The Class my Students Teach!

During my week 2 of my current MBSR for Clinicians and Coaches class last week, I was reminded that the students are the ones who truly teach this class.It is by reflecting on what they share of their own moment-to-moment experience that we get to explore, together, what this thing we call mindfulness is.

The reminder came during the inquiry following a body scan when I heard a question/reflection I’ve never heard before.The participant, who also shared that they are a regular meditator, said: 

“I’m used to practicing with my mind because, with my mind, I can think, which feels like a stable anchor. I don’t practice with my body because my body is so uncontrollable and not a stable anchor. Why are we practicing with the body as an anchor when it moves and changes all the time?” 

There is so much richness in that inquiry that the teacher in me wanted to jump up and down with delight.I heard an assumption that managing thoughts equals stability. I heard that controlling the mind somehow offers reliable stability, and that the goal of practice is to wrangle the mind into something manageable. 

Who hasn't been there?

But I also heard a profound insight: that the invitation of practice is to be with the ever-changing nature of the body (and mind, and circumstances… and life).I heard the glimmer of a lived realization that control does NOT equal stability, along with an awareness of the persistent, inevitable urge to control our thoughts, our bodies, our breath, our circumstances—our lives.Together, we had an amazing inquiry into what practice is, how difficult it is to let go of control, and the challenge of simply being with the unpredictability of our experience.

Come, help me teach my next class!

With Gratitude,Colette