- [Instructor] Welcome to Mindfulness Exercises
for mindfulness teachers.
Today's topic is about addressing fear, doubt,
and uncertainty in our teaching, or as a teacher.
These types of emotions
are part of the fullness of the human experience.
Fear doubt and uncertainty arise
in all of us from time to time
and even for those of us who are mindfulness teachers.
As we know,
mindfulness isn't about ridding ourselves of emotion
it's about becoming aware.
And it's possible
to be aware of our fear, doubt, and uncertainty
to allow it to be present without allowing these emotions
to interfere with our teaching.
In this presentation, we'll explain how we can work
with what we might label as negative emotion
using the same mindfulness tools we teach to others.
First take a look
at where fear, doubt, and uncertainty might come from.
When we're new to teaching
or possibly even after many years,
we may have a misguided belief that as teachers,
we should be smarter than, better than,
wiser than our students.
And this type of thinking relies on a sense of separation.
I'm the teacher, you're the student,
and we are both self-existent in only one way
different from and separate from each other.
Of course, this type of worldview is mistaken
and our mindfulness practice helps remind us of this.
Lack of experience as a teacher
can also cause doubt or uncertainty to arise.
We haven't yet accumulated
enough positive experiences as a teacher.
And because of this there's extra room available
to doubt in our abilities.
We may have had past negative experiences
as an unprepared or inexperienced teacher
or through no fault of our own.
And with thus develop a fear
that these past negative experiences will happen again.
And it's possible that our fear or doubt
has nothing to do with our teaching at all,
but is a symptom of unresolved trauma
in another area of our lives
or connected to an unrelated fear
that we haven't yet addressed.
We don't always know where our emotions come from,
but that makes them no less real.
The solution of course is to practice what we preach.
The more we live the teachings we impart to others,
the more assured we will become
and the authenticity of our message.
So practice what you teach
and never teach anything
that's not part of your personal practice.
And when you do notice uncomfortable emotions arising
just as you would advise your students,
turn towards them and explore.
Let yourself be present with your emotions
and address them with a non-judgmental, open curiosity,
as well as loving kindness.
Speak to yourself as you'd speak to one of your students.
You'd ask them to be patient with their feelings,
to practice self-compassion,
and you can and should do the same for yourself.
We know that avoiding or fighting against our emotions
only causes them to fight back and grow stronger.
So we're gonna take a bit of a pause here
and do a brief practice
to work with uncertainty, fear, nervousness, or doubts.
And then after our practice,
we'll complete a guided journaling exercise
to help process our experience.
So find a comfortable seat
in a nice quiet place
where you can be free from distractions,
sit up tall and close your eyes,
take a full breath in through your nose,
and then release and relax as you sign out.
Guide your attention to the present moment
by placing your attention on the breath, the body or both,
and let yourself be present for a moment
with the sensation of body and breath.
Breath moving slowly and patiently,
in and out through the nose.
And as you settle in notice also
the support of the earth underneath you.
Consider your posture
and let yourself held by the space all around you.
Remember that you are safe here,
being supported and held,
as you bring to mind your role as a mindfulness teacher.
Perhaps, consider your general identity as a teacher,
or you might be concerned about a particular upcoming event.
Just notice what arises
as you visualize yourself in the teacher role.
Refrain from judgment or self-criticism
and remain open and curious.
What's present here?
Not only aware of the voice or voices in your head
and what they're saying or thinking,
but aware of how you feel in your body,
aware of any changes in the breath.
Then remain noticing what arises
as you consider your role as a mindfulness teacher,
take as much time as you need to,
not to figure anything out but to be present with what is.
And if you'd like, you can hit Pause on the video here,
extend this practice longer if you need to.
And when you're ready come back, open your eyes,
guide your awareness back to the space around you.
Take a deep full breath in and a big sigh out.
And we'll let go of this brief meditation
and move on to a few follow up questions.
So as we go through these questions,
take as much time as you need
to contemplate and record your responses.
You can hit Pause on the video at any time
and come back to us as you're ready.
So first, what did you notice in your body,
not the thinking mind, but in the body,
as you considered your role as a mindfulness teacher?
Describe the sensations you experienced.
And then next.
What thoughts or beliefs
did you become aware of during this practice, if any?
Acknowledge them by writing them down.
What stories, if any, were playing out in your mind?
And then do you now or did you happen to notice
if any of these sensations, or these thoughts,
or these stories are recurring themes?
Perhaps you've felt this way at some point before
and take a moment to explore that with a journal entry.
And now we'll explore what your thoughts might be saying.
Is there perhaps a desire
to hone your skills to a greater degree,
to go deeper in your own practice,
or to study, or learn, or research more?
Are you perhaps attaching to a particular image
of an ideal or perfect teacher and who is that?
And what would perfection even look like?
Is it particular fear holding you back
from showing up in the way that you'd like to?
Fear of judgment, fear of failure,
fear of being misunderstood,
maybe it's something else.
And then again,
check in with what about each of these answers
might feel familiar.
Is there some type of recurring theme here,
something that's been there
asking to be kindly and mindfully addressed?
And then, do you think you're alone
in what you're experiencing?
Who is this perfect teacher?
Do you think your own teacher has ever experienced fear,
doubt, or uncertainty?
Do you think any teacher whom you admire ever has?
What beliefs do you think separate you from your students?
Do you think your students expect perfection?
Each of these questions here
is getting at the universality of these types of emotions
and their usefulness in connecting us to others.
It's helpful to recall your own humanity.
You are human.
And just like your students,
you're a real person who's on a journey.
There's no need to be perfect or to have all the answers,
what you have and what you're sharing
is access to the practice
and understanding of these mindfulness teachings.
And in fact, it's quite possible
that what your students want
is someone who's real, vulnerable, authentic,
someone to whom they can relate.
Humans make the best teachers for other humans.
So let's get grounded again
by recalling our true role as a teacher,
our role is not to be a model of perfection
nor someone with all the answers
who'll swoop in and fix others,
our role is simply to share
the mindfulness practices we're privy to,
so our students can use these same practices
to heal themselves.
So it's helpful to share your progress, your path,
your personal journey and not your perfection.
There's no need to demonstrate perfection.
And I hope that reminder is freeing to you.
So let's go back to the journal for a moment.
Recall your intentions as a mindfulness teacher
and in writing reflect upon why it's important
for you to share mindfulness with others.
And now is this goal, this wish, this intention,
this desire to share in mindfulness,
is it worth the minor discomfort that you're feeling?
My guess is it probably is.
And so reflect for a moment
on how you could better support yourself
on this journey as a teacher,
whether it's continued practice, education,
maybe just teaching more often.
What advice would you offer to a friend?
One very good method of support
is just practicing self-compassion
and you can take a break
for self-compassion whenever you need to,
even in the middle of a teaching session,
just close your eyes
and give yourself a self-compassionate cycle of breath.
So let's help make this practice more familiar
by taking a brief mindfulness break
for self-compassion right now.
Again, find a comfortable seat.
Sit up tall, close your eyes if you'd like to.
Take a deep, full breath in,
and then release and soften with a breath out.
And check in again
with what you're feeling now, in this present moment.
And if you're still feeling any lingering doubts,
fear, or uncertainty,
whatever you're feeling, allow it to be here.
And remind yourself
that this feeling is a shared human feeling.
Say that silently to yourself,
"I recognize what I'm feeling right now,
and I know I'm not alone.
This is a shared human feeling."
Not only saying that to yourself, but feeling it too.
And then offer yourself compassion.
Say silently to yourself,
"May I give myself loving kindness in this moment."
Say the words and feel it too.
And then finally,
"May I offer myself the same guidance
I would offer to my students."
Remember that you too
are worthy of the care you would extend to others.
And again, feeling these compassionate statements
in your body.
Breathe in love,
and exhale any stress,
rest here,
and the sensation of loving acceptance
for as long as you need to.
You can hit Pause,
and when you're ready,
come back to the video and we'll move on to our final slide.
So one last bit of advice here,
for any mindfulness teachers
who are experiencing doubt, fear, uncertainty,
just keep teaching.
Please keep teaching.
Your fear and doubt is a sign that all this matters to you,
you care and you want to be good
and the world needs more teachers just like you.
Just as when we first learn meditation
we're not always sure that it'll work,
but through continued practice
we begin to realize the benefits of meditation.
And through the experience
and the felt sense of those benefits,
our doubts begin to wane.
We're able to let go of doubt
by doing the very thing we've been unsure of.
And the same goes for teaching.
It's only through teaching that we become better teachers.
We make mistakes and we're not perfect,
but with mindfulness we grow and we learn.
Teaching will make you a better practitioner.
Your practice will make you a better teacher,
and through this back and forth you'll continue to grow.
Through teaching we realize that the teacher and the student
are one and the same,
and we understand that as teachers
we benefit by teaching just as much as our students do.
So thank you for your practice
and thank you for your efforts in teaching.
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