Archives for Feb,2017

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Heroine

decorated with shards of past

narratives smashed,

i assume a stance

of recognition.

nested within

heartwood

rings

that bring

a clarity of union,

i stand braced in a space

between then and the possible.

where piano wire dizzying,

sine wave resounding

tear-stained,

paint-streaked scars

are epaulettes of the rising.

releasing my hands,

from the helve

i offer them

to you.

© M.G. Iannucci 2017

Photo: Warrior by Huang Art

Gianna Iannucci earned her MA in Conscious Evolution at The Graduate Institute

Her blog can be found at https://giannaiannucci.com/

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If Heaven is a Place Where ABC

“God who knows all things, I have no prayer book and I do not know any prayers by heart. But you know all the prayers. You are God. So this is what I am going to do. I am going to say the alphabet, and I will let you put the words together.”
-Neil Gaiman in “The Man Who Forgot Ray Bradbury”

The Alphabet

As the voice of each impending storyteller was tested with the appropriate audio equipment, they were asked to say the alphabet, slow and clear, into a microphone clipped to the collar: “A, B, C, D, E, F, G…”

All the while, the rest of the cohort sat in chairs arranged in an intimate circle around the camera. A quiet pulled us all into the middle of the small room, drawing a whirlpool of solemnity round and round. With volume-laden bookshelves lining the walls, we were pressed upon by unspoken words, while, conversely, all of the bound sheaves of paper swallowed and drew back the echoes of our silence.

As a way to dilute nervous energy, people began to fill the time between stories with more stories—mostly relaying funny and touching tales about their students. These scarlet and gold threads wove themselves into the blue and gray patches of contemplation, rejection, joy, and sorrow that were our Ugly Duckling pieces. Stories stitched into stories, everyone speaking as they were called. No one knowing if and how anything would fit together. Just weaving.

At one point, we all stopped and admired the tapestry Katie had draped across a bookshelf to use as a backdrop for filming. The rich pattern of it. All threads in abstract shapes falling on top of each other.

There were stories knit together too sacred, too long and good, to repeat in full here. But one comes to mind right now that feels especially relevant: Pam’s kindergarten student who misunderstood—or perhaps understood too well—the meaning of heaven as somewhere you can go for a weekend and come back. There was such a sweetness about this child’s innocent misperception that is difficult for my inner writer to resist. What if bliss is a mindset, an acceptance of the incomplete, rather than this whole other plane?

Follow Your Bliss

It makes me think that a creative idea is just an undefined prayer. Creativity worships trust in process and nothing else. Sometimes all we have are linear, tangible sets of symbols that we can hold onto in our minds when the way forward is still unfolding. Sometimes we just have the alphabet.

With that in mind, it makes sense that we walked the labyrinth. Which, as it happens, is a lot like having an alphabet without a prayer book. It was chaotically organized—and not just because our cohort dragging ropes across the floor and squinting at diagrams to build the labyrinth was a bit of a circus.

Ultimately, the labyrinth was also an expression of organized chaos. You can only walk forward, because the labyrinth is structured. But the structure acts as a metaphor for any and all journeys—hence the chaos. When you walk the labyrinth, there’s only one job—stick to the path you can see, and be surprised, but open, when it leads you where it does.

The seminar this weekend was called “Strategies for Independent Study Project Design.” Along with being armed with some practical information about seeking out mentors and designing a group anthology project, we were essentially given the labyrinth as our strategy. Designing an independent study project requires having an equal amount of pragmatic focus on the visible, structured path ahead, as it does having the ability to crouch piously before one’s journal reciting whatever letters and words come through.

It begs the creator to treat ideas as though they have already been rearranged into the polished cadence of a “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee,” before time and serendipity have strung them into a tapestry, complete with visibly interconnecting stories.

We Walk Together

It can feel a little desperate, the eternal leap of faith that is the writer’s life.

When I walked the labyrinth this weekend, the only thing that became clearer is that it can’t be done completely alone. I moved myself along the path, but had to step with and around the other people in my cohort. It was this massive clock, each person’s small, deliberate steps like the clicking of a cog. We were time, but also working outside of its boundaries. We recreated the act of faith that is moving forward with a creative project that will, by the grace of Whatever, take on an existence of its own.

If my mind becomes paralyzed with resistance along the way, at least I know I can write the alphabet in my journal or on the computer. Over and over, just to show up. It’s prayer without a prayer book. It’s not needing to know, for once, more than what we learned in Kindergarten: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z.

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Finding the Courage to Grow

“Wholeness for humans depends on their ability to own their own shadow.”
~ Carl Jung

I have always been serious minded and practical. People who know me might say I’m conservative, conventional or downright square. Growing up in Catholic school, studying science in college, and working a corporate job prepared me for a stable course, and I didn’t stray far from it. That’s why it shocked my family a few months ago when I announced I was going to a festival in the Nevada desert called “Burning Man”.

“You are a 54-year-old suburban mom for God’s sake!”
“There will be drugs and sex.”
“People are naked!”
“That’s not who you are!”

It’s all true. There are drugs and sex at this crazy festival of radical inclusion and self-expression. Some people are naked but most wear costumes. There is also a leave no trace policy, no consumerism and a major emphasis on community participation including gifting without expectation.

Burning Man is an experiment in human consciousness; a pop up city of 70,000 representing all ages and all countries. People respect and care for each other like family, but they have to be self-reliant. Burning Man is like going to the moon for a week and bringing everything you need to survive in sweltering heat or freezing cold temperatures. It offers the good, bad and ugly things in life, right there for the taking. Being the sturdy New Englander I am, I almost didn’t go. It turned out to be both terrifying and the most mind-expanding experience of my life.

But let’s be real. I’m not a big fan of sleeping in a tent or using a Port-a-Potty. After two and a half decades of marriage and child rearing, trust me, I had built a pretty comfortable zone. But several years ago, after turning 50, I couldn’t deny the part of me that needed to grow and challenge hardened beliefs about the way the world worked. I began a mission to do things outside my comfort zone. I went back to school, trained in Consciousness Studies and started asking the Big Question: Who am I really? I had to push to my edges and experiment.

I’d like to say it was easy; that trying new things was effortless, but the fact was I had serious work to do. A painful chronic illness in my early forties had taken a toll on my confidence. I eventually conquered the disease but I was always worried about my limitations. One thing I took away from that time was a little tool I found to handle disabling pain; mindfulness meditation.

If I had not learned to work with my fear and deal with my insides all those years ago, I might still be that serious minded, practical (and afraid) person. I’d just be older. Certainly, I would NEVER have considered going to “Burning Man”.

Admittedly, I did stay in a sober camp and did not take drugs or go naked, but I was able to overcome my resistance to being in such a harsh, foreign environment, with people seemingly out of the Star Wars Cantina Bar and I even pulled together some weird costumes to participate. I allowed myself to be the kind of woman who would go to “Burning Man”.

So, what did I learn about myself? In working with a recent mindfulness meditation class, I had my first-time students remain silent for two minutes and then give feedback on the experience. Here are some comments:

Here is some sample text

“Uncomfortable.”
“Couldn’t sit still.”
“Coming out of my skin.”

There is clearly difficulty in simply being. Our minds are conditioned to follow predetermined pathways and if we try to alter that momentum the discomfort can be severe. That’s why many spend a lifetime in the small zone of what’s comfortable even though the reality is terribly unsatisfying.

Being still to see who you really are takes courage. That’s why, “Go to your room!” is punishment for children. But, by doing the meditation practice, you can see yourself as you actually are; not as others need you to be. As I learn to accept all my parts, the good, bad and ugly, space is opening new pathways in my small conditioned mind. I am learning to experience life directly and be curious instead of judgmental. Engaging life with “beginners mind” I am having more fun than I have ever had. Even as a child.

Burning man was really just a metaphor for all the things I’ve been afraid to try. Meditation has been the life-changing tool that allowed me to see my obstacles more clearly and minimize their influence. Einstein said, “You can’t solve a problem from the same level of consciousness that created it.” If that’s true, then shifting consciousness is the only way to find the courage to really grow.

Kimberly Ruggiero works as a transformational coach and fine artist. She has a BS in Chemistry, MA in Consciousness Studies and studied at the Lyme Academy College of Fine Art. Kim has training in MBSR and is certified in Mindfulness Meditation through the Engaged Mindfulness Institute. She leads Mindfulness Meditation groups at The Graduate Institute in Bethany, CT. Kim@mindfulinsightcoaching.com, www.mindfulinsightcoaching.com, (203) 710-5502.

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A Good Story Always Encodes an Archetype

The Heroine's Journey

A few years back I attended a workshop by Maureen Murdock on the Heroine’s Journey. (She has a book with the same name.) This is her take:

  • Shift from Feminine to Masculine
  • The Road of Trials
  • The Illusion of Success
  • The Descent
  • Meeting with The Goddess
  • Reconciliation with The Feminine
  • Reincorporation of the Masculine

I think a woman’s journey is very similar, but subtly different from the man’s. My analyst sent me home after my first session with a copy of Marie Louise von Franz’ The Feminine in Fairy Tales and told me to read "The Handless Maiden". Clarissa Estes also uses that folk tale to describe the woman’s psychological journey. (I’m working with the outline of this story in parsing out the meaning of the myth of Iphigenia to me.)

One difference in the Heroine’s story is that I can’t think of many (any really) “calls to action.” More often, she experiences a wounding and/or a loss. Unique among fairy tales, the motif of not having hands occurs only to heroines. She gives up her psychic grasp, her hold on the outer world to begin a time of initiation, sometimes incubation, a wandering in the woods. Both Hero and Heroine experience tests and challenges as well as a descent. Both meet mentors. I think Murdock may be correct that the Heroine meets hers more often in the underworld. Her quest seems more about gaining knowledge of the deep feminine.

Creating Sanctuary

So, let me tell you the story of my two sanctuary experiences, formed decades apart -- one in my first half of life, the other in my second.

WEC: The Women Executives Committee

In the 1970’s/80’s women building careers in corporations often found themselves “silo-ed” as they attained middle management and, rarely, senior level positions. They were often the only woman at that level in their corporate division or department, even entire company. Few women preceded them as role models. Norms for how professional women should behave or look were undeveloped (and often got wacky – remember floppy bows?).

In 1980 senior male executives got particularly gun shy about mentoring younger women after the scandalizing Bendix affair, a business soap opera featuring the CEO and the very attractive 29-year old newly-minted Harvard MBA he hired as executive assistant.

The silo was lonely. Then during the late 1970’s, a woman hired into the Greater Hartford Chamber of Commerce for an unrelated agenda called together a meeting of the women in the silos. Ann asked if we would be willing to join a committee to work toward what needed to be done to help mentor women and address obstacles to their career advancement.

We named ourselves the Women Executives Committee (even though most of us weren’t executives yet). We held an annual conference. We mentored women on welfare who wanted to start their own businesses. We did “good deeds.” (Isn’t that what women are supposed to do?) Most importantly we taught ourselves. What skills did we need to learn? One of us would figure out a way to teach that. We went off on an annual weekend retreat (usually at a spa) where Andrea, who owned a PR business, bartered chits to entice two or three people to come and teach us three more things.

Our mentor and godmother, Eileen Kraus, gave us advice, counsel and cover at the Chamber. They never did quite figure out what we were up to until Eileen became Chair and then it didn’t matter. Over time that annual retreat group became enduring friends sharing personal and professional joys and pain, accomplishments and defeats. Stories. We are now going on 40 years, still gathering together three or so times a year to tell our stories. We still call ourselves WEC.

Temenos

In my second half of life, I joined a seminar that meets weekly to study the works of C.J. Jung. For two years I doubt I spoke a total four paragraphs aloud there. The participants were exceptionally learned (including one of the three translators working on The Red Book). What the heck did I understand? Who was I to contribute?

The seminar had just taken up reading the two volumes of Visions: Notes of the Seminar given in 1930-1934. Jung in his seminar was working with a series of visions recorded and painted by a young American woman in analysis with him. It is an extraordinary account of a feminine self, experiencing the unconscious through active imagination. As Jung dialogues with the members of his seminar about Christiana Morgan’s visions, he articulates his developing theories. But throughout it, the struggle between his ideas about the feminine principle and Christiana’s dramatic and different experience of it is illuminated and exposed.

My inner work began and developed alongside the seminar. As we reached the end of five years and 661 pages (we proceed at glacial speed), I had enough theory in my head to start testing it against my heart and own experience. I got cranky. Some women in the seminar I had come to admire joined me in muttering at the edges of coffee break. We agreed to meet one Saturday morning and talk about what it was that Jung was “saying” about the Feminine that didn’t resonate at all with us. However, we didn’t want to upset the Learned Ones (whom we also love) and agreed that what we say within our circle stays protected there.

We call our gathering Temenos. Within it we share our dreams and our stories.

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What is Sound Healing?

DR. ZACCIAH BLACKBURN, Ph.D., director of The Center of Light Institute of Sound Healing and Shamanic Studies, located in Ascutney, VT, and faculty member at The Graduate Institute

Cultures the world over use sound to attune to, invoke and transform consciousness. It is a powerful tool as it is naturally vibrational and we are vibrational beings. Indeed, the most modern science shows us that all life is vibrational in nature. This is in line with age-old mystical thought of most cultures, which often allude to the vibrational nature of Creation.

The Hindus have a saying, “nada brahma,”or “all is sound” or “all of creation is sound.” They suggest that the primordial sound of manifest creation is the sound of “aum” or “om” … if we were to attune to the creative spirit, we would hear this sound. The Judeo-Christian culture might say “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). This also ties together the nature and power of sound with Creation. Other cultures have stories stating that the Creator had a thought, spoke the word of that thought, and Creation of that thought sprang forth from that word into manifestation. There are numerous theorems stipulating the melodic structures of the universe, from the spin of the planets around the sun to the sun around the galaxy to the spin of electrons in our body and the structure of our DNA. Our modern music is based upon these principals derived from Pythagoras and others.

Whatever our beliefs, we all know the power of the spoken word, music, chants and sung melodies, and how they can move us into states of rapture or despair. There is an inherent potency to the very nature of the sound itself and its emotional content, which can be amplified or enhanced by the spoken or sung verse. While so much music in Western culture has moved more into the secular arenas of entertainment, music in many cultures has historically held a deeply sacred space in the hearts and minds of their peoples. It has used as a catalyst to deeper insight, wisdom, transformation or growth.

Sound itself has an inherent transformative power. It is attuned to the creative matrix of the universe. By coupling sound or music with pure intention to attune to, invoke or transform our consciousness, we indeed have stepped into a powerful place. Sound healing is the intentional use of sound to create an environment that becomes a catalyst for healing in the physical, mental, emotional or spiritual aspects of our being.To become “healed,” simply means to become “whole.” While intent is not a necessary ingredient to affect change with the use of sound, pure or clear intention brings power to us. We cannot function without our intention. The more we are able to couple our actions with clear or pure intention, the greater our acts can manifest.

The intentional use of sound adds power to the conduit, whether it is through the use of an instrument or voice. By surrendering to the highest good, we ourselves become that conduit, or instrument, for peace, healing and change.

By coupling our highest and clearest integrity with our intention, we come into the greatest focus in the use of sound or any healing modality.

While sound can be generated from voice, instruments, recorded sounds or music, or tone generators, the more deeply and clearly we have coupled clear intentions for the highest good of the recipients in generating those sounds, the greater the outcome.

We can use conscious chanting for invocation or attunement, intuitive or “guided” music to come into deeper awareness. There are also the provocative sounds of crystal “singing” bowls, ancient Tibetan bowls or temple bells, the simple sounds of tuning forks, or formless “toning” (intuitive voicing) that all channel through our voice and body.No matter what techniques are used, sound is the current carrying the creative potency of unconditional love and grace from the subtle to physical dense realms.

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Calming Our Children & Teachers In CT

BY:  Dr. James Trifone, Academic Director for The Graduate Institute’s Master of Arts in Learning and Thinking Degree Program

Educators and parents alike are taking notice of the stress that surrounds our children on a daily basis. The stressors and demands of modern American society leaves students at a disadvantage that can only be remedied by a significant change in the way we structure and approach teaching and learning. However, while well intentioned the current nationally imposed reform efforts have led to increased levels of anxiety, frustration and stress amongst educators. Moreover, contending with students’ increasing levels of anxiety, depression and stress to succeed in a competitive world have led to unprecedented educator absenteeism and burnout. Not surprisingly, research studies have revealed that stressed teachers create stressed students.

If we, as adults, are living and dying stressed out, how have we not caught on that students are also impacted by environmental stress? Perhaps, one might wonder if teenagers and children experience more stress than adults, since they are not ‘in control’ of situations as adults would be. Youngsters are also in the process of maturing, trying to find their place and exploring the world, which, of course adds another layer of underlying stress. Add to that the expectations of tests, homework, pressure to succeed or just to pass a class. Moreover, students are stressed to get a scholarship or make a team, cope with family hardships, health problems, parent’s fighting or breaking up, navigating their own feelings and relationships, not to mention trying to fit in or standing out.

Therefore, how do we expect students to find success and exceed in academics if they are not being taught healthy coping mechanisms? Stuck in a society of stress, we forget what a danger constant stress can be to ourselves and our children. However, there are a few teachers here in Connecticut who are taking steps to change and reverse the cycle of stress for themselves and for their students. These teachers are making changes in their classrooms, so the next generation will not be forced to stay in the detrimental cycle of being stressed out and sick. Many Connecticut teachers and soon-to-be teachers are choosing to release tension by engaging in grounding strategies, meditation, mindfulness and yoga. These professionals are working to better their lives. Moreover, integrating such strategies into their classrooms educators are beginning to see their students transform out of the stress culture into people who are focused on creating self-awareness and balance.

MINDFUL MOMENTS

Alisa Wright, teacher of wellness at Regional School District 6 in Morris, Warren, and Goshen elementary schools, felt that she had personally reached the point in her life where she wanted her attitude and self-awareness to be more focused, so she could create the environment that helped her thrive. When Ms. Wright was a student herself pursuing an Integrative Health and Healing Masters of Art degree at The Graduate Institute, in Bethany Connecticut, she was encouraged to explore Mindful Moments, as she calls them. Mindfulness is the practice of being and staying aware of objects, nature and the people around you. Repetitive actions and schedules take us away from being keenly aware of our surroundings, while mindfulness tries to connect with the normal everyday moments. These were moments of reflection on uniqueness, tapping into potential, and opening up to the realm of possibility that surrounds us.

As Ms. Wright reached the point where the practice of mindfulness was creating profound differences in her own life, she felt drawn to implement mindfulness techniques in her classroom, so her students could experience this ‘shift in feeling and thinking,’ too.

Ms. Wright started promoting mindfulness through the use of a community garden at her school. Students get to engage with nature and learn patience and focus and reflection as they work and reflect in the garden. She has seen that when the students are being taught how “to make observations on a holistic level allows them to explore details overlooked in the past, and they more fully understand the importance of becoming part of the garden experience. Students notice the beauty of nature and their relationship to it.”

STRESS DIFFUSING

Randy Colin teaches at Oxford High School in Oxford Connecticut, and is a current student enrolled in the Integrative Health and Healing Master of Art's Degree Program at The Graduate Institute. She stated that she was experiencing personal changes since she began to regularly practice the stress management techniques that she was introduced to by faculty. Randy has been implementing a lifestyle of striving for a ‘healthy balance’ in and out of the classroom.

Stress, in small doses, is good for our minds, since it spurs us into learning and adapting. However, ongoing stress over situations beyond our control can cause our minds and bodies to become unbalanced. Balanced living is achieved by knowing when and how to diffuse stress.

Keeping this in mind, Ms. Colin asks herself to be aware of what is triggering her own stress and why a certain reaction or fear is being expressed while she is in a ‘stressful’ situation. Being able to identify the source of stress allows one to redirect their reaction to a healthier method of dealing with the stressors. Students are taking note of the changes in Ms. Colin and are beginning to respond to her redirection methods. She has started using stress diffusing in her classroom, she tries to remind students to consider the cause of the stress and they talk about. If the stress is caused by something that isn’t so important, she helps them learn to release the stress. She is focusing her attention on calming their breathing and redirecting the frustration in a healthier manner. Knowing that redirecting can decrease discipline problems, she is focusing on teaching her students to identify stressors and to find healthier coping methods other than the ones they had previously developed. Stress diffusion is going to help students in the long term. These soft skills of coping and diffusing are necessary for functioning in society, but are rarely taught. Randy knows that her students will grow to be healthy, focused adults, because she is teaching them how to diffuse stress while they are still teenagers.

CALMING YOGA

Yes, you heard that right. There is a teacher here in Connecticut who is able to get your 5-16-year-old children to sit down and do yoga with her. It isn’t as hard as it sounds, and it helps them relax from their constant energy, focus on thinking and being mindful of their surroundings, and guides them to de-stress as they learn to release negative thoughts and energy.

Melissa Constantini, an educator with a Master of Arts Degree in Learning and Thinking from The Graduate Institute, has started meditation camps for students in Connecticut. During the camp, she guides students on utilizing focusing methods, anybody can benefit from learning how to keep their mind relaxed and focused on the task at hand, but children especially struggle with focus, since they usually are more focused on outward exploration rather than calming their minds.

Each day of the camp, the students practice seated meditation, then they all join in yoga before they begin the activities of the day. During creative time, she guides them in creating calming crafts, such as rain sticks or mandala circle journaling, to focus their minds on creativity. In doing this, students learn to use meditation to bring out passions, change and creating in the artistic areas.

DOES IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO THE STUDENTS?

As noted above, Ms. Wright has begun to see what she is terming a restorative impact on the day for students who are practicing mindfulness. She has found that if her students are practicing mindfulness and reflection before she begins teaching them for the day, the classroom settles down with a focused energy which has a restorative impact on the rest of their day. This is allowing students to have a deepened understanding of the interconnectedness of self, others, and the world.

However, this change isn’t just happening in her classroom, the entire district has taken notice of the changes and many teachers have implemented her Mindful Moments. These teachers who have come on board with the idea are also finding similar results. Ms. Wright believes that helping students learn mindfulness and stress defusing techniques will have a “ripple effect of good” on the student’s lives.

Another teacher, Kahseim Outlaw had presented to his school faculty on the benefits of mindfulness, meditation and yoga, and later was able to start up an after-school yoga class for the faculty and students at his school. With each class, Kahseim taught yoga concepts and techniques. The basics of yoga lie in connecting mind and body and brings with it the ability to look deeper into actions and thoughts to find one’s purpose and path. While these are foundations of yoga practice, understanding these concepts is what takes a 1-hour yoga class and causes its impact to spread throughout one’s week and life.

In the beginning of the semester, the attendees were mostly faculty with a few scattered appearances by students. However, by week 5, there were more students attending than there were faculty members in the class. By the end of the 16-week semester, Kahseim was the only faculty present, all other attendees were students. Students were choosing to stay after-school to practice, discuss and explore meditation and yoga. Students who saw that staying for yoga for an hour would have a better effect on their lives than other activities they could be engaged in. Even during finals week, students wanted to stay for yoga, because they were seeing the difference a weekly 1-hour yoga class was having on their mindset, choices and academics.

According to Terri Bhatt, educator and co-founder of the Calm-trepreneur Program, high school students diagnosed with anxiety and depression often find themselves struggling with daily routines and classroom interactions.  For some, school attendance can become a challenge.  Recognizing that school absence reinforces anxiety rather than diminishes it, an Interim Instruction room fills the gap.  "Avoidance of pain or discomfort is a natural human response, but when avoidance of school and daily responsibilities starts to become a habit, we step in,” she shared.   The Interim Room, known as the “Zen Den” by students, is a dedicated classroom space that offers low-level, non-fluorescent lighting, comfortable seating and creative work zones, providing a low-sensory, low-stimulation environment for students.  Here, teens struggling with anxiety and depression learn breathing, grounding and mindfulness strategies, while also finding a supportive space in which to keep up with school work they might otherwise be missing.  “The results have been quite impressive,” Bhatt says.  "We are keeping students in school and on track.  More importantly, we’re giving them the tools they need to calmly re-focus their energy and manage their day."

One of Ms. Bhatt ​'s most important realizations has been that stress and anxiety can be contagious and self-reinforcing: “If teachers are stressed, their students probably are too.” Reports of anxiety in the teaching profession have reached an all-time high, with research pointing to teachers as having stress levels comparable to that of nurses and police officers.   ​As a response to this need, the Calmtrepreneur Program (www.calmtrepreneur.com) was developed ​to ​provide a comprehensive approach to tackling ongoing stress among teachers and other professionals.  With a focus on personal development and strategies for maintaining calm, the program aims to give participants the tools they need to self-manage and restore balance ​ - which translates to a healthier classroom environment for everyone.

In closing, it should be said that with so much chaos and stress surrounding us, it is great to know that the future generation is being taught different, BETTER coping mechanism for handling the hard moments in life. Maybe our children will be able to do more than cope, maybe they will be able to rise above stress and live in mindful awareness in every moment of their life.

But to get there, to give them the chance to have a different lifestyle for them to know a less stressful existence, educators and parents need to make a mindset change.  Schools of today and tomorrow need to embrace a new culture of learning and thinking, whereby classrooms become mindscapes for engaging and drawing upon the inherent creative and intellectual capacities of all learners. It is now necessary to deconstruct the current educational framework and dialogue on reconstructing ones that better address the challenges of learning and thinking in the 21st century.

Learn more about our programs @  learn.edu

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We Need a New Story [about the starting point for education]

Reading my friend and colleague Jim Trifone's wonderful post yesterday, I was reminded of a video I did in 2013 for one of my classes with the same general title as his article but examining a different aspect of the ways in which our collective Story needs to evolve. I hope you enjoy it even though it's a tad long (sign of the times - I've been advised that asking people to listen to something that's 13 minutes long is now unheard of. Ah well, I've never been terribly fond of advice on matters of self-expression 🙂

This is one small slice of a very large conversation but, inquiries like the one in this video are at the core of the M.A. in Leadership program at TGI - more to the point, taking action from these kinds of inquiries, from a re-framed relationship with "Reality" are at the core of the MAOL experience. We'll be releasing several new videos over the rest of this year that present other inquires - I hope you find them of value.

https://youtu.be/R9b5GURkiYY

A.M. Bhatt is Academic Director of the M.A. in Leadership program at TGI and founder of the Center for Leadership Studies and U of Next.

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What the World Needs Now Is A New Story Based On An Integral Ecology James D. Trifone Ph.D.

I recently attended week-long conference at the Ghost Ranch in Albquiú, New Mexico. The conference was entitled "Earth Honoring Faith: Journey of the Universe” and featured a cadre of eminent religious and scientific scholars. Two of the presenters Mary Evelyn Tucker and her husband John Grim are visiting faculty with The Graduate Institute. Tucker is a senior lecturer and religious scholar in Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, as well as the Divinity School and the Department of Religious Studies. Grim is a Yale University professor with expertise in Native American religions, as well as co-founder and co-director with Tucker of Yale’s Forum on Religion and Ecology.

The conference focused on developing a new worldview that embraces the wisdom from both science and religion to better understand how to re-connect humanity within rather than outside of Nature. The conference theme stemmed from the inspirational book and Emmy award-winning documentary Journey of the Universe [JOTU] co-written by cosmologist Brian Swimme along with Mary Evelyn Tucker. In addition Tucker and her husband were executive producers of JOTU.

The film weaves together the insights gleaned from modern science with the enduring wisdom from the world’s religions to view Cosmic and Earth evolution as a profound process of creativity, connection and interdependence. The film instills a deep sense of belonging and participation that invites us to embrace a more meaningful understanding of our place and role in the story of the universe. JOTU tells a story situating humanity as one of millions of interdependent species borne within the womb of the Cosmos. All matter can be traced to the prodigious energies used to forge every known element either within the fusion furnaces of stars during their “lives” or when they have reached the end of their billion-year lifespan culminating with a billowing fireworks-like display of kaleidoscopic plumes of gas and dust in the wake of a supernova explosion. Therefore, as Carl Sagan iterated decades ago, we are all “star stuff” and, as such, kindred spirits with all of creation.

Religious leaders, environmental and social activists, as well as educators attended the conference whose overall design was to (1) emphasize that we are one human family connected to each other and all there is and; (2) engender a discussion of constructively responding to the ecological, political, social, economic and educational crises we currently face as a global family. One of the notions discussed was the relationship between opposing processes that give rise to form and structure of our planet. What this brought to mind was the dialectic between extinction and the opposing process of emergence or re-birth. There have been five mass extinctions of life on Earth over the course of the past 3.6 billion years, all of which can be attributed to natural processes. However, in the aftermath of each mass extinction, like the Phoenix arising from the ashes, life not only persisted but also flourished in abundance and diversity.

Scientists now concur that we have reached the end of the Cenozoic geological period, during which time the Earth witnessed the adaptive radiation of thousands of mammalian species including our own only a few hundred thousand years ago. A study, recently published in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, confirms what many scientists have believed for some time.- “…The resulting biological annihilation obviously will have serious ecological, economic and social consequences. Humanity will eventually pay a very high price for the decimation of the only assemblage of life that we know of in the universe.” We are now immersed in a new epoch characterized by “biological annihilation” of wildlife that the Earth has not experienced since the last mass extinction millions of years ago. However, unlike mass extinctions of past eons, this new one is due to overpopulation and overconsumption, as well as the intervention in natural processes of a single species-Homo sapiens. Therefore scientists have confirmed Earth has now entered into what is now called the Anthropocene epoch [the prefix “Anthro” refers to human]. The Anthropocene is so named because the planet’s landscape, air and water systems are being transfigured and negatively impacted while its plant and animal inhabitants decimated due to the human predilection to survive at the expense of everything else.

Nonetheless, as the geological record has revealed, the Earth is resilient and has survived past mass extinctions and therefore will survive and thrive with or without us. Thus, there is hope in recognizing the creative, renewing and fecund nature of our planet wherein the emergence of new species will continue to evolve and replace extinct species for ages to come. However, if we want to continue journeying with Mother Earth we need to recognize that this emergence-extinction dialectic is neither pendulum-like nor cyclical. Rather this dialectic depicts the spiraling and evolving of "time and place" creating new contexts. We need to acknowledge that we live in a living and evolving Universe. It is a difference between viewing it as a dead and static state of "being" and recognizing it as a living and dynamic state of "becoming". Henceforth, rather than viewing ourselves as human "beings" it appears more accurate to perceive ourselves as human "becomings" who have reached a critical juncture, or what Malcolm Gladwell refers to as a “tipping point” in our evolution. Whether our species continues the journey depends on whether or not we choose to consciously make changes in how we view ourselves and interact with the landscape, air, water and myriad species that Mother Nature has spun on her loom into one grand tapestry that we perceive as the “web of life”.

The time has come to reinterpret the 18th century Enlightenment values of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness through the lens of inter-connectedness or what Vietnamese and Buddhist poet, Thich Nhat Hanh, refers to as “inter-being” [i.e. to interdependently exist with others]. What the world needs today is to experience "wonder" within the sacred natural world we call home. Wonder or awe literally takes ones breath away. In awe’s wake one’s breath is restored through the process of inspiration, whose etymological roots can be traced to the word "spirit". Therefore, being awe-struck leaves us transformed and able to see things anew that as a consequence, leaves us re-spirited and thus, enlightened to perceive what before had only been overlooked or unseen. What the world needs now is a new story filled with wonder along with the wisdom that emerges when taking time to observe and appreciate the natural beauty and elegance in the form and structure of our environs. Humans need to finally recognize and acknowledge that we are entangled in an interdependent “web of life”. Moreover, it behooves us to begin behaving like a “family” member rather than a stranger to our global inhabitants, as well as resolve to fully participate as trusted guardians rather than plunderers of our planet and Her resources.

The new crises created during the human age of modernity require now, more than ever, a New Story of interdependence and spirituality that spawns new forms of social, spiritual and environmental activism based on: (1) embracing ecological integrity; (2) fostering social, economic and restorative justice and democracy; (3) non-violence and Peace; (4) valuing, respecting and honoring the spiritual connection between humans and the Earth; (5) integrating science and ethics; (6) viewing the universe as a “living”, creative and evolving system; (7) activating human energy for ecological and social change; (8) acknowledging humans as "trustees" rather than stewards of the earth; (9) embracing a broadened ethics among humans and non-humans; and (10) espousing an integral ecology whose values include: (1) reverence for the earth community; (2) respect for humans and all species; (3) restraint in use of natural resources; (4) retribution of technology and aid; and (5) responsibility for the future of life and restoration of ecosystems.

The Earth Charter [http://earthcharter.org/discover/the-earth-charter/] began as a United Nations initiative, but was carried forward and completed by a global civil society initiative in the last decade of the 20th century. The Charter provides an ethical framework requisite to creating a “just, sustainable and peaceful global society for the 21st century” and, as such, can serve as a primer on writing a New Story.

The Preamble of the Earth Charter begins with a profound and sobering notion:

“We stand at a critical moment in Earth’s history, a time when humanity must choose its future. As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future at once holds great peril and great promise. To move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny. We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace. Towards this end, it is imperative that we, the peoples of Earth, declare our responsibility to one another, to the greater community of life, and to future generations.”

Pope Francis proposes in his recent Encyclical that we embrace an integral ecology as a new paradigm of justice; an ecology “which respects our unique place as human beings in this world and our relationship to our surroundings”. The inherent wisdom in this papal document is thus aligned with those that espoused by others, most notably His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Therefore, the religious and scientific communities are united in their appeal to usher in a new accord that promotes embracing an integral ecology founded on interconnectedness and interdependence of our global community.

In order to connect the message inherent in JOTU with both the Earth Charter and the Encyclical we, as a global society, need to adopt a new set of global-centric values that speak to the entire Earth community. JOTU's message is that we are all "star stuff" and therefore, interrelated and interdependent. Moreover, we are ALL on the same journey as One with the Universe. It is a shift in mindset from focusing on the needs, desires and wants of the "self" to those of "Self". Getting there will require being open to dialogue and therefore listening to each other and co-evolving new values that support the Earth Charter's guiding principles for nature, human rights, economic justice and a culture of peace.

Towards that end, the mission and vision statements of The Graduate Institute that underlie its degree and certificate programs are not only aligned with the tenets of the Earth Charter, integral ecology and the wisdom lying at the heart of the Encyclical, but also offer its students portals through which they can accept our challenge to assume the role of change agents thereby becoming ambassadors of a New Story. The Graduate Institute stands as a paragon of hope for a new and healthier global future.

“The Graduate Institute’s mission is to create learning communities in which graduate study enriches the spirit, promotes philosophic discovery, provides opportunities for interpersonal and organizational change and encourages the intellect through the exploration of contemporary ideas and ideologies... to promote personal transcendence and professional growth.…It is the spiritual, emotional and intellectual evolution of the species that gives rise to a promise of greatness and hope. …The Institute's programs, with their unique perspectives on intellectual, emotional, cultural and spiritual forces, exist to serve humanity as a continuum from which to find itself… provides the "distant sightedness" that focuses the body politic in its effort towards Cultural Revolution.”

Dr. James Trifone is the Academic Director for The Graduate Institute’s Master of Arts in Learning and Thinking Degree Program in Bethany, CT. learn.edu

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Reflections on a Silent Meditation Retreat

I just returned from a seven-day silent meditation retreat, led by Rabbi David and Shoshana Cooper. The retreat, while conducted in a Jewish context, draws substantially Buddhist approaches to awakening and meditative practices. The retreat was bittersweet since this was to be the Coopers’ last, due to an illness that would no longer allow David to teach effectively. There were both tears and laughter – David has an extraordinary sense of humor – as a meditative container that held approximately 50 souls gathered to embark on this seven-day journey exploring the nature of consciousness. The Coopers were ably assisted by meditation teachers Rabbi Naomi Hyman, Beth Resnick-Folk, and musician and author Eliezer Sobel.

Participants left behind not only their cell phones, email, computers and tablets, but also refrained from reading, extensive writing and, of course, talking. The Coopers designed this protocol to allow the group to deepen into a profound inner quietness within which the mind can quiet down and be explored. For someone studying consciousness, doing field work means exploring one’s own consciousness, helped by others who are a little, or a lot, further along in their exploration.

The first few days of the retreat is that of settling in to the routine, allowing the meditations to quiet the mind, and noticing the profound silence of the group that is also filled with friendliness and kindness. Some silent retreats in other traditions can be austere – no smiling, no holding open doors for others, etc. At this retreat, smiling or acknowledging others is allowed (but not required). The practice is open-hearted with curiosity and a dose of humor. The teachers, who provided inspirational talks, were often very funny, approaching stand-up at times.

By the morning of the third day, thoughts entering my mind had slowed to a trickle. Instead of a steady stream, thoughts were bubbling up more discretely, one at a time. One thought that bubbled up was that this would be a good day to observe how mental distractions spontaneously arise in my mind. The teachers had mentioned that a silent retreat allows one to explore one’s own mind or consciousness, and I realized I could use this opportunity to get to know my mind’s operating system. The idea was that as each thought arose, I would create a category for that thought and develop an informal frequency distribution. I would be exploring the habits of my mind that have built up over a lifetime. As each new category arose, I would jot down a name for that category. After listing about 20 categories, no new categories arose. The top three categories – my most habitual thoughts – were (1) mental rehearsals, (2) reliving the past, and (3) to-do listing / planning thoughts.

This process is similar to a Buddhist process known as noting. As mentioned in the linked article, one of the most powerful aspects of noting is the disidentification with the mind. Most often we identify with our thoughts. The constant mental narration seems to originate with the part of one’s mind that one thinks of as “I”. These are my thoughts. I am thinking about this. I am thinking this over in order to decide what I should do. But through meditation and inner silence, one learns that thoughts are just the operation of the mind and identification with those thoughts recede. One is something deeper than the thoughts, or behind the thoughts. Thoughts arise in a field of consciousness, but is not consciousness itself. The process of noting thoughts naturally brings a separation of thoughts from consciousness itself. Instead of identifying with one’s thoughts, one identifies with one’s consciousness and notes that one is having thoughts. This subtle difference is essential for personal and or spiritual growth.

According to Piaget, children at the sensorimotor stage of development cannot sit still. They know the world and self-identify through their senses and impulsive movements. Piaget explains that when a child identifies with impulsive movement, the child cannot control those impulses. That is why a 2-year old child is all wiggly and in constant motion. As a child develops and no longer identifies with impulses, going from being impulsive to having impulsive movements, only then can the child sit still. This is akin to adults who identify with their thoughts. The adult identifies with the thoughts that are constantly jumping from one thought or feeling to another. The adult’s mind can’t “sit still.” The adult is at the mercy of the thinking and emotive mind. The mind cannot slow down. But through noting, thoughts are noticed, gently categorized, and disidentified with. This is not to say one stops having thoughts or that thoughts don’t continue to arise. They do. But now you have the thoughts, rather than the thoughts having you.

Charles Silverstein, PhD is the Academic Co-Director of the Master’s degree program in Consciousness Studies and Transpersonal Psychology at The Graduate Institute – a graduate school specializing in learner-centered, integrative and holistic education.

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A New Culture of Learning & Thinking for Success in the 21st Century

The curricular needs of today's millennial generation are no longer anything remotely resembling that of their parents, let alone grandparents. Rather, the schools of today and tomorrow need to embrace a new "culture of learning and thinking" whereby classrooms become mindscapes for engaging and drawing upon the inherent creative and intellectual capacities of all learners. The emergence of social media platforms, has transformed how we learn, live, work, shop, play and even meet others. Therefore in MALT, participants deconstruct the current educational framework and dialogue on reconstructing ones that better address the challenges of learning and thinking in the 21st century. These frameworks consists of a shift towards a more post-modern process and learner-based approach for education that provides constructivist learning opportunities for a diverse and unique population of learners.

The current education reform framework being promulgated by both business and political leaders to develop college and career readiness for today's students is based on what was once a valid, yet now antiquated, 18th century "factory" model for learning and thinking. Nonetheless, while the core philosophical beliefs that emerged from this era are still valid today, our understanding of how we need to think and learn has changed immensely since that time. Unfortunately, we have only recently come to realize that humanity has reached a point in its cultural evolution whereby progressing forward into an unknown future is no longer dependent upon amassing separate and isolated concepts derived from disciplinary thinking.Rather we now realize that survival in the 21st century and beyond is dependent upon understanding the importance of interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary thinking and the web of relationships between myriad social, political, economic and ecological processes linking together the entire global community.

Recent findings from research studies conducted by neuroscientists, developmental psychologists and educational motivational theorists support pedagogies that foster the development of the whole child and with it both right, as well as left brain thinking. Reason together with emotion, as well as activities that demand a more balanced left and right hemisphere learning approach, have provided today's educator with a totally new perspective of how we think and learn. Therefore, teacher preparation courses and professional development for veteran educators, need to evolve to provide today's educators with the understanding and wherewithal to develop and integrate more right brain strengths, as well as co-creation of meaning in order to incorporate an experiential approach to thinking into their classroom teaching.

In his book, Most Likely to Succeed, Harvard educator, Tony Wagner, cites 7 survival skills necessary for career and college readiness for success in the 21st century, including: critical thinking and problem solving; collaboration across networks and leading by influence; agility and adaptability; initiative and entrepreneurship; effective oral and written communication; accessing and analyzing information and curiosity and imagination. Similarly, in his book, A Whole New Mind, best-selling Daniel Pink argues that affluence, technology and globalization have transformed our culture and with it, now require a shift from the left-brain (i.e. L-Directed) thinking characteristic of the Information age to that of including right-brain thinking (i.e. R-Directed) processes requisite for success in the emerging Conceptual Age of the 21st century. Rather than diminishing the importance of L-Directed thought processes, Pink argues for augmenting those by including R-Directed processes he refers to as "high concept" (e.g. ability to identify and use one's aesthetic sensibility to make insightful discoveries and use them in creating innovative and novel inventions), as well as "high touch" abilities (e.g. capacity to empathize with others, find personal meaning and purpose in one's work, and in so doing, flourish). In 5 Minds for the Future educational guru, Howard Gardner, conceives five different kinds of minds (i.e. Disciplined, Synthesizing, Creating, Respectful and Ethical) that today's educators need to consider in ensuring that today's youth are able to effectively succeed and flourish in the 21st century.In Truth, Beauty and Goodness Reframed, Gardner, also persuasively argues for rethinking today's educational praxis by integrating the age-old Platonic ideals within a context of the needs and constraints of living in 21st century society.

Collectively, these and other progressive educational thinkers are maintaining that if we don't provide opportunities for today's students to feel comfortable developing and drawing upon their empathetic, aesthetic, collaborative and ethical capacities, in addition to their reasoning, analytical, and communicative skills, then we are not only doing them a disservice, but also not preparing them for career and college success. The time has come for educational reformers to acknowledge that the skill set needed for college and career success today has changed since they were students in traditional classrooms. Therefore, what is needed today, more than ever, is a shift in the way we understand what today's youth need to be able to imagine, create and innovate fresh ways of living and working requisite to maintaining and sustaining prosperity and flourishing for all Americans.

Through dynamic and experiential weekend workshops MALT students come to understand that American schools' continued adherence to its anachronistic way of thinking and learning has not only ill-prepared today's youth for tomorrow's challenges but also promoted mediocrity by squelching creativity, innovative thinking, and nonconformity-three of the hallmark characteristics underlying our nation's rise to be a major global economic leader.

MALT : A New Culture of Learning& Thinking

The New Culture of Learning & Thinking… an emerging definition

In the new culture of learning and thinking, the learning process has morphed from the stable infrastructure of the twentieth century to an environment where technology is constantly creating and responding to change. This new type of learning is a cultural phenomenon that underlies a large number of people's experiences and affects them in myriad ways. It takes place without traditional textbooks, without credentialed instructors, and without classrooms, and it requires environments that are bounded, yet provides complete freedom of action within these boundaries. The new culture of learning requires a profound shift in how one thinks about graduate education. In fact, this new culture of learning is capable of augmenting nearly very facet of education and every stage of life.

The Master of Arts Degree in Learning & Thinking (M.A.L.T.) is predicated on establishing a New Culture of Learning & Thinking that develops the knowledge, skills, competencies, and imagination for a world in constant flux. Towards this end MALT nurtures the emergence of a collegial learning community dedicated to co-creating new meaning within a constructivist and transdisciplinary context. The program is intended for learners who seek opportunities for discovering the sources and processes of thinking, learning and creating meaning. As members of a learning community students participate in experiential and constructivist activities designed to provide insight into the nature of the ways of knowing and conceptual frameworks underlying how they perceive, think and act.The learning events provide students with first-hand opportunities to investigate how exemplars from the Arts, Sciences and Humanities think, learn and problem solve.

MALT Cultivates a New Culture of Learning & Thinking

Participants:

  • Utilize a process approach to reveal how we learn, think and transform experience into meaning
  • Discover and develop thinking skills requisite to becoming more effective critical, analytical and creative thinkers
  • Familiarize themselves with the psychology of the creative process
  • Investigate nonverbal expressions of meaning through music, movement, intuition and intentionality
  • Explore how mindful listening, belief suspension, non-judgmental thinking, and reflective inquiry are useful in sharing deeper meaning
  • Investigate the nature of their personal aesthetic as a key to understanding the inner relationships of the spiritual, emotional, cognitive, contextual, physical, and communal realities that form self
  • Assess the validity of, and reconcile differences between, brain-based learning theories with social constructivist and other body-mind learning theories
  • Provide experiential learning opportunities requisite to encouraging students to embrace a meaningful approach to learning as a means to enable personal and professional growth
  • Create a venue in which learners are empowered to perceive themselves as change agents who can bring about social, cultural and personal change and
  • Explore and analyze real-world events, crises and phenomena within more holistic, and transdisciplinary conceptual frameworks that may offer insight into creating a more sustainable planetary ethic
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