The following meditation is led by Miriam Berlikofsky.
This meditation is for teachers who want to reconnect with their passion for teaching.
Let's close our eyes together and take a few deep breaths.
Inhaling,
Filling up your belly like a balloon.
Exhaling slowly,
Loudly.
Again,
Inhale,
Fill the belly.
Exhale slowly and loudly as if you're fogging a mirror.
One more time.
Deep inhale.
Loud,
Long exhale.
And now begin to roll the shoulders back.
Move the neck side to side,
Releasing any tension.
And now let's close our eyes together and rewind.
Begin to think back to when you first started in education.
Imagine yourself back when you were learning or student teaching or your first year as a teacher or educator.
Begin to imagine yourself back then when you had all these aspirations of being the best teacher,
Trainer,
Administrator that you can be and making a difference in the lives of students.
Bring all those feelings back up.
Allow them to overflow.
They may be hard to remember,
But they're in there.
You were excited to please.
You were excited to teach the next generation.
You were excited to make a difference and watch students grow.
You were excited to see yourself grow and the difference that you made every day.
So feeling all of those feelings,
Let's put our hand over our heart.
Just feel all the goodness and imagine all of the impact that you made.
And now let's imagine that it's a school day and you pull up in your car 10 minutes early.
You sit in your car and just take a deep breath.
You know you're already out of the game because you got there early and you're excited for the day.
And now imagine walking through the office doors or unlocking the gate you go through to get on campus.
You've got a big smile on your face because you know you're impacting little minds today and what you do makes a difference.
You walk with a big smile on your face,
Striding confidently with your head held high.
You wave to other teachers as you walk to your classroom.
You cheer them up and send them on their way.
Maybe you see a student or two and you say,
Great to see you.
I'm so glad you're so glad you're here.
Another student runs up to you and says,
Oh my gosh teacher,
Teacher,
I'm so glad you're here.
And then your principal walks by and praises you for something that you did in the observation last week and says,
Great work,
Keep it up.
Parents are saying great things about your work.
Students love you.
The principal says,
Thank you so much for showing up today and making an impact on the lives of children.
He or she walks away and you're happy that you're making a difference.
You're impacting everyone around you and you've got a bounce in your step.
When you go in your classroom or office,
You turn on some music and you have a big smile on your face.
You can see the details of artwork on the wall,
The texture of the walls.
You can notice the color of the carpet and the lights and you imagine yourself fully in your classroom or office.
Your classroom or office is decorated just the way you like it.
It's become a refuge for you and for your students.
You're just rocking out to some tunes,
Putting up the schedule for the day and feeling great because everything that you do is impacting those around you.
Now imagine the kids coming in,
You greeting them at the door.
They're so excited to see you.
They sit down right away and pull out their warm-ups or if you're in your office,
Maybe you go to an observation or a meeting and everyone is excited to see you and you have clarity in what you're going to talk about.
Imagine having positive interactions as you move through your day.
Imagine taking time at recess to connect with students and also take care of your personal needs.
Take a break,
Listen to a meditation like this and imagine yourself moving through the day to lunchtime with a smile on your face.
You have a bounce in your step,
An energy to spare.
Everyone who walks by you has a big smile on their face.
Great to see you.
How was your weekend?
Another week,
Yes,
Shaping young minds and it's lunchtime.
You release your students to lunch and you walk around the block or you go to a nearby park and you eat your lunch and enjoy the nature around you and you hear the birds chirping,
Maybe the sound of water or younger children playing.
You return to school refreshed and ready to finish the afternoon.
You continue to shape young minds,
Getting them excited and passionate about learning.
Maybe one of your students made a breakthrough in their growth and you're so proud of them.
Maybe you make a mistake on the board and laugh at yourself and say,
Whoops,
Got to try again.
Mistakes are proof you're learning and then it's the end of the day and you release your students to dismissal.
You get ready for the next day knowing that you made a difference and that tomorrow you get to do this again.
You're looking forward to seeing your family or your pets at home and doing some hobbies or exercise because you have so much in this life to offer the world and so many opportunities to live your best life.
Imagine yourself moving through the rest of your day,
Listening to your body's signals.
If you need rest,
Exercise,
Connection,
Downtime,
Whatever it is you need,
You listen and you honor that.
At the end of the night,
You're ready for bed and you're excited to wake up in the morning to do it all again to do it all again and make this world a better place every day,
One child at a time.
Begin to wiggle your fingers and toes,
Bringing yourself back into the present moment.
Flutter the eyes open,
Stretch your arms overhead and take a moment to reflect on how your day,
Your regular day,
These days compares to that passionate and purposeful young educator you just visited.
See if any changes need to be made to make your life better and make a bigger,
More positive impact on your students.
