For Working Class, Mindfulness is a Gimmick
When I called my colleague and told him the title of my new book, he told me I had sold out. Sold out? I snapped. I’ve been unemployed for years, while you’re sitting easy in a tenured teacher position. He snickered and told me to calm down. Yesterday, they towed my ten-year-old car away after […]
Mindfulness Starts at Home. Then Social Justice
“The way to experience newness, is to realize that this moment, this very point in your life, is always the occasion. So the consideration of where you are, and what you are, on the spot, is very important. That is one reason that your family situation, your domestic everyday life is so important. You should […]
Looking Through the Cracks: Fighting Ignorance with Mindfulness & Critical Consciousness
Mindfulness is a constant unfolding that gives us new sight, called insight. It moves from the inside out, unfolding outward like the petals of a lotus. It is a way to see out, from the inside cracks of ordinary life. Solomon, Emmonds and Paolini wrote a picture book called, Through the Cracks. It is about […]
Muggles, Witches, Wizards and Yoda
“Learning organizations of the future will be centers where Master Teachers and students study consciousness and practice manifesting ideas into reality.” ~Ríos, Mindful Practice for Social Justice What would have happened to Harry Potter if he had not attended Hogwarts School of Witches and Wizardry? Hogwarts is the highly selective school based on a magical […]
Letting Go and Coming Together
“When we do zazen alone, it is not the same as when we do it with others. To do it alone the result is not so deep. And to continue doing it alone is difficult. But to do zazen with many others is the same as many logs burning.” Zen Teachings of Master Taisen Deshimaru […]
What Happens When Teachers Get Too Attached?
Exploring Engaged Mindfulness In my previous post on compassion fatigue, I talked about the fairly common ailment of teacher burn out, when teachers enter a cycle of apathy and weariness, usually following an intense period of supporting students with countless needs. In that post, I challenged the notion of using mindfulness meditation to detach ourselves […]
Why Do Teachers Experience Compassion Fatigue?
Towards the end of a Tibetan Buddhism meditation lecture on compassion, a woman in the back row raised her hand and asked, what about compassion fatigue? Before the instructor could reply, the woman added, I am a teacher. I do my best. I care for my students, but it gets to the point when I […]
Teaching Freedom with Limits
The Vietnamese monk and master teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh wrote: “It is an illusion that we are free…” Koan: A statement, a saying, an act or gesture that can bring to an understanding of the truth. Also, a tool used to educate a disciple. In my early morning sleep, I had this dream. I had […]
On Music, Mindfulness and Cultural Appreciation
“All his life he had done nothing but talk, write, lecture, concoct sentences, search for formulations and amend them, so in the end no words were precise, their meanings were obliterated, their content lost, they turned into trash, chaff, dust, sand; prowling through his brain, tearing at his head, they were his insomnia, his illness. […]
The Gift of Freedom for the Holidays
Every year, my family and I engage in a back and forth, group chat style discussion via email about how we want to celebrate our holiday. This year, like the last, I began to notice new, challenging behaviors and a bit of a strain. I’ve been thinking a lot about how what is going on […]