What is FEBI-4U?
An interview with Marcela Kyngesburye and Ginny Whitelaw
Ginny: You’re one of the instructors at IZL and will be teaching in the FEBI-4U program and FEBI certification. How did you come to this work?
Marcela: Well, I was looking for something that could help me out especially in these leadership positions that we have as women, and I wasn't finding something that was connecting completely with my whole body and intuition and what I was sensing in and around me, so when I came to FEBI it was like, “Oh yeah!” Because when we're in the practical world, we want to keep flowing along, yet so many things come to us as women, and also men, but speaking from my experience in this body, I was noticing how recognizing and honoring the energy in the body, how I was feeling, that it could all combine with the mind as a whole way of leadership instead of just part of me. I could choose which patterns to use depending on the situation. It just made a lot of sense to come to FEBI and to start using it everywhere.
Ginny: You're right that FEBI integrates the body and mind in a way that other assessments don't. Maybe you could say a little bit more about FEBI-4U. How did you discover that FEBI was for you? How did it help you as a professional, as a woman, in putting mind and body together?
Marcela: When I discovered FEBI, it was introduced through movement. Imagine if we had music now and what music would you use to describe what we are experiencing? For me, it really became a full experience: moving the body with sensations, feelings, thoughts, memories, and integrating future, past and present. It's usually one thing or the other and you need to choose what part of you is going to show up; I love the way that FEBI and Zen Leadership programs allow us to have both; we don't need to choose (e.g., our personal or professional sides, one pattern in our personality or another). We can use our whole selves and fully show up. With FEBI, it was like I was able to connect all my pieces together and say this is who I am and this is how I can show up even stronger to do what's asked of me.
Ginny: I get excited listening to you Marcela because I had a similar experience when I learned about the four patterns that FEBI measures. I could recognize the ones I use habitually that we could call my personality (since FEBI is a personality “test”). But then I could see all four patterns as possibilities, which was really expansive. So, you're also teaching the FEBI Certification this fall, which is for coaches and facilitators to get certified to use FEBI in their work. What does it mean to get FEBI certified? Why would someone want to do it? Why did you want to do it?
Marcela: When we are coaching others and, many times in leadership we are also coaching ourselves, we want to know and have more clarity. FEBI gives us a language that we can use for ourselves and others to communicate in a way that's clear. It’s a really easy way to separate or explain different tasks needing to be done (e.g., essential modes of leadership) without misinterpretation or blaming one's ability to do something. It transforms completely the conversation and allows us to look at the task in front of us (and the energy pattern that best fits). This is not only for individuals but also for groups. It allows us to use our strengths and know which (patterns) will help us to get wherever we want to go faster. And that's coaching, right?
Ginny: We say sometimes in Zen training that when you make something physical, you make it practice-able. You make it trainable. And that's what I'm hearing in your answer that it can really help coaches and teachers of all kinds, make things practicable. So that we can actually help our clients make shifts.
Marcela: I think with the experiences we've had with the pandemic, there’s this sense of loneliness or just the way our relationships changed. I think FEBI really can help us shift in a direction that we can come together from a place of understanding each other and working towards our goals.
Ginny: Tell me your favorite FEBI story.
Marcela: My favorite FEBI story was discovering myself in those movements, especially in the (pattern) of the Visionary. I was playing with it, and this movement allows you to be so playful that I really felt so happy in it. I remember I was lost in that movement and it just felt so good in the whole body, that there was a lot of joy. And I think that's my favorite way of using my leadership: through joy. I think many of us can find those ways through the body where we can use our leadership skills from our best place. I still can remember that moment. And when I'm teaching it, it comes back so I think people can feel it too. I just really feel centered there. In this space, I can do anything I want.
Ginny: Love it, and I can feel the joy from here. Thank you so much for sharing that joy and that wisdom as a part of teaching FEBI-4U and FEBI Certification.
Marcela Kyngesburye is a Zen Leadership practitioner, ZL Instructor and FEBI Coach.
