A Culture of Caring
What’s the best birthday present you ever got?
My husband gave me a birthday surprise that will keep on giving and benefit everyone I touch. This past weekend, he drove us to the New York Adirondack Mountains for a mindfulness meditation retreat at the Omega Institute. We nested in a tiny cabin, paused to inhale mountain air, and nourished ourselves with healthy food. We mixed with interesting people from all over the planet who chatted about their commitments to making this a better world.
The heart of our experience was deepening our personal learning of mindfulness and meditation. Tara Brach led our 3 day workshop, using her humorous, gentle approach to mindfulness, as described in her book Radical Acceptance. She guided us with practices to bring peace, reflection, and caring to ourselves and our interpersonal relationships.
This was perfect timing – preparation for my visit next week to Dr. Joshua Aronson’s Mindfulness Lab at New York University. He and his grad students are using mindfulness practices to enrich the curricular enrichment of the College Prep Academy for at risk urban high schoolers.
How does this tie into my consulting? I don’t have all the answers yet, but during my meditations, I was flooded with images of schools, classrooms, and teachers I’ve met over the years. There is so much suffering. So many good, highly committed educators are burning out or leaving the field. So many students are disengaged, disconnected from the re-energizing experience of real learning. For those with disabilities, the experience is compounded by the reminders they see everywhere of the gap between what they “should” be and who/ what they are.
I have been aware of mindfulness practices being used in Montessori Schools and in some elementary schools. It seems to be rare at the secondary level or with secondary faculty. I have resolved to incorporate mindfulness into my consulting practice in ways that will create a culture of caring for BOTH teachers and students. I would welcome your input! Do you have ideas about how this could be done? Is mindfulness already a practice in your schools? For staff AND students? I’d also like to explore how we could extend mindfulness practice to families to help them create a culture of caring at home. I’m especially interested in integrating mindfulness into inclusive practices for youth with disabilities. I welcome your comments!
