So my clown teacher has this aggro approach that younger generations hate. Starting day one of her workshop, she calls out your bs. In particular, she calls out l things that everyone else is probably also thinking about you but too polite to voice. Example types of things she will say: • “It’s like you have a pane of transparent glass between you and the entire world” • “That’s weird. That thing you’re doing with your face is weird.” • “What’s with this smile? That’s totally fake.”

She doesn’t follow this up with any immediate aftercare for people who get triggered/frozen/angry. She mostly leaves it up to the person to process

Students younger than boomer often get very offended at this approach, even when it’s directed at other ppl. The vibe from many classmates – who, again, typically agree w the teacher’s takes – is “that’s just not how you treat ppl.” My clown teacher’s immediately-call-out-bs approach is a huge departure from the therapeutic paradigm we’re used to. It does not feel “trauma informed”

I was also critical of this approach when I first encountered it. I thought “if you take people off-center, you should at least return them to equilibrium after.” But then I changed my mind. A person’s equilibrium is often the exact thing at the root of their problems.

For example, my equilibrium used to be that I would automatically distrust everyone’s ability to understand me. It made me feel safe (I was secretly worried that if they understood me, they’d want to run away or mess w me). It also made me unable to fully connect to people, bc I was applying auto-distrust before even checking whether trust was possible. When this pillar of my personality was thrown into crisis, on some level, it would have been unkind to then make me feel safe and return me to equilibrium. It was necessary to let the crisis fully play out (over days) for me to find a new equilibrium

Initially I had assumed this “unbalancing” approach would make students weaker. Initially it did. But then I’d watch the way ppl would be trusted to catch themselves – like adults – and become stronger/freer by the end

While this approach seems to work, it’s also ripe for abuse in the wrong hands. Cult leaders will often break ppl down by voicing the sort of honest perceptions that ppl don’t want to hear. So I don’t think there’s a hard and fast truth about whether the aggro approach is “good” or not. In each case, you have to use judgment to decide whether the teacher using it is well-intentioned

I’ve encountered other teachers who use an aggro approach and it definitely made me worse off long-term

Some questions worth asking: • Scan their vibe. Do you get the ick? What does your gut say? • Meet their followers. Do you admire them? Do they feel like full and trustworthy people? Or is something subtly “off?” (Again, check gut) • Do you feel alienated from friends/family/normal ppl after engaging the teaching? Often a bad sign. (IMO good psychospiritual stuff will ultimately make you feel closer to ppl who r different than you) • Before throwing yourself into any further workshops/retreats/etc, do a gut check on whether you’re actually better off. Also pay attention to how your friends/fam are reacting to you