by Susannah Azzaro, Business Technology Teacher
A few weekends ago, I participated in a workshop entitled Sustainable Compassion for Educators presented by the non-profit, The Courage of Care Coalition. The mission of Courage of Care, as stated on their web site is “to empower both personal and social transformation by providing deep contemplative training coupled with powerful tools for systemic change. We support individuals, organizations and communities in realizing a more courageous, caring and equitable world.” ("Courage of Care Coalition")
In the workshop we explored the latest research on the science of care; engaged in mindfulness practices; explored possibilities for creating more inclusive education communities; and affirmed that “the best learning happens when students feel safe, seen, and connected.” ("Courage of Care Coalition") *
The workshop - particularly the information on mindfulness - inspired me to write this week’s blog post. Mindfulness is a practice that is radical in its simplicity, and in the realm of Education, it can positively and deeply affect change in the well-being of students, parents, teachers, and administrators.
A regular practice of mindfulness can lay this essential foundation for feeling safe, valued, and connected.
What is Mindfulness and How Does it Work?
Jon Kabat-Zinn, Professor of Medicine Emeritus and creator of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, HealthCare, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School shares, “Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally.” ("Jon Kabat-Zinn: Defining Mindfulness - Mindful", 2016)
Mindfulness works by calming the part of the brain that wants to react to the constant stream of fickle impulses. By building our capacity to slow down and notice our thoughts and feelings without judgement, we build our ability to make choices that are more in alignment with our highest good.
How Can Something So Simple Help in the Classroom?
Science is proving that stress has a tremendously negative effect on parts of the brain responsible for executive functioning, emotional regulation, and working memory, which are all functions that play a critical role in learning and behavior.
Kabat-Zinn, in his foreward to Learning to Breathe: A Mindfulness Curriculum for Adolescents by Patricia Broderick, expands on this science:
Through the systematic cultivation of attention, awareness, self-compassion, and kindness toward others…a set of fundamental and highly beneficial life skills are developed…These life skills form the basis for building successful relationships, beginning with oneself. They can also contribute to optimizing the classroom environment and learning. (Broderick, p. ix)
How Can I Get Started?
While you can practice bringing mindful awareness to any activity, the mindfulness approach I’m referring to in my post today is one in which you pause, close your eyes, slow down your breathing, and pay attention to what you notice.
You don’t need anything but YOU and about 5-15 minutes to start. If you want to set a timer, you can. Sit comfortably, close your eyes, slow down your breathing, inhaling and exhaling through your nose (if your nose is obstructed, you can breathe through your mouth).
Your attention will, inevitably, wander off your breath to any number of topics the mind likes to obsess about. When you notice this has happened, non-judgementally bring your attention back to the feeling of the breath at the tip of your nostrils.
Just start here. Try it daily for a while. Five minutes. That’s it. You cannot get this wrong. It takes patience and consistency, but it costs nothing… and the returns are stunning.
What Are Some Effects of Practicing Mindfulness?
- Your Body – By relaxing your body and your breathing, you shift from a sympathetic nervous system response (also known as fight or flight) into a parasympathetic response (also known as rest and digest). The effects of shifting from sympathetic to parasympathetic response include lowered blood pressure, improved digestion, and better sleep.
- Your Mind – Our minds are like a yard full of untamed puppies. These puppies are like our thoughts. When you regularly practice mindfulness, you don’t get rid of the puppies, they just calm down, and you become a better caretaker. Translated: your focus and attention improve, your creativity increases, your capacity for caring and compassion amplifies, and you can make decisions for your life with more integrity.
- Your Inner Self – When you regularly carve out time to pause, relax, and breathe, you become aware of things you never noticed before. Maybe at first it’s just the sounds and smells around you, but then you start noticing things within you. You may feel things you have never felt and notice patterns of thought and behavior you never noticed. This connection with your inner life can help you gain clarity about what’s being reflected back to you in your outer life, which, in turn, can help you make better choices for yourself in any given situation.
A Word about Resistance
As simple as the technique of mindfulness is, when you begin practicing, you will encounter resistance. This is normal and expected. We are creatures of habit, and when we try to incorporate anything new and possibly uncomfortable into our daily lives, we will encounter a push-back from our ego. What does resistance look like? Boredom, fidgeting, a laundry list of avoidance techniques … the usual culprits. Don’t judge the push-back; just keep showing up and doing the practice anyway.
An Invitation
I’d like to invite you to give mindfulness a try. Jump in today…right now if you want.
Let me know what your experiences are. I would love for you to share them here in the comments section.
It’s a radical thing to get quiet and still, and to be with yourself without judgement; radical, because in our, outward-focused world that doesn’t stop moving, thinking, planning, dissecting, analyzing, talking, and reacting, turning inward has the ability to bring us back into balance, and lay a new foundation for our teaching and learning experiences, our personal lives, our world.
* Check out PDLCS's mission. Part of why we exist is to cultivate this feeling of safety and connectedness with our students and their families.
Works Cited
Broderick, P. C. (2013). Learning to breathe: A mindfulness curriculum for adolescents to cultivate emotion regulation, attention, and performance. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications.
Courage of Care Coalition. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2016, from http://courageofcare.org
Jon Kabat-Zinn: Defining Mindfulness - Mindful. (2016, January 11). Retrieved November 14, 2016, from http://www.mindful.org/jon-kabat-zinn-defining-mindfulness/