Its great when students relax enough to share their personalities during training.
We are professional adults and we all have important schedules to tend to... and the fantastic thing is that while good humor doesn't take up any more of our time... it sure can make the time feel like it's passing quicker than it really is.
I had a student once, a professional woman in her mid 50’s
that was the manager of the company that I was training. While she seemed
relaxed and personable she was a serious individual and it appeared she was
highly respected by her employees.
We were in the section of the First Aid training video that
shows heat stroke and in this part of the training they remove the man’s shirt
and fan him to cool him down. Right away, the woman started fanning herself
and a few seconds later stated “I think I’m about to have a heat stroke looking
at all those muscles on that fine looking young man!” At this point I had to
pause the video and let everyone take a 5 minute break as the laughter just
really overtook the room.
We laughed a lot during the rest of this class and not only
did we end up finishing a little early, all of the students did their test
quickly and most got 100% and all of the students passed without needing
remediation. I must say, this was one of
my favorite classes.
Another time I had a student that was doing compressions and
right before he was about to give two breaths he looked at the manikin and said
“please don’t take this personal, I have a boyfriend and this is strictly
professional”. Of course this put the rest of his company into a roar of
laughter.
I absolutely love humor during class and also ask that
people be mindful of time and that we stay on topic and that we keep side
conversations down so that all students have the ability to learn the materials
and get out of class on time.
The wonderful thing I have noticed in my 20+ years of teaching is that even though we do get the occasional funny moments, most people have
been incredible at getting right back on tasks and about learning the
information fully.
When people are relaxed and fully invested in learning they
tend to enjoy their time in class, retain more and be able to more effectively apply their lessons to real life situations.
Humor is vital to keeping our minds and hearts open. Humor
can create a relaxed atmosphere and causes us to breathe and to oxygenate our
brains. This causes us to feel more energy and helps us to be present and
relaxed.
Appropriate humor and appropriate timing really make a
difference. The class clown that makes a lot of jokes can become disruptive and
I will ask them to either stay focused or to step out of class.
Excessive humor can also be a sign of anxiety. If you find
you want to make jokes often and that you want to go on and on and seem to not
have control of yourself it could be that something has triggered a fearful or
painful memory you have. It could also be that you are bored.
Here are some things to help with anxiety:
- Take about three deep slow breaths into your lower belly and release each breath fully.
- Ask yourself what you feel uncomfortable about.
- Do some compassionate self-talk and let yourself know that you are safe in this moment.
- Ask for a short break if needed.
- Take a trip to the restroom and put some cold water on your face.
- If you have questions, ask them. Sometimes there is a void of information that has caused discomfort.
If you feel bored or feeling distracted:
- Ask yourself why you are taking the training beyond just that it is required for your career.
- Try to relate the training to something personal, like an ill person in your family that you’d like to be able to assist should you need to.
- See if there is a way you can assist a co-worker or fellow student.
- It could be that you are bored because you do not understand the lessons or the importance of the lessons. Ask questions and bring yourself back to being present.
Here are some questions to consider before taking a health, safety or success training:
- How can I apply this information to my career, social life, or to my long term goals?
- How will this information assist me with loved ones?
- Will the lessons in this training be transferable to other aspects of my life?
- How will I
Some other things to keep you present during training are to
drink water, eat a snack, or create real life scenarios in your mind and
imagine you responding effectively.
If you are a person that is annoyed easily, anxious, bored
easily, or that has a high level of pain, try to find things to assist yourself
before trainings. And please feel free to contact me before any training you
are taking with me and we can go over some possible solutions.
The priority is that all students learn the materials well,
retain the information and that they feel they can apply all lessons in the
real world.
It is also important that each student feels relaxed, has a
great experience and feels valued and confident in their learning.
I look forward to connecting with each one of you and assisting
you with your success.
Jody G.
503 269-1199
MYSTIC LOTUS HEALTH SAFTEY SUCCESS
Please email me for class times and our location.
