End of Summer Energy

As a teacher, I always loved these last few weeks of summer break. I was in the fullness of summer warmth, energy, and rest while feeling hopeful and inspired to try out new ideas for my curriculum and classroom.

Who would my new students be? How could I create an engaging and supportive classroom space? What would we create together? How would we impact our communities through our work?

In fact, this particular energy at the end of summer break and the beginning of the school year--for me at least--was really unique to this time of year. I felt rested, regulated, inspired, focused, and energized. At other points in the school year, I definitely felt focused and inspired, but not rested. And on the winter and spring breaks, I felt rested, but not necessarily energized or regulated.

This reminds me of the concept of an ecotone. I was first introduced to this concept in Abigail Rose Clarke's book Returning Home to Our Bodies. 

This ignited my curiosity-- what would the experience of teaching and learning be like if I could nurture this kind of end of summer/ beginning of school year energy more consistently throughout the school year? This led me to learn about an integrating nervous system regulation practices into my teaching day. It prompted me to look at the systems, rules, and energy I enforced in my classroom. It invited me to question the norms and values that shape the average actions in our classrooms and schools. This curiosity invited me to get clear on my own values and align my actions with them. It led me to other thinkers and changemakers in our contemporary culture that are imagining new systems that support our full humanity. It turned my attention more reverently towards the people I shared my classroom with and what they actually wanted to learn.

After years of exploring this and collecting practices and resources that literally changed my life as a teacher, I knew one thing for sure: our profession and public education spaces didn't have to be exhausting for both teachers and students. And--more importantly--as teachers, we don't have to wait for someone else to fix the system for us (okay, so I suppose I knew two things for sure). Just because chronic stress and burnout were common experiences, this didn't mean that there wasn't another way; we just have to have the time, energy, and resources to imagine, experiment, and create it.

And therein lies the problem--on our own, how much extra time, energy, and resources do you typically have throughout the school year as a teacher? If you are like me, unless I intentionally set aside a specific day and time to commit to this, it easily was pushed aside.

SO-- what could this year be like if you DID set aside a particular day and time to support yourself as a teacher and consider the aspects of our classrooms and school systems that we can change?

I can hold this space for you in my very first Embodied Wellness Cohort. I have resources, practices, and reflection prompts so you don't have to start from scratch. You can easily jump in and start prioritizing your wellbeing as a teacher alongside other school professionals who want to do the same. We already know that professional learning communities can support our professional growth and impact as a teacher--the Embodied Wellness Cohort is a community to support your holistic growth as an educator and change the way that you and your students experience our school systems.

A school year where you feel energized, rested, regulated, inspired, and empowered IS possible. You just have to be open to taking the first step to making it happen!

If you are curious about this and want to work (easefully!) with me to create this new kind of teaching experience, I invite you to join this Embodied Wellness Cohort.

I'll see you there!