by Steven Thurston Oliver, McKeown School of Education, Salem State University, U.S.A.

It was a wonderful experience offering a webinar entitled Contemplative Pedagogy and Meaningful Connection Across Human Differences to the Contemplative Pedagogy Network (CPN). As a Professor of Education at a regional public institution in the U.S. I thought it would be interesting and informative to engage with scholar practitioners in the U.K. I work with students who aspire to be teachers in K-12 schools or student affairs professionals in higher education.  It is critically important that future educators commit themselves to doing the work of exploring how racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, and other ways of resisting otherness have manifested in their own lives.  A different way of getting at this same notion is to ask students to consider where these issues live within them. Contemplative pedagogy and contemplative approaches to teaching and learning have been a powerful catalyst for increasing the capacity of educators to engage across human differences. 

Contemplative pedagogy in the context of the university classroom invites students to sit with the ways course content interacts with their lived experiences, beliefs, stances and deepest knowing. It seeks to deepen and encourage the ability to explore what is in our hearts and minds. This practice of being introspective to understand how negative perceptions of those who are different than us based on a range of possible attributes, is a necessary and lifelong journey. I am often encouraging educators to understand that as an individual you are the primary instrument you have to work with in your teaching. Furthermore, if you don’t engage in this practice that my colleague Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz calls the Archaeology of Self then we set up a dynamic where good and well-intentioned people will invariably cause harm. We commit ourselves to doing our own deep work knowing that as educators, what we bring to the moment of engagement will lay the groundwork for what is possible.

The webinar provided an opportunity to share these ideas and engage with a group of like-minded individuals all of whom are grappling with the question of how contemplative practice can ground and inform our pedagogy.  Like most people in the years since the pandemic, I am doing more teaching in virtual contexts than I would have ever imagined.  I have been struck by the fact that while engaging online is not the same as being in person, it has its own unique possibilities. It is possible to connect and truly meet people with the goal of being in the moment and seeing what arises.

One of the contemplative teaching strategies I shared with webinar participants focused on the ways in which writing can function as a powerful way of bringing clarity to your own thoughts. Writing is a way of exploring and discovering the themes echoing through our interior lives. As a college professor, I invite and model for students how writing can be used for this purpose and encourage them to get their thoughts out onto the page so they can look at them objectively with compassion. The author Toni Morrison would often say that for her writing was a way of finding out. She wrote to better understand herself and the world around her so that she could begin the work of transforming her reality and the lives of family, friends, and broader community.

During the webinar, I led the group in an exercise I often use in my classes that asks student to consider the ways in which issues of race and racism live within them.  A core idea in my teaching is that the real question is not whether someone is racist.  A deeper, and more profound question is when we find racism within ourselves, what do you do with it? Can we see it for what it is? As human beings who have undergone years of socialization in different contexts and been bombarded with messages from the larger society, it is a very rare individual who can come through it all completely unscathed. For most of us to get these ideas out of our hearts and minds requires intention and ongoing effort. The invitation I offered to the webinar participants was to sit in a quiet place and attempt to recall the first messages you ever received about race? Where did the messages come from? When did you first understand that race is a potent force in the world? How have your thoughts about race evolved over the years?

I was very pleased with the willingness of the webinar participants to lean into exercise and allow themselves to see what memories the questions evoked for them.  The conversation we were able to have first in small groups and then with everyone was deep and rich.  For me as a Black gay man based in the U.S. it was fascinating to explore these questions with people who held different social identities and lived their lives in a different society with a related but distinct historical and cultural context.  The vulnerability and stories that were shared speak to the ways that it is possible to do contemplative work in virtual contexts.

I would welcome the opportunity to remain connected with CPN and individuals seeking collaborators and thought partners. I’m also happy to come virtually or in person to offer talk or workshops that share strategies I have found helpful over the years. My experience in this emerging field of Contemplative Pedagogy has been that many of us are in the process of figuring out how these approaches to teaching and learning fit within the context of our academic lives and the institutions we are based in. Part of what drew me to CPN was to meet new colleagues and to have a place of sense making with regard to my own work. Thank you to the organizers for facilitating this important community. 

Finally, I invite you to visit my website (steventhurstonoliver.com) that I have established as a repository of my work. It is still a work in progress that I intend to keep building over time. Also, please feel free to contact me at soliver@salemstate.edu or stostrategies@gmail.com

** 5 minute Read **

On Wednesday June 7^th, 2023 members of the CPN steering group Chiara Cirillo, Rosie Holmes and Mike Wride took part in a panel discussion on Designing Contemplative Learning, which was very ably facilitated by Tony Reeves of Ding Learning.

It was a well-attended and wide-ranging discussion which was very enjoyable for everyone involved.

Tony’s excellent questions addressed the following areas (with timestamps if you would like to delve into the video).

Designing Contemplative Learning – the Contemplative Pedagogy Network from Ding Learning on Vimeo.

What is contemplative pedagogy? How do you define it?

1:30 CP is very broad, but a key feature is moving from a third person to a first-person approach and including the lived inner experience of both the educator and the learner. It involves intentionally slowing down and creating more space for reflection, moving away from doing, producing, performing, speed, and efficiency, and also cultivating less judgemental attitudes, kindness, discernment, and curiosity. The whole idea is that it resists definitions in itself – it stays ‘open with’. It has the qualities of awareness and openness – opening up to ways of learning beyond the kind of critical thinking that is normally considered valid in HE. It allows the body, emotions and intuitions to also be valid forms of learning. Reflection is familiar to us, but contemplation is an even more spacious and expanded way of learning. So, it has benefits and complexities. Particularly in an era of AI, where everything is speeding up, there is a need for an embodied and more contemplative approach to help us slow down. The book The Slow Professor is a good example of this (Berg & Seeber, 2016).

Why did you become interested in the value of contemplation in learning? What caused you to start investigating this area?

4:50 Mike described his personal story of becoming interested in Goethean science, mindfulness and heartfulness in scientific research. For more on Goethean Science see Franses & Wride (2015)

What are the main benefits that a contemplative approach to pedagogy brings to learning?

8:30 ‘How’ we know is as important as ‘what’ we know (Hart, 2004). The benefits are numerous. For example, CP has a very important role in health & wellbeing and flourishing, but it is not limited to that. Benefits also enable more engagement and asking questions like why is this important to you and the world? It improves focus and attention and helps us make creative links between things. It also helps us connect to others in community and to the environment and wider world. It also helps to develop self-awareness and helps us reveal our hidden biases, which is helpful around inclusivity and diversity. CP is a great tool to slow down and help us question our habits and biases. For example, there are potential implications of AI for assessment, i.e. we need to assess how students come to know things. Our biases can influence the prompts we put into the AI. We can develop a deep sense of ethical concern and create a deep space for connection with the subject, with others and with the more than human world in terms of the self in relationship.

When you’re designing or redesigning a learning experience, how might you introduce more contemplative practices? What would it look like?

14:55 We can be less influenced by the need to ‘cover content’ and create more space in the curriculum. It is an act of resistance to create space for contemplation and use related practices such as poetic transcription (Smart & Loads, 2017) to see and learn differently, e.g. turning a manual for a piece of engineering equipment into a poem. This enables us to tell what we know. We can use the classroom time more productively through a flipped classroom approach for example where students come prepared to discuss or reflect on a particular topic. We can also translate CP practices such as mindfulness to online. Although it has its challenges, it can be easier to teach online – maybe at home people are more relaxed and find it easier to connect.

You’re also hosting an event in the autumn as the Contemplative Pedagogy Network – what is the focus of the event, and where can people find more information about it?

22:30 We provided an overview of the Contemplative Pedagogy Symposium, Dartington, Devon Sept 4-6^th, 2023 ‘Contemplative Pedagogy in Higher Education: Growing Confidence, Creativity and Community’. We are encouraging courage! See Up-Coming Events | Contemplative Pedagogy Network for more details.

How can we align assessment and CPs?

25:57 There are different levels of reflection (Hatton & Smith, 1995) and different kinds of reflective rubrics, e.g. see Assessment rubrics | The University of Edinburgh.  We need to have a way for students to be rewarded for their first-person narratives – not only the ‘what’ of their subject, but also the ‘where’, ‘when’, ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions are the means by which students can gain the ability to reflect at deeper levels. There is also the possibility of combining self-reflection and peer review. Students share reflective pieces with each other and discuss the levels of reflection they have achieved.

What are some of the main barriers that prevent tutors and lecturers from adopting contemplative pedagogy?

28:55 We can lack confidence to implement CPs. We often worry about the ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way of doing it! There can be a time pressure to cover the material, as well as the pressure to prepare for assessment. Because you’re bringing something new to the classroom or a less mainstream approach, there is also the possibility of students pushing back and not recognising the value of moving beyond the usual ways of learning. It may not feel very rational to the students, so they might think that it’s not ‘in the right place’ with regard to academia. There are different models, e.g. the Alive Model from appreciative inquiry (Cockell et al., 2020) to maintain academic rigour while enabling spaces for debate.

If you could give one piece of advice to help teachers and learning designers shift towards a more contemplative approach, what would it be?

31:35 The main barrier is over-coming habits. We tend to do things the way we have been taught. So, the word ‘disruption’ is important – it takes courage and confidence to try new things out, e.g. trying to implement some quiet time at the beginning of a lecture. It doesn’t always have to be explicitly stated. We can also practice mindfulness to be more present in the classroom, e.g. model generosity, respect and good listening. It can be fruitful and enjoyable to break out of our habits and try new things, which can bring a lot of pleasure to the way we work.

How can CPs help develop emotional intelligence?

33:40 By definition various CPs allows us to be more aware of our bodies through breathing into our chests/hearts to enter a space where students can become more aware of the value of the unique ‘other’ through compassion and empathy, as outlined by Levinas (Todd, 2002). In terms of habitual lenses, measurement is so intrinsically part of what we are asked to do.  However, CPs gives us an opportunity to consider whether measurement is absolutely necessary and whether it is useful to challenge/resist measurement.  We would like a more expansive and deeper way of doing things, which helps to develop emotional intelligence. We can apply the principles of CPs to group work, to help students work in groups – to appreciate the value of conflict. How can the quality of my work be improved by the ability to actively listen and compromise? There is then potentially less conflict. This is an example of where emotional intelligence is useful. An appreciation of the ability to recognise feelings. What are the spaces where we do have agency? We do have control in the classroom and the kind of learning experiences we create, which can be an act of resistance. We are trying to raise our awareness to a higher level. We are looking for a definition of a what a ‘higher’ education should be. It is about ourselves, and others and how we interact in terms of ‘head, heart and hands’. For example, in data analysis courses, where the most important thing is developing the ability to work effectively with each other and to trouble shoot at a higher level.

Do you encounter pushback from colleagues?

43:05 Perhaps academic meetings could begin with a short period of contemplation/tuning in. It is good to provide evidence of its effectiveness, e.g. from neuroscience about the benefits to learning, communication, and resolving conflict. There are lots of things we can do in the classroom, but we can also take our students out of the classroom, e.g. a contemplative walk that combines dialogue and silence (Wride & Franses, 2015).

How diverse are the educators within the CPs community? Can CPs have a role in race, class and gender?

47:20 There is an opportunity to integrate mindfulness into anti-oppression pedagogy (Berila, 2015) and Contemplative Practices for Anti-Oppression Pedagogy (contemplativepracticesforantioppressionpedagogy.com). The aim is to break out of existing habits. CPs can support being more mindful of and attentive to these issues. The network is quite diverse. CP started in the US and Canada and has a long history. There is a lot of work done around racial justice and other forms of oppression, e.g. issues around indigenous land. CPs provide a way into a more critical approach, e.g. the work of bell hooks and Paulo Freire in terms of practical strategies and theories of social justice. CPs can be very helpful in activist burnout, and this can extend to academic work (O’Dwyer et al. 2018). CPs overlap with critical pedagogies. We can also open up to the compassionate by integrating CPs into teaching & learning (Bai et al., 2013). There is also an opportunity to immerse ourselves in nature, in opening us up to the ‘more-than-human world’ and helping us to empathise with and have compassion for nature, which is so important in our current predicament.

References

Bai, H., Cohen, A. & Scott, C. (2013). Re-visioning higher education: the three-fold relationality framework. In Lin, J., Oxford, R.L., & Brantmejer, E.J. (Eds.), Re-envisioning higher education: embodied pathways to wisdom and social transformation (pp.3-22). Information Age Publishing.

Berg, M., & Seeber, B. K. (2016). The slow professor: Challenging the culture of speed in the academy. University of Toronto Press.

Berila, B. (2015). Integrating mindfulness into anti-oppression pedagogy: Social justice in higher education. Routledge.

Cockell, J., McArthur-Blair, J., & Schiller, M. (2020). Appreciative inquiry in higher education: A transformative force. FriesenPress.

Franses, P., & Wride, M. (2015). Goethean pedagogy: A case in innovative science education and implications for work based learning. Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, 5(4), 339-351. https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-06-2015-0037

Hart, T. (2004). Opening the contemplative mind in the classroom. Journal of transformative education, 2(1), 28-46. https://doi.org/10.1177/15413446032593

Hatton, N., & Smith, D. (1995). Reflection in teacher education: Towards definition and implementation. Teaching and teacher education, 11(1), 33-49. https://doi.org/10.1016/0742-051X(94)00012-U

O’Dwyer, S., Pinto, S., & McDonough, S. (2018). Self-care for academics: a poetic invitation to reflect and resist. Reflective Practice, 19(2), 243–249

Smart, F., & Loads, D. (2017). Poetic transcription with a twist: supporting early career academics through liminal spaces. International Journal for academic development, 22(2), 134-143. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2016.1210519

Todd, S. (2002). On not knowing the Other, or learning from Levinas. Philosophy of Education yearbook, 67-74.

Wride, M.A. & Franses, P. (2015) Creative Development of Meaning in Matter: Reflections on a Silent Pilgrimage. Lifewide Magazine Issue 15 (Our Creative Life), p48-50. https://www.lifewideeducation.uk/uploads/1/3/5/4/13542890/lifewide_magazine__15.pdf

Dave Tullett, Integral Development Coach

davetullett16@gmail.com

‘The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why’.

(Quote popularly attributed to Mark Twain)

I open my workshop – ‘Exploring Purpose’ – with this quote because it speaks to me about choice.  Admittedly, you don’t have much choice about the first, but you do have choice about how you want to live life and what you will do to explore and uncover your ‘Why’.  Through my work, mainly with executives, I have noticed that all too few of us have found the time, space or energy to discover and pursue our ‘why’, our purpose.  I believe contemplative practices can create a space and a source of raw materials for this type of ‘inner work’.

Here I’ll share the thinking and intention behind my session; it’s relationship to contemplative practices, especially reflection and imagination; and what I have learned about using this type of approach in an executive (adult) education setting.

The session, is quite simple and is built around three connected contemplative practices:

• Ikigai – I ask participant to reflect on their work and life using the Japanese framework of four overlapping circles – What you like? What are you good at?; What does the world need?; What can you get paid for?  Your Ikigai is your life’s value, what gets you out of bed each day and is found at the centre of the overlapping circles.  Executives like this framework, because it gives structure and I like it because it offers a very visible expression of the balance in an individual’s life.
• Visualisation – Using a mountain metaphor, I ask participants to re-acquaint themselves with some of their formative experiences.  More detail below.
• Metaphor – An image or metaphor that captures the essence of what they have learned about themselves from these reflective exercises.  A reflective practice in itself.  Metaphors include: shining moons; flag bearers; lighthouses; and one even suggested the fatty underbelly of a tuna (an expensive cut).

Visualisation

I developed this exercise with Dr Andrew White from Oxford University, as part of a transformational workshop called Mountain to Mountain.  In this exercise participants are invited to access the imagination, the mind’s eye and to re-visit and re-cast some of the lived experiences that have shaped their ‘world-view’. The mountain is a metaphor for their life and career.  I ask them to place themselves on the mountainside, at the point they think they are in their life.  I’m at pains to encourage them to think about the path in terms of the progress they feel they have made towards achieving the dreams and goals they set themselves at the outset of their career.  By connecting to the memories of these earlier goals, they start a process of reflecting on and taking stock of their current situation. 

The invitation is to look down the mountain and see events and people that have shaped how they see the world and their role and purpose in it.  I invite them to thank people who have helped and people who have been difficult or obstructive.  We then look up at the various paths that might lie ahead for them.  Paths of service and purpose or wasteland.  I ask them to think about the qualities they will need to develop and the support they need to succeed in bringing purpose to life.  I finish the visualisation, by inviting them to look around – ‘Is this where you want to be?’. 

In the group debrief I have heard many profound and moving recollections of events of ‘good’ people that have helped shape the individual’s sense of purpose.  What is fascinating, is that many describe having the sudden realisation that the ‘awkward’ colleague or boss taught them something important about life or leadership.  On reflection, they recognise that they owe this person a debt of gratitude too.

This is a learning experience not a lecture, and can take executives out of their comfort zone.  I encourage them to notice the emotion and sensations that discomfort creates.  To receive it, sit with it, and then get curious about where it comes from and how they normally (habitually) respond to that emotion.  Finally, I’m asking them to reflect on how they might make more effective choices about how to use the energy discomfort generates.

I’m after a ‘vertical’ learning experience, not about adding skills, but about expanding and experimenting with perspectives and bringing the whole human into the learning process.   A chance to open to the possibilities that ‘not knowing’ offers and an encouragement to develop curiosity, imagination and courage.  It’s also a way to explore the assumptions, perspectives and beliefs that sit beneath the surface of our everyday habits of mind.

The exercise asks participants to re-frame their lived experiences, to see what else these might offer, what new possibility might be uncovered.  In plenary we make a space where they can share insights, moments of personal discovery and unfolding, and collectively make sense of their experiences. 

And of course, I am hoping that the combination of reflective exercises will offer them a gateway to some sort of transformational learning experience.  Enabling them to: reflect without judgment on where they find themselves, relative to where they planned to be; re-assess the way they have constructed their reality and how that influences their world-view; and, as Mezirow (1990, p 13) suggests, have them re-calibrate their ‘own orientation to perceiving, knowing, believing, feeling and acting’.

I have noticed that there are several conditions that shape the quality of the contemplative experience and each one has something to do with courage.

Students, in this case executives, have to be courageous enough to move from passive consumption of content to an active engagement with their own experience and its influence on their world-view.  To quote Mezirow they have to be willing to engage with a process “of using a prior interpretation to construe a new or revised interpretation of the meaning of one’s experience in order to guide future action” (Mezirow 1996, p. 162).  Not everyone is (yet) ready for this process.

The contemplative practitioner has to muster the courage to let go of the certainty and power that ‘Teacher’ suggests and adopt a much more uncertain (and difficult to name) role.  There is no lecture plan, no cause and effect, stuff (some of it difficult) emerges.  It takes time and patience to get comfortable with this discomfort.

Finally, sponsors need to be prepared to take a risk, again shifting from the safety and certainty of content and a focus on skillsets to include a focus on experience and shifting mindsets.  I have been extremely fortunate to have sponsors who have the courage to support contemplative practices not as an alternative to content and traditional teaching methods but as a complement to them.

In applying these practices, I’m hoping to help others get a glimpse of that ‘second day’, the day they find out Why they were born.

References

Mezirow, J. (1990). Fostering critical reflection in adulthood (pp. 1-20). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Mezirow, J. (1996). Contemporary paradigms of learning. Adult education quarterly, 46(3), 158-172.

As part of my stepping away from the network and allowing it to evolve under new leadership I have been asked to share the story of ‘how it all happened’. I suggested that I write it up in a blog and this was warmly received. I hope it is useful and records with a modicum of accuracy what has manifested since the network’s inception in 2014.

Collecting data

I have spent sometime re-reading messages sent back in 2014, when I first thought about connecting with others to explore contemplative pedagogy. My sent message folder has acted as a repository to our very first communications. It has been delightful, whilst also slightly cringey, to note my enthusiasm, anxiety and fears from that early activity. It seems my recollection of the timeline for the development of network activities was a bit off and that we actually got the ball rolling much more quickly than I had expected.

First steps

In August 2014 I attended the Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education (ACMHE) summer workshop at the Omega Institute. It was a ground-breaking few days for me. For the first time I experienced some integration of my personal contemplative practice with my professional life and identity as an educator. It felt like the jigsaw pieces fell into place.

When I got back I knew that I needed to build on what I had experienced. I felt contemplative pedagogy could have meaning for others and that the way forward was through community and collaboration.  I asked ACMHE if I could send an email to the UK academics on their membership list which I did at the end of August. Within a couple of hours of sending the email I had already had two people phone me – yes actually pick up the phone! Amazing! Six of us then met in London in early October 2014, Alasdair Honeyman, Jennifer Bright, Robert-Louis Abrahamson, Paul Breslaw and George Perry. After that meeting I wrote:

‘I am filled with beans today. A more positive version of ‘the morning after’!

To come into work and open such a lovely series of positive emails has been a joy and then to realise that the remaining chocolate that Alasdair kindly contributed was still in my handbag – I don’t think it gets better than that.’

After that meeting I set up the JISCMail list and the blog and we started making plans for a one day event at Emerson College in November 2014. Between 2015 and 2017 we organised additional events at Emerson College supported by George Perry as well as at Queen Margaret University led by Iddo Oberski. Over this time the number of visitors to the blog and the members on the mailing list started to grow.

Becoming braver

In 2018 we started to run the annual four day symposium. This felt like a leap of faith as it involved some financial risk but I felt strongly that I wanted to arrange something that had the potential to really tap into the depth and richness of contemplative pedagogy. The two events that we ran face to face at Emerson College felt remarkable and the feedback we received suggested that these were truly transformative for many who attended. They certainly were for me. It felt as though those events took me to the edge of my own practice, tapping into a profound sense of my own vulnerability as well as inspiration and hope.  Even the symposia that had to move online had some magic to them. I am indebted to all those who worked on the organising team for these symposia – Iddo Oberski, Steven Stanley, Siobhan Lynch, Andrew Morgans, Naomi de la Tour, Lynne Wallace, Leanne McHugh, Lily-Rose Fitzmaurice and Lanaire Aderemi.

In March 2021 we had our first Contemplative Pedagogy Network Workshop arranged by Mike Wride, Anne Vicary, Juliet Trail and Andrew Morgans. Hopefully this will become a regular fixture in the network calendar providing an opportunity for members to explore their work with others and learn together.

Purpose and connection

I don’t think I have ever had a very precise sense of what the network is for but I did know that it was important. Nor have I ever felt qualified to be the person to be driving it forward. Without the  patient support of other people and the depth and authenticity of those connections it would never have got off the ground. I have just done what has felt right or necessary and tried to listen to those around me (and not be too controlling!). It felt as though some of my collaborators could sense my insecurities and fears and always met them with such kindness. That care will be my enduring sense of this work.

Moving forward

By the summer of 2021 it had become clear to me that I was not the person to lead the network into the future. I am not entirely clear why but I deeply know this to be the case. Of course, fear has been busy telling me not to let go of something I have worked so hard at and that has been surprisingly successful! But if contemplative pedagogy is to mean anything at all it only does so through committed practice and the application of that learning into our lives. So, I am ignoring the clamouring of the ego and instead choosing the peace of a decision that feels right in my heart.

I am pleased to say that two very kind people, Mike Wride and Juliet Trail, have come forward with a willingness to move things forward and engage with network members to explore the future of the network. I am still incredibly interested in contemplative pedagogy and hope that the time freed up from leading the network can be spent on my own reading, writing and research. I will remain an enthusiastic network member for as long as it is around.

A huge thanks to all those named here and the many more people that have supported me and the network in many ways who I have not named individually.

With gratitude

Caroline

Dr Jo Trelfa,Director, Iron Mill College, Exeter, UK

Dr Laura R Chapman,Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Beaver College of Health Sciences, Appalachian State University, USA

Here, Jo Trelfa and Laura Chapman, two participants in the CPN workshop Contemplating the spaces in between: transforming meaning from experience through writing reflect on the experience of taking part – on the process of poetic transcription and their learning from it. If you have not read the original blog by Dr Mike Wride I recommend you do before reading on.

Thank you both authors for contributing and developing our understanding in this way.

Jo’s Reflection

Layers of Complexity

There are always layers of complexity when asked to share a ‘meaningful learning experience’.  The first is I, in this case, as learner, am in control: I know the experience, how it started and ended and what has happened since.  The second is that I report on that; which links to the third matter, that I do this (and know this in advance) for the context and particular audience, a performance, if you will.  Indeed, such matters have been the focus of my own research and publishing inquiries, specifically, how to reclaim and redefine the practices of reflective practice as authentic learning experiences.

To that end one of the themes in my work is to focus on reflection ‘in’ rather than ‘on’. 

So as a member of Mike’s workshop I didn’t follow the instructions per se; instead I focused on how I was feeling right then and there.  Thus, I didn’t have a start, end, or learning to recount, but I was curious to see if there was learning that would arise, learning that I didn’t know at the point of sharing. 

Here, and in my comments to Mike afterwards, I was interested not in the liminal space the activity offered but the liminoid. 

Entering the Liminoid

A brief explanation.  Turner writes of the experience of liminal activities as merely returning the participant to status quo, hence the activity being “a distorted mirror-image, mask, or cloak for structural activity” (Turner, 1974).  It is a description that chimes with Rancière’s (1987/1991: 7) critique of the approach to teaching and learning whereby educators “cunningly erect[ing] obstacle courses” that students have to learn how to, and must, navigate: they perform ‘learning’ according to the instructor’s (and institutional) concepts and requirements.  In contrast, liminoid experiences and activities go somewhere else, an “independent and critical source” of “creative activity” (Turner, 1974:65), or, for Rancière, a “forest with openings and clearings that the teacher themselves has not discovered” (1987/1991:7).

A Forest of Possibilities

This said, Mike’s guidance was important: it meant I was not blindly wandering about a forest of possibilities only to merely walk in to trees!  At the same time, it gave me the landscape to engage in a way that was meaningful to me, i.e. that I could engage in the way I chose without feeling to do so was unruly and troublesome, this being relevant to liminoid activities and experience within a (formal) educative setting.

I wrote:

I sit with the whole weight of my laptop on my neck and shoulders. It hurts.  The pain carries down my left arm; it’s as if there is a pressure band around the top of my arm, like my blood pressure is being measured all the time.  My left hand has pins and needles.  The pain in my neck is sharp, only just on the bearable side of unbearable.

I have been sitting here with the whole weight of my laptop on my neck and shoulders for a year.  No meaningful breaks or time off.  Staring in to a screen, into a screen divided into smaller screens, into documents, pages, websites, and tapping. 

On the plus, my tapping has speeded up – and I have completed my PhD – and I have got a new job – and I have completed very important projects and tasks – and I have supported my daughter to take part in her lectures – and in the end I brought a dog so at least I got to put the laptop down from time to time and go outside.  But still I sit here with the whole weight of my laptop on my neck and shoulders.

Jo’s initial written reflection

Following a process of reading and reflection on my words and engaging in poetic transcription Laura produced a response poem called ‘The Whole Weight’.

The Whole Weight

I sit with the whole wait: pain carries, pins and needles sharp

Only just on the bearable side of unbearable 

The whole weight for a year; no meaningful break

Staring, a screen divided

On the plus: speeded up, completed my PhD, new job, supported my daughter

But still, the whole weight.

A transcribed poem by Laura based on Jo’s reflection

Shining a torch

Laura’s created poem back to me was the ‘twist’, the difference between liminal and liminoid.  Firstly, to have my sharing received by Laura was striking.  The guidance not to add words meant that my poem sharing was deeply met and not changed, although, of course, Laura’s highlighting of what she saw as key within it alters it, requiring, as that does, her lens of what matters and not necessarily mine.  But crucially as she still worked with my words, the experience on receiving her poem-version back to me was one of a torch shining a beam into the forest, illuminating particular – and surprising – aspects: another ‘torch’ might illuminate other parts, but this would still act as light in to my own experience. 

To illustrate, in the poem-version back to me Laura includes ‘supported my daughter’, whereas I had been more taken up with the effect on me as employee.  Her ‘torch light’ in to that element of my experience prompted me to feel grateful for Covid home-working – more time with my daughter who had recently started university away from home!  So, rather than return me to what was my already-known work angst and exhaustion, the liminoid nature of the activity prompted me to experience the gifts of the year as well.  It was an unexpected torch light!

Laura’s Reflection

Illuminating Experience

Jo’s observation of my shining a torch onto her experience highlights the value of this exercise in an educational sense (to me, anyway). The “stumbling around” experience that Jo sought in the liminoid has such value. Indeed, personal meaning-making is a goal of contemplative pedagogy. As the observer/interpreter in this experience (and as an educator in the classroom), I had an opportunity to illuminate Jo’s experience, revealing a different, perhaps wider, bird’s-eye, third-person perspective. Such a perspective is difficult to perceive when one is in the middle of a forest, “stumbling around”. With both perspectives, Jo (or any learner) has an opportunity to see how the third-person outside view jives with her first-person inside experience. This opportunity is invaluable, especially when the meaning that a learner constructs needs to be conveyed/explained to another; the future clinicians I train must be able to do this. 

References

Rancière J. (trans. Ross, K.) (1987/1991) The ignorant schoolmaster: five lessons in intellectual emancipation. Stanford, USA: Stanford University Press

Turner, V. (1974). Liminal to liminoid, in play, flow, and ritual: An essay in comparative symbology. Rice Institute Pamphlet-Rice University Studies, 60(3).

Contemplative Pedagogy Network Workshop Series, March 24 2021

By Dr Mike Wride, Transformative Pedagogies Lead, Centre for Transformative Learning, Uni of Limerick, Ireland

It was a great pleasure to facilitate the Contemplative Pedagogy Network workshop on March 24^th.  The workshop featured a classroom activity that I have used in my work as an academic developer: poetic transcription. This is based on the work of Fiona Smart and colleagues (Smart, 2017; Smart & Loads, 2017).

There were four steps:

1. Participants were asked to free-write about a meaningful learning experience. The meaningful learning experience is akin to a ‘critical incident’ or a ‘disorientating dilemma’ and could be ‘personal or professional’ (10 mins).
2. Having written about it, the experiences were then shared orally in groups of 3 in breakout rooms (15 mins).
3. A second break-out activity then took place in pairs, where the texts were shared via the chat, email or via Google docs (or on paper if face to face). Poetic transcription was then carried out (see below)  (20 mins).
4. The group then came back to together to share their experience of the task and explore any insights gained. This may include reading some of the experiences and/or poems outloud – but there is no pressure to do so (15 mins).

What is poetic transcription?

The process of poetic transcription involves each person selecting resonant/emotive key words and phrases from their partner’s prose to create a poem.

There are a few rules for poetic transcription:  

• words can be removed to create the poem, but words can’t be added
• no rhyming is required
• punctuation is encouraged for structure/emphasis
• the sequence/chronology of the original writing should be maintained
• a title should be provided for the poem.

Why use poetic transcription in teaching?

I have always found it a wonderfully emotive, creative and transformative approach. It’s often the case that participants aren’t aware of all the facets or implications of their experience and how it has impacted them. They may not have thought about it for a long time.

The challenge is to make such implicit experience and tacit knowledge explicit and visible, so that transformation can occur: “We know more than we can tell” as Michael Polanyi says (Polanyi, 1998). It can be hard to do this as an individual. The process of sharing is helpful. But, it is the step of producing the poem, which really provides a new perspective. The paring down of the words seems to focus the meaning and, as all good lovers of poetry know, it’s often what is not said and the spaces in between the words, which hold the meaning and allow it to be revealed in new ways.

Cultivating curiosity but being clear

Previously, I had carried out this approach only in face-to-face sessions (during workshops on creativity in teaching), so it was a very interesting exercise to see how I could adapt this to an online format. The challenge was to structure the session to be true to the approach and to enable the participants to engage meaningfully with the activity and with each other.  Ultimately, I wanted them to leave with new perspectives on their experience and new ideas about how they might apply it in their own practice.

In the pre-workshop advertising summary, I had talked about ‘writing’ in general, but I had not specifically highlighted that participants would be writing poems!  The way to true transformation is often through inhabiting and moving through a space of uncertainly and not knowing. Therefore, I preferred not to be explicit about how the process will unfold.  It’s not that there is a lack of clarity – I believe that structure and clear instructions are very important, but the point is that not everything needs to be known at the outset.  

It’s important to allow for curiosity to be encouraged while creating a supportive environment and safe place for shared exploration. In this workshop, the aspiration was to create an opportunity for the participants to be curious about each other and the stories that were being told and unfolding. The shared experience also helps everyone appreciate how the ‘twist’ of creating a poem allows new meaning to emerge from the narratives. It’s there that the transformative potential lies.

Feedback and next steps

From the feedback received, the participants acknowledged the value of the space to think and the depth of sharing of experiences through coming together as a community to experience the practice. The importance of narrative and the need to listen were also appreciated. The break-out room activities were greatly appreciated but could perhaps have been given even more time.

It would be lovely to hear from you about your experiences of putting into practice this approach to contemplative pedagogy. You can share your experiences through our Mobilize CPN community!

A future blog post will be from two of the participants about their experience of the workshop. It will focus on their reflections on the process of sharing and writing.

References

Polanyi, M. (1998) The tacit dimension, in: L. Prusak (Ed.) Knowledge in Organization (Boston, MA, Butterworth Heineman).

Smart, F. (2017). Poetic transcription with a twist: An approach to reflective practice through connection, collaboration and community. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 54(2), 152-161.

Smart, F., & Loads, D. (2017). Poetic transcription with a twist: supporting early career academics through liminal spaces. International Journal for academic development, 22(2), 134-143.

I am very excited to announce the launch of Contemplative Pedagogy Network (CPN) Workshops. The workshops are being organised by a generous team from the network – Mike Wride, Anne Vicary, Juliet Trail and Andrew Morgans. They will take place roughly four times a year. Each workshop will feature a tried and tested classroom activity that the facilitator has utilised within their teaching in higher education. They will be practical sessions providing participants with inspiration about how contemplative pedagogy can be integrated into teaching and learning. This is something that you have been asking for for sometime but I have never had the capacity to do. Thanks to this amazing team these regular learning and connecting events are now coming to fruition!

Places will be free of charge and numbers will be limited. As such we will be advertising on the blog and network email list first of all, to give priority to network members, before advertising the events more widely. Please come along and support these seminars and invite others who may be interested.

The events will not be recorded as this creates a more relaxed environment for everyone attending, however each facilitator will write a blog and provide links to key resources after the event so that no one will miss out.

To participate please register by clicking on the flyer below and you will be sent all the necessary details to join via Zoom. The flyer is also available for download if you wish to share it with anyone.

I am hugely excited by this development in our network activities. Thanks to Mike, Juliet, Anne and Andrew for moving this forward.

I have felt this blog developing in my mind for sometime and was finally inspired to get on with it after receiving an email on 4th February about it being ‘Time to Talk Day‘. I currently work as a Senior Lecturer and in this blog I explore how I cope with academic life when depressive symptoms arise and explain how contemplative practice has transformed my response to things when the colour drains out of life.

These are just personal reflections on what has helped me. I describe some symptoms that some may find upsetting. I am not suggesting that these steps will be appropriate for everyone to respond to acute mental illness nor should they replace seeking appropriate health care.

Waves with no ’cause’

I suffered from my first episode of severe depression when I was 19. It took several years, inpatient and out-patient treatment and antidepressants to begin to live independently again. Since then there have been numerous periods of depression some deeper and longer than others, each requiring different levels of intervention. I now consider myself to be well much of the time but I still experience waves of depressive symptoms at least once or twice a year.

The ways these symptoms manifest does shift but tearfulness, sleep disruption, no sense of self-worth, irritability, wanting to be alone (this is fun in lock down!) and poor concentration often feature. This excerpt from Emily Dickinson’s poem ‘It was not death’ captures my sense of living with depression:

It was not Death, for I stood up,
And all the Dead, lie down-
It was not Night, for all the Bells
Put out their Tongues, for Noon

…

As if my life were shaven,
And fitted to a frame,
And could not breathe without a key,
And ’twas like Midnight, some –

When everything that ticked-has stopped-
And Space stares-all around-
Or Grisly frosts-first Autumn morns,
Repeal the Beating Ground-

Excerpt from It Was Not Death, For I Stood Up by Emily Dickinson (Accessed at Poetry Foundation)

I used to try and understand why these symptoms arose at a particular time, keen to fix whatever the cause was. However, I have found this investigation to be futile as often no one thing can be pin pointed. I have therefore come to accept that every now and again these feelings are part of my experience – this acceptance alone has brought its own peace. I no longer hold myself responsible for ‘curing’ myself or making these symptoms go away. My role is to respond appropriately to what is arising, take care of myself as best I can and when necessary seek help from others.

Mindfulness – noticing untrustworthy thoughts…

One of the things I find most challenging when one of these waves manifests is the sudden shift in my confidence and sense of self-worth. It feels as though suddenly everyone else in the world is doing amazingly and everything I have ever done adds up to nothing. Within academia where there is pressure to perform and show that you are performing as an individual I think this can be particularly pernicious. My thoughts drag others into this too and without any reason I suddenly feel that others don’t want to work with me or have a low opinion of my work.

What my mindfulness practice has given me is the ability to stand back and really question these thoughts. Why was I working very happily with these supportive colleagues just a week or so ago? Do I really think they have the time or inclination to be judging my performance? I love my job and for the most part I am very happy in what I do. I know that I contribute, that I am valued and that I can teach. So there is an incongruence between what I think and feel about myself in these times and what I know to be the case. The difficulty of course is that the longer a period of depression goes on for the harder it can be keep hold of these threads.

…but being cautious with meditation

The application of mindfulness awareness to my thoughts is therefore an important tool in getting through these difficult periods but one area of practice that gets more difficult for me during these times is meditation. I usually meditate in the mornings but during these times, on my worst days, I can find myself crying before getting out of bed. Long periods of unguided meditation when I am in this place can be unpleasant and unsettling and poor preparation for the day ahead. I sometimes avoid meditation for a period of time but more often do shorter guided practices that feel manageable. I find it important to minimise demands on myself in all dimensions of my life although the extent to which this is possible does vary.

Self-compassion – making space for what is

This lack of self-worth and sense of colour draining from life is not just a cognitive process but an emotional one too. The experience of depression is emotionally painful in a way that is so hard to capture but never forgotten once experienced and cannot be far enough away for those of us in whom it recurs. The need for self-compassion in response is key particularly when working in a demanding environment such as academia.

Managing demands

The first way that I exercise self-compassion is prioritising tasks that feel manageable and not embarking on anything new or pushing myself in areas which feel difficult. I focus on logistical and administrative tasks that are quite straight forward and give a sense of satisfaction on completion. I delay embarking on projects that I don’t have the head space for such as writing which requires creativity and sustained attention. I have to be careful not to take on too much in an attempt to reinforce my faltering self-worth. Sometimes, however there are limited choices and responsibilities that must urgently be attended to.

I usually find that work helps me through these times as it provides routine and connection with others. I usually don’t share how I am feeling with colleagues because I like work to be a way of distancing myself from how I am feeling for part of the day. This is not always sustainable though. I also know that for many people work is a key stressor that contributes to poor mental health and I am open to the idea that a wave in the future may require time off work to recover from. Self-compassion means letting ourselves off the hook, acknowledging where we are, knowing that others have experienced similar situations and responding with kindness. How this manifests with regards to work will be different for each of us. The key is not pushing on and pushing on despite cues in the body and mind that all is not well.

Experiencing kindness through the body

I also find that getting into my body can be an important way of expressing self-compassion. I have found practices such as the bodyscan or yoga nidra can be accessible ways of engaging with my body. Walking is also helpful – the soft repetitive movements and escaping from the house. Overtime I have found that being sensitive to my embodied experience helps me relate to how I am with kindness and become more accepting and curious as life flows moment to moment. I also use the physiological responses of the body to create a sense of greater safety and wellbeing. This might be through engaging in gentle or fun exercise as well as hot showers, heavy blankets and comforting food and drinks. I find that all these can help reduce the painful vulnerability and sense of exposure that characterises these periods.

Contemplating kindness

Meditative practices such as the Metta Bhavana (Loving-kindness) have also proven helpful for getting in touch with kindness when this feels very distant from my experience. It has also helped me to release the tension and defensiveness that can build up when I am struggling. However, sometimes it can just be too much and overwhelming. Often I try things for a few minutes to just see how I respond with full permission to step away if it becomes too difficult. But even this is hard – I often catch myself striving to make myself ‘feel better’ and ‘get it right’ which easily becomes another source of self-flagellation and blame. Written reflections as well as art and creativity may also appeal as ways of allowing space for how we are feeling to come to the fore. This is important – how can we respond with compassion if we are not aware of, or deny, our suffering?

Distraction – passing the time and finding pleasure

Lastly, sometimes when I am feeling really low the question changes from ‘how do I look after myself’ to ‘how do I get through the next few hours’. Even when I can engage more constructively, time out and small pleasures are really important for riding the waves.

Depression is boring, I think

and I would do better to make

some soup and light up the cave.

Excerpt from The Fury of Rainstorms by Anne Sexton (Accessed at All Poetry)

I agree with Sexton that depression is boring and yet it can be all consuming at times. I sometimes feel as though I can’t trust my own mind and having things that distract me in gentle, undemanding ways feels so important. Even if feeling joy or contentment feels out of my reach at least I know that the next few hours are taken care of. TV is my go to. Contemplative practice should not feel like a punishment. Recognising those times when we choose distraction as a way of looking after ourselves is very different from a mindless life caught up in perpetual distraction.

And even if that is where we find ourselves, caught in the grasp of craving, resistance and pain our response is still the same – noticing, softening and kindness. I have tried fighting depression for many years both internally and externally. But found that fighting and denying it just digs a bigger hole. That is not to say we should not address things in our life that are causing us harm, to the extent that that is possible. Or reach out for help when we feel we need to. It is not about being passive in the face of suffering. What a contemplative approach has taught me is the need for awareness, kindness and patience and a responsiveness that makes space for my vulnerability without making me a martyr to it.

I hope this is helpful in some way.

Caroline

Following the high level of interest in our contemplative evening for HE Educators entitled ‘Finding stillness to take the next step’ on Wednesday 16th December, I have made the practices available to everyone here.

Many of you asked whether the event would be recorded. I decided not to record it but below I have provided guidance and audio recordings that will lead you through a series of meditative, creative and reflective practices similar to those used on the evening. I hope these help to create some quietness and space in which you can make sense of your experience and start to see the way ahead.

Please approach these practices with kindness for yourself and respect for your capacity and wellbeing. Reflection and meditation can bring up difficult emotions and whilst this can be helpful it is important to respect our limits. There is no need to pressure yourself to engage if it does not feel appropriate. If you do engage and find the practices too challenging or overwhelming stop them at any time and come back if and when it feels appropriate to do so. If you are experiencing acute anxiety or mental health issues or have experienced recent trauma it may be best to avoid these practices at this time or seek out an experienced meditation/mindfulness teacher to work with.

If you intend to do all the practices sequentially I would advise allowing an hour to allow for gaps in between. There is no need to do them altogether but I would advise taking sometime to settle yourself in a quiet and safe space before embarking on the reflective practices as this will help create the open and receptive awareness that really facilitates this work.

At the end of a complex and challenging year I wish you well and hope these are helpful in some way

Caroline

Becoming still

If you have been very busy or anxious I would advise you to start here. This is a simple mindfulness practice to settle the body and mind. This will support the reflective practices that follow.

Reflecting back

For this reflection you need a pen and piece of paper to hand. You will be guided through a meditative reflection of the year and then asked to draw something depicting the movement from where you were at the start of year, what has happened since and where you are now. It’s not about getting it ‘right’ or being ‘accurate’ just tune in to what has happened that has been important to you and consider where you are now. Not trying to change anything or ‘improve’, just noticing with an open heart and sense of kindness towards yourself.

Connecting with purpose and meaning to find the next step

In this meditative reflection I bring in different questions to help you identify what is important in your work, your sources of inspiration and the challenges you face. In the final stage you are asked to consider – what next? You are invited to allow the questions to sink into your awareness and see what arises in response to them. This exercise is not about thinking or finding a definite answer but experiencing the questions and allowing the inquiry to go deeper into ourselves to see what comes up. Have a note pad and pen handy so that once the practice has finished you can write down anything important that has come up.