Ep 79: Layered Learning

In this episode, I'm talking about Layered Learning. It's a concept and skill that I teach my clients so that they're gaining next level awareness and depth with their own learning and intimacy with themselves. You ready? Let's do it. 

Hello, you are listening to the Love Your Life as a Performer podcast. I'm Kelli Youngman, and I am The Life Coach for Performers. I help actors, singers and dancers love themselves and their lives way more. So keep listening to learn how you can love your life both on and off the stage.

Hello, and welcome back to episode 79 of the Love Your Life as a Performer podcast. I am so delighted. We just began the fourth round of THE PARADIGM. And as I was sitting with this last night, I was thinking about how freaking cool it is that,  this is the fourth time I'm doing this container. And I noticed that going into this round, you know, each round is truly unique and different because of the people that are in the room, because of who I am as I'm facilitating the room, because of the things that I'm learning and how I'm expanding and how all of those factors come together.  I just felt super proud of myself last night. And I feel like  there's such a difference between celebrating and  thinking about something on the surface level, but actually slowing down to feel and embody the celebration, it's such a different thing. 

You know, because again, intellectually, I can be thinking like, Oh yeah, that's great. We're on the fourth round. It's so cool. Everyone's getting exactly what they want. And  to really sit with that and process that, that and feel that the magnitude of that, the way that lives are changing and timelines are changing and how that ripple effects out into the way my clients move forward as artists, as creatives, as thought leaders, as parents,  as friends, as partners, like all of these things  influence the entire world and the consciousness and the presence that we invite everyone around us to  as we ourselves are growing and expanding.

And I was saying on our welcome activation yesterday that it's sort of like,  you know, like almost like ET, like how they touch fingers and they light up. It's like, imagine that every person you connect with, every person that you're sharing your light with,  like, we're all just awakening each other to  the magic of ourselves, the magic of really owning our gifts, and embodying our talent and letting ourselves share that with the world.  The way that we do that every single day by the humans we connect with, just by being a light. Just by being in truth of our own brilliance.

It's life changing and a ripple effect. And to know that my work as a coach is impacting the world, the performing arts industry,  just like the entertainment industry as a whole is  freaking wild.  And so, yeah, I'm taking a moment to celebrate that.  Holy cow. I started a mastermind two years ago and now we're going into the fourth round of it.  That is freaking cool. So celebrating everyone who is,  just wrapping up their round of THE PARADIGM, celebrating everyone who took the leap to be in this next container,  and just looking forward to all that's coming.

You know, something that I was talking about on the call and something that I've been talking with clients a lot about is this concept of Layered Learning. So I wanted to bring that to the podcast this week. Layered Learning is just a way of acknowledging that there's depths to learning and when you're really available to the Layered Learning, There's so much that you can gain from something right?

So I want you to imagine like you're going to school You're reading a book you're learning  Information, right? Like information to me is like, of course, I'm going to teach you the concepts and tools and all of the formats, practices, et cetera.  You learning that skill, like actually learning the information, the same way we learned how to spell or read, like learning that information is like, to me, surface level learning. Not because it's less important, but just, it's like. It's the actual content of what you're learning, right? It's like, if you're learning math, you're learning addition, subtraction, you're learning that language, vocabulary, that skill, that tool, okay?

Layered Learning is when you then zoom out.  And you watch how you engage with the learning. And to me as a coach, as someone who's fascinated by human behavior, that's really where I think all the magic happens.  And I teach this to my clients because again, I'm giving them tools. I'm giving them processes. I'm giving them skills that they can learn.  And then on top of that, I want them to be curious, right? I want you to be curious about, how am I engaging with this practice? How am I engaging  with the process of auditions, right? We can learn what it means to audition to go and the format of an ECC or learning a combination, learning the information that's being given to us or the lines, et cetera,  right? We can learn that factual sort of surface level information, but then,  when we have the ability to zoom out and witness ourselves engaging with that thing,  to me, that's the Layered Learning. Because then you're really digging into uncovering all of the subconscious programming of how you think you're supposed to think, behave, act, engage in the world, right? 

Sort of like,  if you go into an audition and they start teaching you the combination and you're like, okay, like I'm learning it, you're, you're processing it, you're learning the information, you're learning the steps, you're learning the counts. But then if you zoom out and you realize that you're panicking  and like in extreme panic,  you're like, Oh my God, this is so fast. I don't know which one it is... is it that this or that?! And if you're watching your brain engage with the information that is being given,  that's a whole other experience, right?

That's when you really sort of discover, Oh, am I looking at this through the lens of trying to get it perfect? Am I subconsciously always trying to figure out the right answer? Am I having a conversation with someone and, you know, talking and engaging with them? But really, underneath it all, am I trying to figure out like,  I want them to like me. Do they like me?

If that program or any program is running underneath  the learning,  I just feel like having awareness of that gives you  this whole other possibility  of making new choices. So it's the Layered Learning  that happens when you just even witness how you're engaging with learning something. Does that make sense? 

So let me try to give another example of this. Even people engaging with coaching work. If you're coming to the calls every week and you're being diligent and you're being thoughtful and you're showing up,  but you realize that every time you're coming to a call, you're trying to think of what's the thing that I really need to fix.  Again, it's not good, bad, right, or wrong, but having that awareness of like, Oh, I'm engaging with this coaching container in a way that is like, I need to fix myself before I can have X, Y, or Z. That Layered Learning, that deeper level of awareness  is just going to give you so much more insight  with how you're engaging with the circumstance.

It's basically bringing your attention to the fact that no matter what you're doing, how  you're doing it,  why you're doing it,  is being informed by your subconscious programming.  And it's not good, bad, right, or wrong. You could still decide you love your reasons.  But I think the Layered Learning is like, Oh,  why am I doing that?

I think I mentioned this on my Instagram, or maybe I took it from a coaching call and reposted it. Something like that. But I was thinking about the fact that I had these stories about my family that I didn't realize I had until much later. That is Layered Learning, right? It's like having the ability to witness, this experience happened. You know, my mom asked me a question about my engagement party, about Central Park, and I made it mean  that  she had thoughts about following the rules or she had thoughts about me breaking the rules,  right? Like the Layered Learning in that is being able to zoom out and see, Oh,  those were my thoughts.

The way that I engaged with that circumstance, the way I showed up was informed by my thoughts  Not my mother's, because I was completely off base with what she was thinking. She was literally just asking me the question, can I bring alcohol to the park so that my dad could pack a cooler and bring all of the things for the entire family, right?

Layered Learning is about being willing to question, I think I already said this, but I'll say it again. It's being willing to question why?  Like, why  am I doing that? Or  what's the thinking that created this experience?  Layered Learning is when we are just going beyond the surface level  to really understand and look at what is influencing  our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

And so I encourage all of my clients to do, to do this  again. They're going to  hear what I'm saying. They're going to learn the literal skills and tools, et cetera, and  So much more value is available when you're really asking yourself, how am I engaging with the process? How am I engaging with this relationship? How am I engaging,  et cetera.

Right. And this just brought up another example that I'll give you. It's like, you can learn the skill of budgeting of looking at, okay, like this is how much I make, and this is how much I want of this, and this is how much I want of this. Right? You can do like the surface level learning of having a budget, honoring it, et cetera. But the Layered Learning is like, how are you relating to the budget?  How is the budget making you feel? Is it making you feel tight?  Is it creating a net positive result?  Are you inherently going to this place where you're like, I can't spend any money and you're being really strict?  And there's no good, bad, right or wrong answer.

Like the skill of budgeting, the skill of adding up your expenses, et cetera. Like that's the surface level.  How you're relating to budgeting, how you're thinking about money,  how you're feeling when you  spend money, right? Like all of that is the Layered Learning to your relationship with money.  The same goes for any relationship,  anything with your agents when they're teaching you how to set up a profile on Actors Access and etc. Like there's the skill the task the exercise the thing you're doing  and then there's the Layered Learning of how you are relating to it, how you are engaging with that process. And when you slow down and you zoom out And you start questioning and  witnessing and acknowledging and getting curious about that, there's a whole other layer of knowing yourself, of being intimate with your own patterns and your habits and your belief systems and all of the social conditioning that's kind of created how you move through the world.

And when you realize that's optional, when you realize that  You really can  create any experience, if you're willing to do the Layered Learning, right? When you're not just taking certain things at face value, but then you're also asking like, okay, and, and how am I relating to this? How am I showing up to this learning?  That's when you really can quantum leap and make changes at an identity level  simply by giving yourself access to more awareness of your own consciousness.

All right, that's what I got for you this week, Layered Learning.  This is a way to access insight about yourself and how you're relating to every single thing in your life.  And really truly, this is how you start,  like I said, becoming intimate with yourself, creating Emotional Aglility when you understand like, Oh, this is just, this is happening as a result of how I'm  engaging with the process of learning the skill or this  show or this song or this dance combo, like, right?

We get to then have the Layered Learning, the self acknowledgement, the self understanding,  to also have love and compassion for all corners of our being.  All right. That's what I got for you this week. And I'll meet you back here for another episode.

Hey, I want to invite you to get started because if this is blowing your mind, imagine the impact of when we actually worked together, you get to love your life as an actor, singer, or dancer, even including auditions. And if that sounds amazing, come join us inside of Momentum. You get lifetime access to The Performers Plan, coaching, community, and more, and I will be supporting you the entire way. Go to kelliyoungmanwellness.com/momentum to join us now.