The Holiday Season, The Gift Of Your Uniqueness

It’s the holiday season, and everyone is looking out for presents they wish to give their family and friends. Festive lights adorn balconies and frame shop windows displaying beautifully wrapped gifts, inviting us to enter.

Presents are lovely to exchange. Yet, we all know that it’s the person behind the gift and their personalized intention that makes a present genuinely unique. This is what touches heart and soul and is far more valuable than any amount of money that goes into buying something. After all, no material gift can replace you being there for the ones you love. And to someone who loves you, your attention and presence are the one unique gift that no one else can offer.

Recently we, Claudia and Vered, received a few presents from the classes we have been teaching. These gifts had nothing to do with the holiday season itself but more to do with the fact that the Pantarei Approach turned five. We have also just renovated and opened our very own school space in which to teach our international training program. There is just so much to feel grateful for.

A gift of gratitude

In celebration, one class of students gave us a handmade bag filled with cards. On each card was a special wish for us. Another class gave us a few beautiful plants that we have placed around our school. And on each branch, they hung cards of gratitude.

These were not expensive gifts, but for us, these presents were the ones that touched our hearts. They were presents from people we love and who love us back. Presents of words that expressed what these students gained from learning with us. And presents that we will carry with us in our souls. These gifts give us so much energy and drive to continue developing Pantarei, to keep on teaching, and to enjoy the unbelievably great community of practitioners that is growing all around us.

Our students, our gift

But what has made us even happier over the last weeks, was to see the impact of Pantarei on the students we taught. We saw the beauty in people showing up and expressing who they are. We were amazed to see how students who had only just completed two modules of our course, could already give valuable Pantarei sessions to each other. And we were so happy to see another class graduate and become certified practitioners.

We couldn’t help but feel proud to see our students. How they listened to their ‘clients’, perceived their clients’ uniqueness, and explored it further through a combination of dialogue and touch. Every such session was a gift. Clients had the opportunity to further explore who they are and how they can use what they learned in their everyday. Together with their practitioner, they could explore and acknowledge just how meaningful their unique voice is. It was so apparent how something shifted inside them. Their eyes shone more brightly, their movements seemed more real. And they carried their bodies in such a beautiful way.

To give is to receive

What was even more heartwarming was to see how the ‘practitioners’, the students who gave the sessions, also considered this a gift. Practitioners were amazed to realize that by giving, they also received so very much. “I had such a strong headache just before I gave the session, and now it is gone,” one student said. While another student mentioned: “And I was sure that I have no energy left to give a session, but now I feel as if I could start the day anew”.

These statements are not random. Often this is what we feel when we give sessions. Something magical happens by noticing another person. As a Pantarei practitioner, you pay attention to the strength of your clients. You pay attention to the gift that is your client. And you pay attention to how, by owning who they are, clients can find their creative way to navigate their lives and the challenges along the way.

Giving in a session

What is required from you in a session, is to have an open heart and mind. Truly embrace the differences between people, get to know them, be curious, and ask many questions. When you do so, you are like a gift to them. And in the same way, they also become a gift to you.

Giving a session is like traveling through a different country. You know many of the ‘rules’, and at the same time, every moment allows you to expand, discover, and have new adventures. Some of those adventures are happy, some less so. In some moments, you know exactly where to go, and in some others, you enjoy the confusion and loss of orientation. When you genuinely pay attention to another person, you feel in awe of who they are. And it calls for all of your abilities, so you are able to follow them and help them find their path.

We come together at the end of every module to summarize the week. The feedback that we get from almost every class expresses how grateful students feel towards each other and the safe space that was created within the class environment.

Our wishes

For us, what happens in class is exactly what we wish for as a community and society. We feel that we can carry the holiday spirit of giving with us every day. Just imagine how life would be if we managed to pay attention to and embrace the uniqueness of our dear ones.

If we only learned to listen, learn, and encourage others to explore their true selves, we would become a gift to each other. If people remembered that their attention could be the best gift in the world, we would move through life, including the holiday season, with fulfillment and grace.

When was the last time you told the person you love what you appreciate about them? And when was the last time you shared with them how their qualities are so unique and valuable? When was the last time you went beyond giving a compliment and explored what you appreciate together with the person you admired?

Enjoy the gift which is you, and share this with others. Remember, you can also gift your loved ones a session with one of the Pantarei practitioners. In such a session, they will receive the undivided attention of their practitioner in the exploration of their uniqueness.

We wish you a Happy holiday season.