When we began asking ourselves what does it mean to be a practitioner, we found some definitions out there — but they didn't seem quite right.
Practitioner (noun):
a person actively engaged in an art, discipline, or profession, especially medicine
one who practices a profession
an authorized healer
one who brings art or science to full realization
One could argue that anyone can be a practitioner, and we believe in that possibility. The root word practice is one of the core values of The Infinity Container. All human beings put things into practice — we can practice doing the dishes, practice taking a conscious breath, practice saying "thank you." So what does it mean to be a practitioner, specifically — what differentiates a practitioner from other humans practicing their daily habits?
What Does It Mean to Be a Practitioner in Daily Practice?
Practitioners practice with a deep awareness of process and holistic growth. They hold awareness of the subtleties — that everything takes focus, repetition, and exploration, and that everything grows a little at a time. This means practitioners practice non-judgment toward the pacing of learning. They value "mistakes" as opportunities for correction, and offer reinforcement to moments of change and experimentation.
Holding Space: The Practitioner's Essential Skill
Practitioners hold space and organization for themselves and for others, so that productive exploration can take place and sustainable growth can occur in a safe, non-judgmental container. Holding space for self and other simultaneously is a skill in itself, one that takes practice. Practitioners are often highly empathic. One of the key skillsets we need to develop as practitioners is the capacity to discern who's feeling what in the container — discernment that is also a key step in integration itself.
Practitioners as Community Helpers
Practitioners may offer teachings, services, or guidance to others in their communities — family, teams, neighbors, extended circles, students, companies, and beyond.
Practitioners are people in the community who know the importance of pitching in, and do so with the intention to help others participate in the greater whole with more ease, flow, and possibility. They are the helpers, the space holders, and the givers of universal gifts. This includes the practitioners we don't always name first — the hairdresser who hears your whole week while she works, the bartender who remembers your order and your story, the massage therapist whose hands do as much listening as your words do. Service industry work is relational work, and relational work, done with awareness, is practitioner work.
Embodied Teaching
Practitioners deliver those gifts through embodiment of the teaching itself. We often need to explain things with words to awaken the cognitive part of the mind, which grounds understanding. We also need to hold space for the emotion that surfaces in teaching, since many people carry developmental gaps created by past pain points — gaps we're now weaving back together. As practitioners, we model the teaching to awaken the body, so the learner sees and feels the muscular sequencing needed to actualize the goal. We offer time and space to create interconnectedness between these many aspects.
The most important part of the practitioner role — and the part least spoken about or understood — is holding the frequency of the teaching and amplifying it with the energetic body. This opens the plane of possibility, so learning happens with more ease and support. It awakens the intra-connected self: the collective.
So What Does It Mean to Be a Practitioner, in the End?
The Infinity Container welcomes all types of practitioners, since the lessons we offer can and should be applied universally. Different types of practitioners may be called into the container at different times, and as we grow, we develop ways for each type to apply these principles more specifically.
No matter what type of practitioner you are, we ask you to remember to feel into others. That's really the answer to what does it mean to be a practitioner: asking yourself, in any moment, what is needed. What is the need of the moment? What does love want here, now? How can I pitch in? What would it feel like for me to pitch in?
Examples of practitioners in our community include:
Therapists
Teachers
Doulas
Space holders
Doctors
Indigenous wisdom keepers
Managers / team leaders
Founders / CEOs
Parents
Body workers
Sound & energy practitioners
Somatic specialists
Counselors
Social workers
Nurses
Hairdressers & stylists
Bartenders & servers
Estheticians & nail technicians
Massage therapists
Other service industry professionals