Mindfulness Training – For teachers who have no time to lose
“I have so much to do, I don’t have time for mindfulness training.”
A purely hypothetical situation... A meeting had been called for colleagues who might be interested in applying for grant money from the EU. As is the case with these things, the colleagues who arrive were the ones who were already involved in a number of school projects. Three teachers and the headmistress were sitting at a table in the library when another teacher named “Paul” arrived. Paul began the meeting by expressing the stress and frustration he was feeling at that moment – in his “break” he had just written up a report for a student with severe family and school problems; he was worried that he wouldn’t get enough pupils to participate in a language contest he was organizing for the school; one of the pupils in his class was, apparently, stealing money from the other children – the situation was a growing worry; he had a doctor’s appointment that afternoon (due to slightly elevated blood pressure); and his own son was having problems with the math teacher in another school. The list went on. And this list was one wholly comprised of extras that didn’t even include his normal duties. Does the situation sound familiar? The content of what Paul said to the group was: we are already doing so much, why begin another project? His tone of voice and body language expressed aggression, frustration and feelings of being overwhelmed. Later that evening, in a private phone call to one of the colleagues present, this same teacher would apologize for having begun the meeting the way he did. He is intelligent and self-reflective enough to know that he has a tendency to become aggressive. Yet, stress and aggression are not part of his basic nature; they are merely habitual responses that momentarily arise. But that phone call would come only several hours later. The beginning of this meeting offered the participants a perfect opportunity to stop and breath. Neurobiologists have proven that a feeling impulse, left on its own, fades after 90 seconds. When a person can let go of the story in his or her head, 90 seconds is enough time for the body to begin to settle down. The felt effect of attention redirected to sounds in the room or sensations in the body is calming. And, only a calm brain can work properly. We know this from science and we know it from experience. However, instead of the whole group taking let’s say 3 to 5 minutes to check in with their bodies and feelings in an attitude of non-judgmental awareness, the opposite happened: emotional contagion. In response to Paul’s list of work that he felt was overwhelming him, the headmistress adopted Paul’s stressed tone of voice (mirror neurons) and responded with her own list of reasons why Paul should not feel overwhelmed. The truth is, we are human beings and reactions happen in the body whether they should or not. Unfortunately, the word should does not help us work with our ‘body-minds’. This stressed and aggressive emotional tone continued for the rest of the meeting. Neurobiologically speaking, in this state it is neither possible to communicate and plan effectively (which would require the brain’s neo-cortex), nor is it possible to get in touch with feelings of motivation or connectedness with colleagues (both of which would require the brain’s limbic system). At the end of such meetings no one is happy. The participants part with no vision, no plan and no sense of teamwork with which they can move forward. This 50 minutes was as good as lost.
What might the same situation look like with leadership and staff who practiced mindfulness? Paul, a dedicated and hardworking teacher, enters the library feeling overwhelmed. He begins with his story – a list of projects already happening at the school and a hesitation to begin another project. His tone is aggressive and overwhelmed. In this case, the colleagues and the headmistress recognize in him what they know from themselves: a mind momentarily out of balance. Because they regularly practice working with their own minds in a gentle and non-judgmental manner, they feel connected to their colleague and understand what the situation needs. The headmistress says something like: “Wow, there are a lot of feelings there. Let’s take a moment to be present, or to breathe, or to connect to our bodies, or to check-in.” The precise language used is suited to the specific group and the practices currently used. After settling down and settling in, the engaged colleagues are in a position to really communicate, connect, set goals and plan – or make a well thought out decision to not move forward with a new project. They can respond instead of merely reacting. Regardless of the specific outcomes of the meeting, they leave feeling seen, heard and appreciated.
“I don’t have time for mindfulness,” is a sentence teachers say before they learn and implement mindfulness techniques in their lives. Practitioners of mindfulness, however, might say something like this, “Wow, there’s a lot to do at the moment. I really don’t have time not to be mindful today.”
.......................................................................... About the author
Christina Metz MEd, is a certified trainer for “Mindfulness and Mindfulness Based
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