Barbezat 2014

Source:   BOOK CHAPTER

APA Citation:

Barbezat, D. P., & Bush, M. (2014). Contemplative practices in higher education: Powerful methods to transform teaching and learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Author bio:

Daniel P. Barbezat is professor of economics at Amherst College. He has been a visiting professor at Northwestern University and Yale University and has taught in the summer program at Harvard University.

Mirabai Bush is senior fellow and founding director of the center for Contemplative Mind in Society; formerly taught writing and English literature at SUNY Buffalo; she now teaches in the contemplative clinical practice program at the Smith College School for Social Work

Notes:

CHAPTER 4 – Teacher preparation and classroom challenges

There is no effective way to teach contemplative practices without practicing them yourself. While many of the practices in this book are rather simple, they all require the awareness that comes with committed practice, including the experience of their varied consequences. As we have seen, few hard and fixed rules exist concerning the integration of contemplative and introspective practices; however, you need a deep familiarity with the practices before introducing them so that you can guide students through them and help them process their experience afterward. (p. 67-68)

you need an especially keen relationship with your students, and even this is not enough to lead the practices. Without a solid grounding in your own practice, you may not be able to respond in ways that help students learn. (p. 68)

Knowing the extent of the students' reticence or resistance is important for two reasons:

1. Students must be able to follow the instructions of the guided exercise; if they are too apprehensive, they will not gain from the exercises.

2. If you ignore the context for the students, they may not trust that their experience actually does matter and may not believe the stated intention of the exercises. Recall that the motivation for the exercise is for the students to assert their agency along with the material in a meaningful way; students will quickly perceive a structure that contradicts the basic intent. (p. 68-69)

Even willing participants in contemplative exercises, having a sense of how students are feeling (focused, sleepy, something else) is extremely helpful so that you can adapt the exercises to the situation. A surefire way to have these exercises fall flat is to attempt them at the wrong time or place; what might work for one group of students might not at all for another. (p. 69)

Many contemplative exercises come from elaborate and long traditions. Whether they are from the desert fathers of the Catholic faith, the Theravada, Mahayana, or Vajrayana traditions in Buddhism, or even the more clinical protocols of stress reduction, we often present students with practices out of their original context. This is not a simple issue to address. Often, describing or introducing the complete context of these practices could confuse or potentially alienate students. This matter has to be handled subtly: whereas, on the one hand, it is appropriate and respectful to acknowledge the origin of the practices, it is not necessary or advisable that students be asked to adopt any particular tradition or belief to undertake the exercises. Respect for students' beliefs (or lack of them) is essential. (p. 69-70)

Each instructor using contemplative and introspective practices will have to grapple with how much or how little context to provide. The real issue is that the question of appropriate use is kept alive so that we remain respectful and authentic as we adapt practices for our classrooms. Judith Simmer-Brown of Naropa University, for example, believes it is imperative that we “bring forward our third-person perspectives as scholars and train our students accordingly.” She argues that the first step is that those who are introducing practices—hatha yoga (the series of postures known popularly as yoga), for example—need to be aware of the philosophical, cultural, and religious roots of these practices before they use them in the classroom.(p. 71)

Students who trust their teachers are willing to take risks. Trust deepens for the students when they understand why they are being asked to do something, especially if it is outside their comfort zone. To establish this, clearly explain the intention of the exercise. Starting with relatively simple exercises at the beginning of the course and then proceeding to those that are more demanding and complex can allow the students to adapt and manage the practices better. (p. 72)

We believe it is important to stress “variation” rather than “diversity” because as difference (diversity) rises, we need to keep a focus on our common connection (variation). We acknowledge difference and also hold our commonality. To deny differences is to remove an important aspect of self-determination. Yet to frame difference as defect or fault can be harmful. Of course, denying difference can be harmful too. Claims of color blindness can be alienating. (p. 73)

Like almost every other aspect of this type of work, the first step is deep awareness of oneself and of the students being addressed. This seems simple, but without careful inquiry, we can easily miss important aspects of our students' lives and the opportunity for helping them to engage with our courses more deeply. An example of this is the use of silence in the class during an exercise. This seems like a positive and simple act, especially in lives that are bombarded with distractions. However, students who have felt traditionally silenced by formal education may meet the command to be silent with tension and resentment. This can be easily addressed without making any assumptions about who these students might be by establishing at the outset of the exercises that the silence is an opportunity for an internal experience that will result in more participation and involvement rather than less. This sounds like a simple setting of the context, but it is now mindful of the potential differences in responses to the request for silence, and it benefits all students with an increased sense of the motivation for the exercises. (p. 73-74)

The real point here is that we want to establish a frame in which students from the widest range of backgrounds feel welcome and safe. The critical first step in this process is to confront your own preexisting beliefs and biases. Many of these operate below the conscious level and can be unpleasant to examine. This requires time and attention because most of us have convinced ourselves that we do not discriminate against others, even mentally. While most of us do embrace principles of equality and social justice, cultural norms we have learned through years of exposure and countless heuristics render these principles tenuous, especially since most of what we are doing requires a quick reaction. We are beings designed to use perceptual data very quickly to make judgments. Indeed, many times these skills are essential. Since most of our responses operate below the level of conscious choice, we often create environments or react to situations that preclude establishing contexts for all students to participate. We need to become aware of our underlying beliefs and make sure that we are choosing our responses rather than simply following old and potentially inappropriate heuristics. (p. 74-75)

Clearly no one will want to grade students narrowly for the depth of their meditation or the extensiveness of their introspection. This does not mean that these practices cannot be incorporated into the students' evaluations. As with other forms of participation, like asking questions and attending class, students can be credited for their level of engagement. For basic concentration practices or other daily practices, attendance logs or some basic record of whether the student is making an effort can mirror the ways in which we traditionally assess class participation. (p. 76)

A paper in which students consider their own experience as a meaningful source for understanding the material of the course seems an excellent way to integrate exercises while providing a method for evaluating performance. (p. 77)

The assessment is based not only on their participation in the exercises but also on their ability to examine and reflect on their experience, deepening their understanding of the course material. (p. 78)

One of the fiercest critiques of contemplative practices in the classroom is that religious views are being rolled in within the Trojan horse of secular ideas of “attention” and “mindfulness.” We understand this concern, but the practices we are suggesting require no particular belief by the participants; they are intended to allow students to experience, for themselves, their own inner processes. Practices give students the opportunity to make sense of their own experience for themselves. We cannot stress this point enough. As Harold Roth (2008) has explained, “The understanding that contemplative experiences are not confined exclusively to religion” (p. 20) is central to any contemplative pedagogy. (p. 78-79)

In addition to embracing and including other views, we also must be careful not to overstep our bounds as teachers. Since contemplative exercises require first-person reflection and attention, students are likely to uncover aspects of their experience that are uncomfortable for them and possibly frightening. While we need to prepare for this and be ready to support our students, we also should recognize that most of us are not trained therapists or counselors. Each situation must be handled uniquely, but we should be ready to help students in ways in which we might not be accustomed. (p. 80)

But while an instructor certainly can be a mentor in many ways to a student, he or she should not attempt any inappropriate role in the spiritual direction of the student. Before incorporating contemplative practices into your courses, you should work out your appropriate role in students' lives and then continue to examine that role during the course. This can be challenging. We are used to working with students on rather abstract levels; these practices are designed for far more personal engagement. Learning to manage interactions with students is an important part of their proper implementation. One helpful way to deal with this is to demonstrate to students that you have the same sorts of questions and curiosities as they do. (p. 81)

In this chapter we have recommended that practitioners cultivate the following:

·         A committed practice of their own, which allows them to plan their timing, adapt practices as needed, and process the students' experiences afterward

·         Attention to and knowledge of the context from which the practices arise and the appropriate incorporation of the tradition into the classroom

·         Freedom for students to maintain their own beliefs while not requiring them to believe anything specific in order to engage in the exercises

·         Humility and clarity so that students new to these practices do not identify them exclusively with the teacher

·         Awareness of the different backgrounds of the students so that practices can be introduced in the most open and accessible manner

·         Recognition that these practices are powerful complements to other forms of teaching and learning

While developing the contemplative methods most likely to be effective, we should also engage others who are not as open to these practices. Rather than deny or fight against skeptics, we should learn to listen to the critiques of these methods so we can strengthen and improve them. (p. 84-86)