Like an acorn longing to be an oak tree, each one of us has a longing to discover and bring our best self forward, and to offer it up to the world. For some the seeds of our potential are hidden by pain and fear, having been tossed to the wind by injury, violence or abuse. For others, the seeds lay dormant waiting for nourishment to awaken and grow.

As Feldenkrais® educator practitioners we are interested in how people learn and grow – in order to help them be the best they can be.  This may mean that we have to understand their patterns of pain and fear. This may mean that we have to understand what they want, what they need, and what they are capable of accepting at any given time in their life. And always to be successful we must speak the language of hope – through our words, our touch and our way of being.

Our work is noble work. Through it we guide people to discover new functional capacities and easier ways of doing what matters to them. When we are at our best, we help others be at their best.

In the opening keynote address, Dr. Diana Whitney will draw upon current research in positive psychology and hope theory, along with her work as a leader in the growing field of positive change - to illustrate the importance of hope in human learning and well being. She will guide us through a brief Appreciative Inquiry, a process for which she is internationally recognized, as a way of helping us connect to our own wealth of experience about learning and the language of hope.

Diana Whitney, PhD (1999) is an inspirational speaker, provocative educator and pioneering thought leader in the emerging field of Appreciative Inquiry and Positive Change. She is President of Corporation for Positive Change, an internationally recognized consulting firm specializing in the application of Appreciative Inquiry, a process she helped to develop, to large scale change. Diana coaches executives and their teams in support of culture transformation, strategic development and leadership capacity building.

Dr. Whitney has authored or edited fifteen books, as well as dozens of articles and chapters, including the best selling book on Appreciative Inquiry:  The Power of Appreciative Inquiry (with Amanda Trosten-Bloom) and Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Revolution in Change (with David Cooperrider).

Diana is a Distinguished Consulting Faculty at Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center where she teaches and advises PhD students. In addition, she is a founder and director emeritus of the Taos Institute, a center for dialogue among family therapists, educators and organization consultants working to further a social constructionist practices. She lives in Chapel Hill, NC and can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).