and it is sunset

At the edge of the world. It is the language

Of dolphins, the growth of tree roots

The heart beat slowing down.

- John Fuller Collected Poems 1996 tfl.gov.uk/poems

This was the poem that greeted me last week on the Jubilee line tube on my way to an early morning supervision session in central London. Standing in a packed tube carriage I was not in the right position to start fiddling around with my iphone so my eyes landed on the red and white advert which showcases the collection of over 3,000 poems publicized on the tube network.

The selection of poems is changed three times a year and includes diversity of poems including, classical, contemporary, international and up and coming poets. It has been an excellent way of introducing the public to poetry.

With the poem right in front of me I took my time and read through each line and very quickly found myself immersed in the poem, word-by-word, line-by-line. I was pulled in. Not only was I sinking into the poem I felt moved by it. I lost track of time and where I was. It felt like the more I engaged with the poem the more I was clearing a space in my mind. The words soothed me, relaxed me, and opened me out. I felt the world inside me open out and expand. An emptying of the previous days to do list and the list of the day ahead seemed a distant away from where I stood and how I felt in that moment.

Two lines in particular mesmerized me and I began a meditation into the two lines lost in my own personal translation of what those words meant to me.

“At the edge of the world. It is the

Language of dolphins, the growth of the tree roots.”

I became so engrossed I missed the announcement of the arrival at my stop Baker Street and bundled myself out of the carriage doors just as the doors were about to close.

My encounter with the poem took all of 10 minutes for the poem to open up a space in me. It was the perfect clearing of my mind for my supervision session and a practice I set an intention last week to integrate into my preparation for future coaching and supervision sessions.

Turned out this was not just what my psyche needed. My supervision session weaved a dance of natural curves and actions that had us both reveling at what we both gained from our time together.

Reading a poem before I go into a coaching or supervision session has now been added to my list of ways of clearing my mind and thoughts and going through the process of emptying.

1. What do you do to empty yourself before a coaching or supervision session?

2. What activities open you out?

3. What practices do you do to either prepare yourself for your coaching and supervision whether you’re receiving coaching or you’re someone offering coaching or supervision?