Facilitation as Practice: Ten Lessons in Creating the Conditions for Learning
Reflections from a Season of Movement Studies on the Road
It’s been one long journey since April, when Nil Teisner and Tina Afiyan came for Beyond Basics in Colorado. The event was a blast, with 84 people in attendance. Then, at the beginning of May, MMA hosted Fighting Monkey in Colorado for a weekend workshop and a three-day private event for teachers and long-time students. As always, Jozef brought lots to chew on—and enough inspiration to last a year. Getting to hand-pick teachers I admire, and people I truly think are brilliant in this field, was such a treat. Jozef, from Fighting Monkey, blows my mind with his creativity and scope.
By mid-May, MMA was on the road, starting with a small tour through Colorado, Santa Fe, and Seattle. At each stop, we stepped into new spaces, met new faces, and gathered fresh feedback and clarity about what landed in our offerings and what still needed refining. Teaching on the road was both a great experience and a lifelong dream realized. It gave us the chance to see what resonates with new audiences and to test out the material we’ve been developing for the past year and a half.
In June, we landed in Berlin. I spent two weeks at Lake Studios with Keira Kirsch, Antoine, and a constellation of guest artists. I immersed myself in movement, mobility, and flexibility classes around Berlin, attending groups like BewegungsKollektiv. I trained for a month at B12 with Akira Yoshida, Kenan Dinkelmann, Laja Field, and Tina Afiyan. I spent a week with Stefan Crainic studying soft acrobatics and took environmental movement practice with Joseph Bartz through the summer. Along the way, I’ve been fortunate to take master classes and workshops with Cameron McKinney, Ground Movement DE, and many others.
And now, this September, my last stop is Brussels. I’m spending a month with David Zambrano and the community at Tictac Art Centre. After months of traveling, training, and teaching, it feels fitting to close this season in daily practice with Flying Low and Passing Through. Zambrano’s generosity, clarity, and passion are reminders that facilitation is not just about what we teach, but about the kind of communities and ecosystems we build—and the values we embody in the room.
For the first time in years, I’ve been mostly in participant mode. After a long stretch of near-constant teaching, it’s been a gift to experience different styles again. And from this vantage point, some themes keep surfacing about what makes facilitation really work:
1. Build the Room Before the Lesson
Community is the foundation of any good class. A workshop flows differently when people know who is in the space with them. A relational start—learning names, hearing a bit of each person’s background, sharing partner tasks like shaking out sore muscles—breaks the freeze of first-day anxiety. It allows everyone’s nervous system to feel safe with the group and drop any fear about being judged. It lets people drop in more quickly and more deeply by feeling more human among other humans.
2. Make Space for Care and Rest
Good facilitators read the room. They notice fatigue and are willing to adapt the plan. When skill levels and backgrounds vary, this flexibility isn’t a luxury. Permission to take care of oneself, paired with rest breaks, helps participants absorb more and keeps the culture of the room from becoming cold and competitive.
3. Teach Through Doing, Not Just Talking
The most effective workshops I’ve attended weren’t endless lectures. They had a rhythm: learn something → do it → teach it → repeat it → reflect on it. Make sure to break things into groups and give people a chance to know each other’s names. This means they have a chance to observe, do, and try things together. This is helpful for visual learners, auditory processors, and kinesthetic learners. Even if this isn’t their primary learning style, it will help students develop it. Before a final closing for the day, let students break into dyads or triads to discuss and reflect on what they learned. This allows people to process ideas together before speaking to the larger group, which changes the quality of conversation when everyone comes back.
4. Structure the Flow
Timers, clear repetition counts, and set group sizes create clarity. They also build natural moments for rest, watching, and connection. Even simple strategies—like having “fast,” “medium,” and “slow” lanes for floor crossings—can reduce chaos and let people work at their own pace without pressure. I was surprised by how often these standard tools were forgotten in classes. This little bit of polish and structure lets students relax more, because they feel assured that the teacher is tracking those details. When there is enough order for those who crave it, they can actually relax. This reduces the amount of anxiousness in more linear students.
5. Warm Up More Than Muscles
A good warm-up isn’t just physical—it’s social. And a good cool-down isn’t just stretching—it’s space to metabolize the experience. Skipping these bookends means missing opportunities for integration.
6. Context Is Everything
A simple “why” behind an exercise deepens engagement. When people understand what a task develops—and how to continue it on their own—they leave empowered, not just entertained. Try to give the terminology some context about it, why you’re learning it, what it develops, and how to practice it. This will give you higher buy-in and help your students develop a broader perspective about the practice.
7. Acknowledge the Wider World
Ignoring what’s happening outside the studio can make the work feel disconnected. At Lake Studios, I loved seeing volunteers designated as emotional care points during long intensives. This gave participants a safety net if they needed private support. Laja Field did a wonderful job of calling attention to the larger world events that impact us together inside the microcosm of the group. We are a small society when we gather together—even for the length of a weekend workshop. How we practice building a mini society and culture matters—especially when we draw attention to it and actively practice it with intention.
8. Create Channels for Connection
A WhatsApp group, a shared meal, a way to stay in touch—these small touches strengthen the social fabric of a workshop. When people feel safe with each other, they take more risks in their learning. This also continues to build culture and community beyond the workshop and helps shift our “industry” into a healthier one.
9. Call the Group Back with Care
A quiet signal or playful cue to re-gather attention helps everyone tune in without breaking flow. Good facilitation isn’t just about delivering material—it’s about keeping the room’s nervous system regulated. I noticed a few times facilitators started to speak without everyone’s attention, or letting the group dissipate into unfocus and multiple conversations. It lessens the impact of the material.
10. Respect the Collaborative Space
When co-teaching, speak kindly to your collaborators. Don’t talk over the person you’re teaching with—it fractures focus and sends the wrong message. Turn down the music when speaking; clarity matters more than atmosphere. Avoid over-explaining or showing too many variations at once. Be precise with details and demonstrations, then step back and give participants space to explore without cognitive overload.
In the End
Some of the most impactful moments I’ve witnessed came from facilitators like Laja Field, Tina Afiyan, Keira Kirsch, and David Zambrano, who weave nature, curiosity, and relational care into their teaching. Keira once closed a workshop by leading us into the forest—a reminder that learning can live anywhere, not just inside four walls. Zambrano’s Flying Low and Passing Through practices, and the community ethos at Tictac Art Centre, model how clarity, passion, and generosity can create not just great classes, but living ecosystems of practice.
How we teach reflects how we want to live: with awareness, kindness, and structures that support growth. The best facilitation isn’t about dazzling people with content—it’s about shaping the conditions for learning, connection, and community to take root and grow.
