Crowded Spaces and Crowded Minds
We are all so busy. Hallways and classrooms are full. Text messages and e-mails demand our attention. We lose track of our ability to evaluate the importance of our tasks in the face of so much urgency. Even in moments when our physical bodies are still, our minds are racing. Anxiety runs high. In the midst of the capacity to reflect upon the past and wonder about the future, the present moment often gets crowded out. Could training our minds to focus reduce our anxiety and facilitate teaching and learning? These observations and questions have sparked me to pursue a personal practice of meditation, and to practice meditation with my high school English classes.
When we meditate, we practice concentrating our focus on our breath, on the noises around us, on walking or running, on a piece of music, or on the experience of eating one raisin. While the unfamiliarity of meditation makes some students feel uncomfortable, by the end of a semester students describe how, during meditation, their "problems walk away" and they have momentarily "conquered the chaos". Most students find value in learning how to notice the quality and quantity of their thoughts. Personally, I have noticed myself appreciating simple moments more often since beginning a meditation practice. Sunlight through the window on the staircase at school and the warmth of the steam rising from my cup of herbal tea are simple joys that I experience more fully by being present to them.
Deanne Barrett spends her time teaching high school English, meditating, finding lost mittens, and reading YA literature.
When we meditate, we practice concentrating our focus on our breath, on the noises around us, on walking or running, on a piece of music, or on the experience of eating one raisin. While the unfamiliarity of meditation makes some students feel uncomfortable, by the end of a semester students describe how, during meditation, their "problems walk away" and they have momentarily "conquered the chaos". Most students find value in learning how to notice the quality and quantity of their thoughts. Personally, I have noticed myself appreciating simple moments more often since beginning a meditation practice. Sunlight through the window on the staircase at school and the warmth of the steam rising from my cup of herbal tea are simple joys that I experience more fully by being present to them.
Deanne Barrett spends her time teaching high school English, meditating, finding lost mittens, and reading YA literature.
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