{"id":4228,"date":"2026-04-10T18:56:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T13:26:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neependra.net\/?p=4228"},"modified":"2026-04-11T08:38:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T03:08:18","slug":"be-like-water-lessons-from-a-diploma-in-experiential-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neependra.net\/index.php\/2026\/04\/10\/be-like-water-lessons-from-a-diploma-in-experiential-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Be Like Water: Lessons from a Diploma in Experiential Education"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Last year we decided to homeschool our children, and I was delivering trainings on GenAI. We were new to homeschooling, and with GenAI, things were\/are moving at a pace I could not get a complete hang of. To get some grounding while dealing with both, I decided to join the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.experiential.institute\/deep16pune\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">DEEP (Diploma in Experiential Education &amp; Practice)\u00a0<\/a>in Bengaluru. I came to know about DEEP from\u00a0Vishwas after I attended his\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foundationeep.org\/practitioner-s-pod\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>The Practitioner\u2019s Pod Program<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and showcased my\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/neependra.net\/index.php\/activity-web-of-interdependence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Web of Interdependence Activity<\/a>. After many years it happened in Bengaluru. It started in Sept &#8217;25 and ended in March &#8217;26. We had more than 20 participants from very diverse backgrounds, which made the overall experience super engaging and fun.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After attending DEEP, I could finally say I have received the education I always yearned for. A bit late but lucky to have finally received it. In\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/vishwasparchure\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Vishwas (Our Facilitator)<\/a>, I could see a guide who is calm, always available, but who would not give the direct answers :). He would give the directions to find the answers that are relevant for us. The slides, reading, and other reference materials are treasures. I uncover something new every time I refer to them. DEEP has helped me give frameworks and words to the abstract thoughts I used to have. It&#8217;s hard to put down all the learnings I had, but the following are some that have affected me directly:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Stop using &#8220;WE&#8221; and use &#8220;I&#8221; if I want to own the outcome; else, it is a generalized statement; just say it and forget it. For example, replace &#8220;WE\/Our&#8221; with &#8220;I\/My&#8221; in the following sentences to see the power of it :-\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>We take ourselves too seriously, and we should bring some playfulness.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The conditioning we have leaks in our behavior. If nothing else, we should be aware of such leaks.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There is always a choice.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>I may have chosen something based on the information I had at that given time. Now when I have more information, I should be ok to take a different path. No need to be stuck with the earlier path.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When I take a different path, I should leave the previous path\/step with\u00a0<strong>grace<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When there are differences, each party thinks they can take control of the other party\/parties, and nothing works out. In such cases, find commonalities to move forward.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What I choose to look at grows in me.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Instead of looking at anything in just two extreme ends, explore it as a part of a continuum.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>I have control only over my actions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When I respond to anything, am I responding below or above the line?\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I have delivered many trainings, but facilitation is new to me. In terms of facilitation, the following were some of my takeaways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Emotions are a gateway to learning. How we feel will affect our learning.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The learner is a participant rather than a spectator in learning.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Having the right props and activities in hand is very critical to facilitate any situation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Doing activities is the easy part; facilitating reflections is more challenging.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Asking the right questions and building metaphors are very critical for doing debriefing\/reflections.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What is the value of giving a direct answer?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>IIn between the modules, I also attended<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foundationeep.org\/feepconference2026\">&nbsp;Experiential Education Conferences<\/a>&nbsp;in Pune. Masterclasses and sessions gave me exposure to different techniques and methodologies using which learning can happen to children and adults. All such experiences give confidence in our homeschooling journey.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One good thing about the DEEP program is that it spans over many months, and we could practice what we are learning and do a due course correction as we meet in different modules. I would highly recommend it for anyone above 15 years.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Be like Water&#8230;\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/neependra.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DEEP-15-with-Vishwas-1024x768.jpeg?resize=1024%2C768&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4245\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/neependra.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DEEP-15-with-Vishwas.jpeg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/neependra.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DEEP-15-with-Vishwas.jpeg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/neependra.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DEEP-15-with-Vishwas.jpeg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/neependra.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DEEP-15-with-Vishwas.jpeg?resize=1536%2C1152&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/neependra.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DEEP-15-with-Vishwas.jpeg?w=1600&amp;ssl=1 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last year we decided to homeschool our children, and I was delivering trainings on GenAI. We were new to homeschooling, and with GenAI, things were\/are moving at a pace I could not get a complete hang of. To get some grounding while dealing with both, I decided to join the\u00a0DEEP (Diploma in Experiential Education &amp; &#8230; <a title=\"Be Like Water: Lessons from a Diploma in Experiential Education\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/neependra.net\/index.php\/2026\/04\/10\/be-like-water-lessons-from-a-diploma-in-experiential-education\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Be Like Water: Lessons from a Diploma in Experiential Education\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,184],"tags":[185,188,187,186,189,173],"class_list":["post-4228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-facilitation","tag-deep","tag-experiential-education","tag-experiential-learning","tag-facilitation","tag-grounding","tag-homeschooling"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/neependra.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/be-like-water-generate-an-image-of-water-flowing.png?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neependra.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neependra.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neependra.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neependra.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neependra.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4228"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/neependra.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4251,"href":"https:\/\/neependra.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4228\/revisions\/4251"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neependra.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neependra.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neependra.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neependra.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}