Seven editors of Psychologies tested the outreach program offered by our expert, coach Leonid Krol.
The nearest grocery store is 15 minutes by car from here. To the nearest neighbors – in pretty houses on round-sided Umbrian hills – about 20 minutes on foot. To the waterfall – about 10 minutes, to the triclinium – marble beds, spread out on which, in the manner of the ancient Romans, you can slowly discuss issues of universal importance – about seven minutes. And how long before a new understanding of ourselves and gaining new energy and new meanings of work? We’ll find out soon.
Where is it?
About why Leonid Krol decided to create the Incantico project in Italy, he already told us. But it is one thing to listen and read, and quite another to see with your own eyes. The task of the project is to make sure that its participants leave the usual track, get off the rails laid once and for all. What, in fact, can we find on the asphalt patch on which we trample every day? And on unknown paths you can find anything – Leonid Krol is sure. That is why trainings should not take place in Moscow or even in Russia – the more unusual the environment, the better. Well, the hilly site in the Italian Umbria met all the requirements of the coach just perfectly. Altitude changes force the body to constantly adapt to the terrain when walking. The play of light and shadow pleases the eye from early morning until late evening.
A stream gurgles along the bottom of a shallow ravine, at some point breaking down into a small, but loud and obviously proud waterfall. And about what nature “missed”, Leonid Krol took care of himself by building several “simulators” on the territory. This is not only a triclinium, but also a clearing with bizarre, spreading snags, on which it is surprisingly comfortable to sit and lie, and an amphitheater inscribed in the slope of the ravine, which evokes thoughts of some pagan rituals, and much more. The task is still the same. We do not think with our heads, we think with our whole bodies – Leonid Krol never tires of repeating. Dressed in familiar suits, crammed into familiar chairs in the midst of gray interiors, we reproduce the same ideas in even the most important brainstorming sessions. Also, for the most part, familiar and gray. And in Incantico and legs, and hands, and the whole body, as well as eyes, ears and nose are surprised every second. Opening up a lot of opportunities for us, which, however, we still need to be able to use.
Read more:
- When does work make us happy?
Why do we need this?
The interests of the host and guests in this case coincided perfectly. Leonid Krol wanted to start the project with a “test” group in order to test and debug the work of “simulators” and techniques. And we, of course, wanted to know how these simulators and techniques work in general. But to be honest, it’s not just that. Recently, a joke has been going around on social networks that weekends are days when you can work quietly, while no one distracts you.
So, this is about us. No, we are not complaining. But, working in Psychologies about the subtle, complex and important, one can at some point lose sight of these very subtlety, complexity and importance. Become a deadline note-taking machine. This is especially dangerous now, when the magazine is conquering the Internet, there are four times as many notes, and top management sets an equally high goal of attracting a million unique visitors to the site per month … we fail to implement. And if we implement it, then not in the way we wanted. And still no million. And weekends too.
In general, we had a reason to go to Leonid Krol as guinea pigs of the Incantico project. For those who make a magazine with the slogan “Find yourself and live better”, sometimes it is vital to apply it to yourself too.
How it’s done?
And here we are sitting or even lying on snags and marble slabs, or even just on the grass under the warming sun. And again we discuss the ideas already expressed more than once. But this time – with a view of Mount Subacio, where Francis of Assisi wandered in search of revelations. Then we climb the slopes, go down to the waterfall, wander along the roads of white stone. And we talk, talk, talk. And I, sinfully, begin to suspect that neither the position of the body in space, nor the views of the olive groves, nor the murmur of the stream by themselves do not work. They still need the “help” of a coach.
Who is in no hurry to work miracles. He listens a lot and speaks little, smiles, nods. But then he suddenly drops a couple of phrases that may not directly relate to the conversation. It just changes its focus for some reason. At some point, our master becomes more and more like a master swordsman: he fights slowly and elegantly and, having played enough, inflicts a short slashing blow. I’m not talking about injections by chance. Comments about the abstruseness and toothlessness of our other texts Leonid Krol gives out without softening the epithets. And then suddenly he changes another “fly” for a game of association. And he invites all participants to tell which children’s toy each of us is most like. We choose our words carefully. And he doesn’t seem like much. In the course are hybrids of koloboks with moles, and castrated dogs, and fire engines that cannot live without another fire. And all this is not offensive, of course, a game is a game. But not in vain.
Because then some colleagues’ eyes suddenly turn out to be wet. And the author of these lines suddenly gives out something like a formula for articles that our readers need. And it’s not even a matter of whether this formula is true or not, but that I suddenly realize that I came up with it right now. So it works?
Epilogue
And then we return to Moscow. And we do a new number, and then we will do the next one. Because we love this job. No, we don’t fly on wings and we don’t speak vers libre, having returned from Incantico. But to the question whether something has become clearer to me personally about the magazine in which I have been working for 5 years, and about its team, I, perhaps, will answer “yes”. And here’s something else. A month after returning from training, the site’s audience exceeded 1,3 million unique visitors, if you’re wondering.
Space for change
Anyone can compare our feelings from the training with their own. The Incantico project is waiting for new participants. Umbria (Italy) is now hosting a “field model” of Leonid Krol’s popular training “Power. Money. Love”, as well as strategic sessions, trainings for group and personal decisions.
т. (495) 917 8020; (915) 131 4147, e-mail: info@incantico.com
Project website incantico.com