Distinctions

We live with a future in mind which never arrives quite in the way we envision. (That is pervasively true in the history of New Ventures West.) Still, if we reflect, we can focus on what we have learned from what actually happened in ways which deepen our commitments and sharpen our ability to understand and contribute.

The legal, financial, logistical, personnel, and physical structures of NVW were all brought into existence by Stacy, one of the founders. She generated everything necessary for course leaders to bring the content consistently to students, who were attracted and communicated with through the structures she created. Her work, always of the highest quality, was essential, irreplaceable and ever changing to meet new circumstances. Do you do all of this for yourself? Who else supports you in these endeavors? Who in your past has done so?

With this context, here is a version of what happened.

I think the roots of NVW began in my junior year of high school. That’s when it became clear I had to (felt called to) dedicate my life to addressing the suffering and confusion of almost everyone I knew, including myself. At the time I was attending a school infused with the values of social responsibility, deep spiritual practice and wide learning of the Jesuits, an order of Catholic priests. Attending to these values—by living them—is core to the NVW origin story. I saw we are all in this together and at the same time I had to prepare myself to be useful for that engagement. Developing myself was a way to support and love others when done in this spirit.

Off to Jesuit seminary, I went but for only a year or so, as I discovered that way of life was not for me. I won’t tell you all the events in my life here—just what is most salient for the topic. After a few twists and turns, I found myself in San Francisco, early 1970s, in the peak influence of the human potential movement. Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist, expressed and promoted the notion that humans have much more potential than people pay attention to. Therapists at the time were more dealing with pathologies and healing than promoting growth. Many other people—for example, Fritz Pearls, Ida Rolf, Stan Grof—took up this insight and brought many transformational methods to the wider culture. That was the human potential movement.

I encountered it most directly by taking the est training created by Werner Erhard. There I learned about the distinction between personality patterns and who we really were. I experienced how skillful means could awaken people to their more real identity in a short period of time. Inspired by these counter-culture values, I studied and became a Rolfer (invented by Ida Rolf), working with the entire body of clients to undo deeply ingrained structures that impeded their movement, sensitivity to the world and creative responses. Here, I learned to understand things more systemically. Rolfing is more accurately called Structural Integration: its principles are still in our method of Integral Coaching. Where to work on an issue is not where clients think we ought to. Go to a Rolfer with a sore neck and she will work on your ankles, the real source of the imbalance.

Into my Rolfing practice came Fernando Flores, a former minister in the government of Allende in Chile. He had recently gotten his PhD in philosophy from UC Berkeley by combining the philosophy of Heidegger with the speech-act distinctions of Searle, wrapped up in the biological notions of Maturana and Varela. We formed a friendship and I worked free for him each week while he taught me what he knew. I got a 10-year education in these topics during the three intensive years I worked for him.

The intellectual rigor Fernando brought to my life resuscitated my interest in these topics from my high school Jesuit years. It also rebalanced me from my deep dive into the human potential movement with its ringing incessant injunction “get out of your head!” I relearned that ideas and distinctions could powerfully transform peoples lives, as could methods steeped in emotions and somatics which the human potential movement relied on.

In the mid and late 1980s when these events were occurring, business/life coaching was just being distinguished from sports coaching and therapeutic psychotherapy. Fernando was the first person I heard talk about how coaching, grounded in deep philosophical principles, could greatly support people’s development. When my association with Fernando ended, I was scrambling around for what to do next because I had stepped away from my Rolfing practice to work for him. After a few more fortunate events, I was in front of 100 people each week, assembled by another school drawing on the human potential movement. I began to talk to these folks about a coaching course that would happen soon. It would last six months and bring about extraordinary results in their lives. I managed to recruit 10 people for a class in New York and 10 people for a class in San Francisco (including Sarita, the long-term NVW leader and course creator).

I brought everything I’d learned from my entire life as outlined here to these programs. They were rough and much too confrontational, a style I’d learned from est and Fernando Flores. Later, I encountered Zen teachers who deeply shifted people through the quality of their presence and the depth of their love. As those got folded into NVW curriculum and process, the NVW of today began to emerge.

We almost never know what we are being prepared for by what we are learning and living through. What’s possible for you? What has life been getting you better ready for? Probably it’s the moment we are in right now. As I said, that’s the point of saying all of this to you.

Take care of yourself.

Sending love,
James

In this quarter’s practice, the quality of our outcomes arises from the power of our questions.

Our destiny is not a destination but an invitation rooted in our souls’ desires. It’s about being honest with ourselves about who we want to be, not just for ourselves but also for others and the world. By making incremental shifts you will be the person you want to become. Deceptively simple on the surface, this practice may prove more challenging than you think.

Practice the following reflections every evening to help inform what your destiny may be. For the next 30 days, at the end of the day, write your responses to the following questions, seeing if you notice patterns emerge and areas you can make improvements:

To discover who you’re becoming tomorrow, answer the following questions today:

• How did what I said, did, and think express my life’s intentions, values and calling?
• What effect did the above have on my presence, confidence, focus and clarity?
• Knowing this, what, if any, adjustments do I want to make going forward from here?

Dear Graduates,

Isn’t it beautiful how truth finds us—whether we are actively seeking it, unconsciously hiding from it, or being gently prepared to receive it? Life, in its wisdom, unfolds at the right moment, offering us interruptions that invite growth and allow mysterious unraveling. Even in uncertainty, love holds and prepares us, guiding us toward what we are meant to see.

In all things, one of my core practices is to remember to always be kind. To myself, to others, to the world. When we speak from the heart, we invite others into a space of belonging, shaping the systems we are part of with our gifts and our vulnerability.

By seeking to inhabit the sacred space of our hearts, we connect with the tender benevolence that travels within us alongside the powerful softness of the breath that keeps us alive. It is a place of authenticity that ripples true kindness outward, influencing the collective and relational spaces we inhabit.

The field of our Graduate Community feels like one of these spaces – alive, evolving and strengthened by our shared commitment to learning and transformation.

As we prepare to welcome the Spring Cohort of The Engaged Pathway, I invite you to step into this experience—a yearlong journey of deepened practice, collective wisdom, and new possibilities. A program that offers a space to integrate, reconnect, and continue evolving as humans and as practitioners, through access to the advanced courses offered by our global faculty, live sessions, in-person classes and a community of practice.

The pathway is a chance to be held within and simultaneously impact the multilayered landscape of collective learning. It’s an embodiment of our shared commitment to co-creating a world of meaning, belonging, and profound contribution.

Together, we grow, we learn, and we shape the world around us. Drop me a line, if you sense this might be the moment for you to begin journeying the Pathway. Holding space with kind listening is my offer to you, and I can’t wait to see what might be possible for you in the year ahead.

With loving kindness,

Marcia

NVW PCC A – January 2025

Aleesha Patel, Miami, Florida, USA
Barb Montgomery, Roseburg, Oregon, USA
Colleen Broderick, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
Courtney Finstad, Cottage Grove, Oregon, USA
Douglas Westphal, Novato, California, USA
Emily Wright, Portland, Oregon, USA
Erika Knudsen, Aptos, California, USA
Jeffrey Gangemi, Point Pleasant, New Jersey, USA
Josh Keller, Los Altos, California, USA
Krim Stephenson, San Carlos, California, USA
Kristin Maczko, Portola Valley, California, USA
Lea Ann Hutter, Redwood City, California, USA
Mary Ann Rudolph, Elgin, South Carolina, USA
Michael Schwartz, San Francisco, California, USA
Sarah Leibel, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
Veronica Wilson, Mill Valley, California, USA

Convivium PCC – December 2024

Antoine Théberge
Cécilia Trân
Christian Provencher
Éliane Laberge
France Beaudoin
François-Xavier Guerrand
Geneviève Crête
Guillaume Edery
Isabelle Branco
Jacinthe Bédard Marleau
Jaime Lerakis
Margarida Janeiro
Marie Michèle Lemay
Marie-Claire Tremblay
Marie-Eve Bertrand
Marie-Eve Morin
Marie-Josée Fortin
Mélanie Brunette
Natacha Saintonge
Samuel Freeman
Sarah-Jane Turcot

NVW PCC –

Julia Lee, Bermuda
Jen Isotti, Alberta, Canada