Embodied Educators: Mindfulness Of Breathing

Research shows educators and educational leaders make on average 1,500 decisions a day. Combatting this experience of decision fatigue begins with embodiment. Explore a basic mindfulness of breathing practice as a pathway toward 'embodiment'; embodying the senses, the breath, the body, and what it means to be human outside of your role as educator.

Transcript

Hello, Welcome to the first meditation for embodied educators. So for our time today we're going to be exploring a basic mindfulness practice and when I say mindfulness I want to honor the roots that this practice comes from and so really mindfulness has roots in Buddhism and also in many other religious cultural traditions and this practice really dates back thousands of years ago and in Buddhism it's often referred to as a vipassana practice and really when we talk about vipassana or mindfulness it's about bringing attention to what is actually here in this moment and so considering our senses what do we see what do we hear what do we feel externally and internally and another aspect of mindfulness or vipassana practice is not just being present with what is but it's also bringing a kind attention to what is and so a teacher I love Tar Brock often will talk about this practice almost as if it's like a bird with two wings presence being one of the wings and tender loving attention being another part of the wing so why don't we get into this short practice we'll spend about five minutes exploring this and yeah let's get started so find a comfortable seat the offering would be to sit here or lie down or stand just kind of see what your body is feeling for this time being and choose a position that's gonna offer you to kind of be on this alert engaged but also relaxed place so not alert and like a hypervigilant space but alert and in a way that feels you're able to stay with your present moment experience and so once you find your position that you want to settle your body into just start to notice your whole body here so notice the weight of your body notice even the temperature that you feel whether it's cool air or warmth let's open our eyes and just kind of take in your surroundings here so even noticing the environment you're in and even if it's helpful in this moment you can say out loud or internally I am here and in this moment I am safe for now I am here and for now I am safe just seeing how that kind of settles into your body if there is even like a five percent more arrival here and if it feels right for you you can soften your gaze or close your eyes and you'll just start to notice your breath so notice your breath where you can most easily detect it here so maybe you notice the cool inhales through the nose and the warm exhales as they release from the nostrils maybe you notice the breath in the chest rising and falling on each breath in and each out or maybe you even notice the belly the belly rising on the inhale and the belly softening on the exhale we're not trying to change the breath this is not a breath work practice we're just simply noticing the breath as it is inviting that curious and kind attention to this somewhat neutral place and as we pay attention to the breath we might begin to notice the state of the mind and maybe that's where your attention has been and it's felt really difficult or challenging to be with the breath and that's a really human experience it's a very human thing to think to plan to imagine to fantasize to worry and almost as if you can sort of see your mind as a person or being in front of you and just simply bowing to it just acknowledging the presence and the state of the mind acknowledging the types of thoughts not needing to push anything away and then just gently guiding your awareness back to your breath the breath has always been here and will always be here allowing the breath to be that anchor amidst any storm or any sort of weather that is occurring whether that be internally or externally and this is really the practice anytime you realize or notice your mind has wandered off into a thought or maybe something else that's happening whether it's a noise or maybe a certain sensation it's not about changing it it's not about resisting or removing it unless if there's like true true pain right but really it's about acknowledging the utter human experience that you're having during this time and once that is acknowledged finding the breath finding that anchor breathing in I know I'm breathing in breathing out I know I'm breathing out and as we come to a close for this first practice this mindfulness of our breath practice just really acknowledge and send yourself gratitude here for taking this time for taking this pause for taking your seat as this is a foundational element and what it means to really embody and be in our bodies and our hearts and our minds as we engage with this work of educating as we engage in this work of leading whether that be students whether that be staff members whether that be with families this is a foundational practice a way to develop our own self awareness and our own self-management around patience around pausing really developing our capacity to be with the full experience thank you so much for this community me and we will come back next time for a second meditation session and during that time we'll be exploring more mindfulness practices and some somatic based practices as well as we continue our time together bye