Mountain Quest Institute

The MQI Learning Environment

The environment within which we learn is extremely important in influencing how much learning occurs. While there is no “optimum” environment because each individual is unique and their feelings, perceptions and attention vary daily, there are basic characteristics that encourage us to be comfortable, relaxed, reflect and think about the meaning and implications of what we are learning. This is important because the only real learning comes from within each of us. Others can only facilitate and catalyze our learning. Recognizing this, the Institute has made a big effort to create an optimum experience for all learners. For example every guest room has a unique theme and color scheme that offers an experience and becomes a subject of conversations with others.  A positive environment of working together in a setting of simple elegance coupled with open inquiry encourages listening, thinking and unconscious learning.

 All sessions are lead by a facilitator in an informal, relaxed atmosphere of inquiry and dialogue. Learners may move around, sit anywhere and anyway then desire and time is frequently set aside for everyone to think about the meaning of the subject matter being considered. For example there is a labyrinth for quiet meditation, 300 acres of mountain trails for exercise and getting back to nature. There is also a small workout room with a sauna and Jacuzzi for physical exercise and enjoyment. The pastoral setting in the valley with barns, hayfields, horses, llamas and cattle gives participants an opportunity to at least temporarily escape the turbulent pace of life by relaxing and enjoying the natural world of a working farm and its animal life.

The meeting room has comfortable chairs that can be configured in many ways to suit different learning approaches. The two story 14,000 volume non-fiction library with leather couches, chairs and variable lighting encourages small group private conversations and relaxed discussions in the quiet world  of books and elegance. There is an electronic white board and many flip charts scattered around so that ideas can be easily written and recorded. The community center with couches and a fireplace provides another opportunity for thinking and relaxed conversations that can go to the heart of some of our deepest questions. The flow of conversations, people and ideas is a natural part of the structures, the decor and the landscape.  

This Web Site copyright 2005 by Alex and David Bennet. For educational and knowledge sharing purposes in the context of knowledge management, permission is given to copy and distribute materials on this web site with attribution.

Send mail to adean@mountainquestinstitute.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: 10/11/05