Mindfulness and Education

Rumi once wrote: “When I stop speaking, this poem will close and open its silent wings” (as cited in Barks, 1999, p. 66). This arts-based dissertation is a personal, poetic, and pedagogical study into the kinship between poetic discourse and spiritual expression where I attend to the question: what does it mean to dwell poetically? (Heidegger, 1971; Hölderin, 1984). I contextualize poetry as “the articulation of contemplative perception” (Laude, 2004, p. 11), “a phenomenology of the soul” (Bachelard, 1964, p. xxi), wherein poetic knowledge is a theoria (Lakhani, 2010). I refer to theoria as a way of intellectual seeing that recognizes the sacred in the mundane, which becomes central to my own poetic vision.
In enacting this (re)search where writing is the inquiry (Richardson, 2000), I use phenomenologically informed perspectives of a/r/tography in qualitative research that “seeks to show and evoke the presence of a lived experience” (Todres, 2007, p. xi), where theorizing through the inquiry process brings forth understandings (Irwin & Springgay, 2008). In this meta work of researching poetry through poetry, I consider each poetic turn a mediation and meditation in “living a life of deep meaning through perceptual practices that reveal what was once hidden” (Irwin, as cited in Pinar, 2004, p. 10). In a research endeavour that is revelatory, this research site becomes insight.
I draw upon Deleuze and Guattari’s (1987) metaphor of the rhizome, the underground root system of plants and theoretical underpinning of a/r/tography, which I reconceptualise in the sky to represent my dissertation as writing into a poetics of light. In visualizing what I imagine as a “sky of inquiry,” I make a call for research that has a “wider epistemological embrace” (Todres, 2007, p. 180) in the poetic gaze changing how, what and whom we see (Leggo, 2004a; Cheetham, 2012). Through lyrical ways, each layer of my inquiry sheds light towards understanding poetry as a contemplative pedagogy. In (re)turning to the poetic I/eye, this research represents a pledge to pedagogical encounters that nurture spiritual literacy where purposeful engagement in creative practices can become a gateway to the realms of spirituality.

This paper gives an ethnographic account of a contemplative class at an elite university in the US. The contemplative class, which incorporates mindfulness-based practices, took on the function of unravelling time, and of challenging the credit-oriented culture of the university. The opening up of time and credits allows for a safe communal space to explore ‘vulnerability’ and ‘authenticity’. As the semester progressed, ‘vulnerability’ and ‘authenticity’ came to be recognised as ‘skills’ to be performed in the class among some students. The conundrum is that these terms are grasped through experience, as relational, non-dualistic ways of being. An ethnographic account of a contemplative class thus begins and ends with the author’s own experience of ontological transformations through contemplative practice. The paper leaves open the question of how a contemplative approach to ethnography might be construed.

According to Schafer (2012) there are a number of critical issues in Steiner schools, which often trigger crises and which, if met consciously, can lead to renewal and transformation. My own experience as a Steiner teacher and parent inspired me to undertake research into the difficulties encountered by many teachers and leaders and the contribution mindfulness could give to the alleviation of these difficulties (Burrows, 2014; 2013). However, as Richardson (1997) writes, no matter how much we try to suppress it, our self is present in our writing and our self and research topic are deeply entwined. This is indeed true of this chapter, which takes another look at the study, which I am now ready to admit more openly, had its genesis in my own journey. For me, like Richardson (1997, p516) writing is a method of inquiry and interpretation and also a way of knowing). In this chapter I reconsider my original interpretation of data gathered in the light of my own growing awareness of self...

En este artículo se muestra cómo aplicar las técnicas de mindfulness a la enseñanza del español como segunda lengua a escolares inmigrantes, colectivo que se suele caracterizar por presentar unas condiciones afectivas particulares. En primer lugar, se explicará en qué consiste mindfulness y cuáles son los beneficios de su práctica, para, a continuación, centrarnos en su uso en el campo de la educación. Para finalizar se detallará una propuesta didáctica que demuestra que es posible trabajar contenidos (de español, en este caso), mientras se mejora la atención y la capacidad de concentración del alumnado.

El presente artículo aborda el potencial didáctico de mindfulness en Educación Primaria. Primeramente, se expondrán los numerosos beneficios que conlleva su práctica para, a continuación, centrarnos en el ámbito educativo. Posteriormente, se planteará una propuesta para llevar esta filosofía al aula de Lengua y literatura, de manera que se trabajen los contenidos del currículo a la vez que se mejora la atención y concentración del alumnado.