Dan Aubin

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|| STUFF || 📦

What weird and wonderful items are on your dresser top? (Try the minimalism exercise at the bottom of this blog post) On my slow quest towards minimalism I unpacked a ‘junk’ container from my bedroom last night. This is what I found:

Tools, things to be fixed or filed, potions, lotions, electronics, stationary, contacts to follow up, promotional material, toys, things to return, memories, energy sources, accessories and of course clown noses!

3 things come to mind:

1. It is funny the mix of stuff that gets collected through daily life

2. How much of this brings value to my life?

3. How does this pile of clutter, that lives in a high traffic area of my home, affect me?

I feel like the clutter, clutters my thoughts, emotions and environment. As I walk by this pile at the start and end of my day, the affect is subtle but persistent. Like the tortoise that only grows as large as the habitat it is in, our environment affects us in conscious and unconscious ways.

The results of this little experiment:

None of this stuff will go back in the box 📦. Do I now even need the box? No. Will it not just attract more stuff as that is its purpose - to be filled up.

I have created more space 🚀 and a bit more calm in my life and that feels good 😊 . Yes, less is more. Especially in our supposed fast-paced, time poor, go go go contemporary life-style. The old adage “less is more” is quite a profound thing to ponder in relation to many aspects of our lives. It is easy to say but harder to do.

Do you have a corner / surface / box / drawer / head that needs a de-clutter? Try this tiny minimalist exercise and see how you feel after.

1. Find a small cluttered space that you are attracted to sort. 2. Make a cup of tea and mindfully unpack the contents, grouping them as you go. 3. Throw out, file, give away, re-purpose, fix or sell as appropriate. 4. Leave the space clear.

If you get stuck into it, snap a pic and share it with me on Facebook (Dan Aubin) or Instagram @daring_humans Let us know your results.

It is a DARING thing to get off the stuff…

For more on ‘stuff’, check out George Carlins classic bit called 'Stuff’ https://youtu.be/MvgN5gCuLac

I look forward to seeing your minimalist experiments…

Enjoy -

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|| TRUST || There are so many different types of trust. Physical trust, mental trust, emotional trust… group-trust and self-trust to name a few. We all experience trust in different ways. Take a moment to consider what trust feels like for you. How do you communicate trust to others? How do others respond to you when they trust you or when they are unsure of you? Can you tell the difference? As an acrobat and a presenter, I have worked with trust my entire life. First as a gymnast I learned to trust myself in competition. Later as an acrobat working with a partner, I learned to trust someone with my life and what that required. As a teacher and a speaker I am always experimenting with ways to create trust with groups and audiences. Once a strong connection is made, amazing things can happen. This is where collaboration begins; authentic creative processes that involve risk can take place once trust is there. I think the mistake we often make is to proceed with complex group projects (business development, culture shifting, organisational change, creative work) without having developed the pre-requisite connection. Does this sound familiar? From my reading and experience, I suggest that this connecting starts with trust. If we are going to make mistakes together and struggle together, trust is an essential glue. Without it things fall apart easily. An exploration of trust can tell you a lot about your communication style and approach to working with others. An awareness of fields such as body language, emotional intelligence and the psychology of interpersonal skills and group communication is a great place to start to find strategies to build trust in yourself and with others. For example: in developing the ability to accurately read body language, we consider the notion of congruency. Is what we are hearing from the person matching their non-verbal communication? We trust people when their body language matches their words and tone of voice. We should be leery of what we are being told/sold when these are out of sync. Trust is developed through repeated positive experience. Consider some of the ideas in this piece and take a trust audit of your environment for yourself. Review the questions in the first paragraph. I hope you can find a few valuable discoveries by trying to answer these questions. Skilled-communicators work on this everyday; even once a level of mastery has been reached. Working with people presents an ever-changing environment. As moods, ideas, intentions, strategies and desires shift, so must we. Keen to hear your thoughts on trust...get in touch - Dan Aubin - @daring_humans

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Flipping out at the South Australian Circus Centre- @cirkidz . The trampoline was where I learned to be physically daring thanks to my first coach Norm Loader @torontogymnastics international. He is excellent at teaching 'air sense'. It is great to see so many people flipping around these days. Acrobatic movements are expressions of courage (and sometimes stupidity). At some point the athlete had to go for it the first time. That takes preparation, trust and guts. Who knows? At some point we might start teaching gymnastics in schools again... 😜 Keep flipping.

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Having a play after Day Two of the Yuri Marmerstein workshop @pointamovement . Recovery work, presses, more one-arm work, a tumble and planche development. Thanks for the vid @instatriton

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One-arm handstand progress is feeling good. Right arm is feeling stable. More positional endurance and trust will help. The focus on the left arm is mobility and alignment. I've been asked about training programming a lot lately. Yes, the content of your program is important but...most important is that you have a program that you can follow it everyday. Eventually it will become a 'practice'. Consistency to purpose is the key to success. This is true for most things but especially true in handstand practice. #daringhumans #realmovementproject #movingacademic Great to train with @meow.circus and @tess_gauvin from Adelaide and @cirkidz while they checked out our program at @charlessturtuni theatre media. #circusfamily

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Outdoor handstands allow the feeling of extension into infinite space. Do you feel a difference between outdoor and indoor practice? I often work with imaging in coaching and in my own practice. Straight and extended like a flag pole. Fingers extended wide like the roots of a tree, stable and strong. Growing patiently under the sun like spring flora. #daringhumans #handstands #realmovementproject #poetichandstands #movingacademic

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Handstands and gymnastics have returned to popularity. Many people are using gymnastic elements in their fitness systems and movement practice. For many, this is a new way of training. Save yourself 5 years and get yourself a coach. Once you have good advise and a program to follow, the only way to achieving your goals is through consistent hard work. A solid handstand is built over years. It is an achievement to be very proud of. You will learn lots about yourself along the way. I am glad to be working with @wonggeeyuan to develop the mobility, endurance, strength, technique and awareness needed for advanced handstand work. The line is straightening, the holds are getting longer and the body is becoming more robust. Why? Because he is doing the work. Train like you mean it. Thanks to @crossfit2795_believebootcamps for the great facility to play in. The energy in this space makes you better🙏 #daringhumans #realmovementproject #moving academic #crossfit2795 #handstands

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The building of a handstand. What an art form! Am amazing collaboration. As a coach, I love being in on it from the start. Nail the foundation and the rest is easy. Well... Easier. It also helps to have great students. @crossfit2795_believebootcamps #crossfit2795 #handstand #daringhumans #realmovementproject #coach

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Having a play after a coaching session with Roxy and Ash this morning @crossfit2795_believebootcamps Why do so many elite athletes and top leaders practice juggling? The benefits for the mind body connection are well documented. Anyone can have a set of juggling balls on their desk at work or on a shelf at home. "I could never learn to juggle", is a common first response I hear all the time. Not true, and if you feel that way, that is a great reason to take up the challenge and try. Anyone can learn to juggle with the right instruction and awareness. I use juggling props for teaching communication to students at University and in professional development workshops and seminars with organisations. Get in touch if you know an organisation that would benefit from a workshop in skilled communication with a fun twist where people get to throw things at each other. Play informed by theory and practice is a powerful way to learn. #movingacademic #daringhumans #crossfit2795 (at CrossFit 2795)

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INTERVIEW - CREATIVITY AND BACK FLIPS

I ran a three-day training internship in Bathurst with Coach Keegan and some Real Movement Project crew. We worked on developing their tumbling, handstands, juggling, lifting, mobility, trampoline and some partner-balancing.

Coach Keegan interviewed me after the final session. We had a great coach catch-up. 

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Australia Circus and Physical Theatre Association Interview

I am very grateful to a part of the circus family. Follow the link for the full interview.

http://acapta.org.au/acapta-members/daniel-aubin-new-south-wales/

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MY STORY

My story from childhood into performing and directing circus in Australia. This was an amazing filming experience at a very reflective time in my life. I was looking back at where I had come from as I was getting to know a new country and directing my first stage production with Cirkidz and an amazing troupe of young circus stars.  

This short documentary was part of a series called Adelaide Stories.

Produced by: Matthew Devitt, Terry Archer, Trung Ly & Kym Dyson

Host: Natalie Papas

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TRUST ON SHOW

We had a good time and got three ticks on the first Australia’s Got Talent as “Two Strong Men”. Most of our work with this act is for corporate leadership programs to help executives and staff understand trust in a deeper way. Trust is easy when you have a base this good. Triton Tunis-Mitchell is a rock. It was nice to have a big public audience.

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DEVELOP SKILLED-COMMUNICATION THROUGH JUGGLING

Whether we know it or not, we are always throwing things at each other. ‘Senders’ throw ‘messages’ to ‘receivers’ through a chosen ‘medium’. We hope our communication gets through the environmental and internal ‘noise’ and is accepted and interpreted as we intended. Miscommunication is more often than not the case. 

Juggling is a great way to develop self-awareness and skilled inter-personal communication. To juggle, even at a basic level, you must become comfortable with failing, embrace the learners mindset and be able to break down complex problems into achievable steps. When juggling with others, your throws and feedback must be clear and courageous.

The benefits of practicing juggling are clearly documented. Research shows juggling develops new white and grey matter in the brain. Juggling enlivens the human senses and can bring a meditative feeling of calm and focus to the mind and body. Juggling stimulate creativity by connecting the left and right hemispheres of the brain.

This video shows an act that Triton Tunis-Mitchell and I developed for a few clients. Along the way we found that the most benefit was in getting people participating in the process of learning to juggle and facilitating reflection on their own self-talk and their interactions with others. Participants in workshops are having fun so there is a greater willingness to share and learn. Personal discoveries are attached to an ‘extraordinary experience’ so retention of learning and activation of concepts are greater.

I have found no better way than juggling to illuminate the fundamentals of skilled-communication.