Mindfulness-based Teacher Project

This podcast differs from the audios that have come before. In fact, it is the commencement address for a group of trainees who have just finished an 18-month teacher training program in MBSR and MBCT. We have all sat down to mark the end of a journey together, and I share some of the aspects of teaching that have been most inspiring to me. Find more at mindfulness-based-teacher-project.org.

Titled Mr. Chan: Don’t Dumb Down, the podcast recalls my earliest days of training in 1979 with my first Qigong teacher. In addition, I have added a text about Mr. Chan, as well as a picture of us from 1989 and a link to a video about him. There is also a link to a conversation with Ted Meissner and myself on the Podcast site Present Moment: Mindfulness and Science. Ted interviewed me about the MBTP series, and we explore various aspects of how it came into being. Find more at mindfulness-based-teacher-project.org.

I adapted the title of this podcast from the classic meditation book by Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart. The self-empowerment of facing one’s own demons as squarely as one can with kindness and clarity, one of Pema’s basic themes, has helped me many times. For example, when I feel a lesson plan unraveling and have no idea how to go on, it isn’t helpful to tell myself, “You should have known better” What is helpful is seeing where I am stuck, giving myself as much kindness as I can and acknowledging that I’m in a tight spot. A variety of brilliant, creative solutions might exist, but I need to ask myself, “What is possible for me right now?” Find more at mindfulness-based-teacher-project.org.

In this episode I tell the story of my struggle as a doctoral candidate to find my authentic voice. I go on to explore the question of what it means to be authentic as a teacher and the ways this can present itself. For example, I know that I’m not being fully authentic when I’m not really saying what’s in my heart.” This process can be painful. I explore ways that this effort can be lead to deep self-learning and how this effort at self-knowledge, self-disclosure, and shared vulnerability can benefit students. Find more at mindfulness-based-teacher-project.org.

It is part of the work of a mindfulness teacher to create audios of exercises such as the body scan or sitting meditation. Most teachers underestimate the amount of time and energy they’ll need to prepare their guided meditations. They’ll spend many hours writing texts, rewriting and editing them. Often what drives them is the idea that there is a ”perfect” text or audio that will lead people to have a “perfect” meditation. I had a revealing experience in my early years teaching MBSR that helped me see that there is no such thing as the perfect guided meditation, or a perfect anything. What really matters is a creating a sense of connection, authenticity and aliveness Find more at mindfulness-based-teacher-project.org.

In this episode, I comment on a story told by Sister Joan Chittister about a man who removes his own shoes in the dead of winter and gives them to a homeless person wearing only open-toed sandals. I offer this story to encourage us, as teachers, to bring forth all that we are and to take responsibility, gently, when we feel we’ve fallen short. To be so transparent that you feel as though you’re removing your own shoes in the winter and to walk into the cold in your bare feet. Find more at mindfulness-based-teacher-project.org.

It can be uncomfortable for teachers, even paralyzing, to question whether we’re competent enough. We experience periods when we doubt if we have what it takes to be a teacher, often feeling doubt as a sign we’re not ready to work with others. In this episode I share my own brush with a self-doubt so strong that I stopped teaching meditation for several years. And I tell of a Zen teacher who helped me realize that the trust I was seeking was to allow myself to feel insecure. Only then could I know what it means to stand on solid ground. Find more at mindfulness-based-teacher-project.org.

Many mindfulness teachers find the process of mindful dialogue, or inquiry, challenging. They feel a self-imposed pressure to “perform.” In this podcast I share a famous Zen koan that has helped me to let go of the idea that I have to control the discussion. When I do let go, something truly sharing emerges, even if not much seems to happen. “Not knowing is most intimate” can support a teacher to be genuinely present in stillness while connecting to what’s happening… without the pressure that something must unfold. Find more at mindfulness-based-teacher-project.org.

In this story from my early days of teaching Tai Chi in the 1980s, I tell about a woman who, despite all the odds of a poor memory and even less body-coordination skills, refused to accept any offer to make things easier Find more at mindfulness-based-teacher-project.org.

We all have periods where we want to really give the best that we can and that can be, again, a wonderful motivation behind teaching,... But doing the very best we can and feeling so paralyzed that we cannot go on is a very different story. Find more at mindfulness-based-teacher-project.org.