http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/aug/04/primary-school-teacher-lifelong-ambition-mindfulness
So I've finished the first week of my current course. Despite having really enjoyed some daily meditation in the last month, I've struggled with the meditation this week. Whereas previously, I have found myself reaching a place of deep relaxation in my 10 minute meditates, this week I have not been able to fully let go and have been struggling with an impatience 'just to get it done'. However, as the name of the game is non-criticism and patience, I shall take this as par for the course and trust that this will pass and I will be where I am meant to be with it each and every day. The good thing is I do not doubt that learning this will improve my life. I have seen the beginnings of that just in understanding a little of the theory of mindfulness, so have no doubt that the practice will only enhance that sense of peace and acceptance in my life.
Yes - I am drawn to this combination naturally. And very interested to read about how this is actually being carried out in some schools. As I've previously mentioned, one of the reasons I became a teacher was because I wanted to do something that was about connecting with people's lives and being on a collective journey. I believe education should be about the whole child, the whole person and that is what drove me work in schools. It hasn't always been about that in practice sadly and I've sometimes struggled to know how to maintain my desire to make teaching about the person and the process rather than just being a means to an end. I wonder how I can bring mindfulness to
It's coming. What valuable skills to be teaching children. I wish this had been part of my education.
Having made a commitment to really make mindfulness and meditation a part of my life, I have purchased a book called Mindfulness: an eight week plan for finding peace in a frantic world. I read the introductory chapters while on holiday in the UK and now am in week one of the eight week plan. Meditating every day.
The practice of Mindfulness has been on my radar for some time. Several years ago, my brother started studying and practicing mindfulness and in 2009 introduced me to a book called Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn. I devoured the first three chapters of the book, reading and re-reading them over the years, and would say they have touched my life in many ways since. The attitudinal foundations outlined in chapter 2 (non-judging (of yourself and others); patience; beginner's mind; trust; non-striving; acceptance; and letting go) have been reread particularly often and the essence of using breathing to feel relaxed and grounded in the moment have also sunk in for me. The result has been an increasing ability to live in the moment, trust that things will work out, enjoy myself and feel positive about life.
But I never got past chapter four which is where you have to start making a commitment to meditation and I just couldn't do it. Recently, however, I was going through a stressful patch and one of my friends started talking to me about a website called Headspace which offered guided daily mindfulness meditation sessions online. I gave it a go and meditated every day for a fortnight. I loved it. And so continues my journey. |
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June 2015
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