Strengthening your light in the season of darkness
The weekย back to school after a longย winter break isย often buzzing with excitement and anticipation.ย During these days, children will share stories of their time apart,ย celebrate coming back togetherย and show enthusiasm for what is to come.ย Time is also set aside for deep reflection, individual and collaborative goal settingย and for the renewal ofย commitments to oneself and to others.
This last week yielded particularly frigid temperatures and harsh weatherย conditions,ย embedded within theย season ofย darkness. These winter circumstances provided a perfect context for a centering led by 4th-grade teachers, Susie and Molly.
As the centering began, Susie picked one of severalย snake skins that were decorating the classroom altar. She explained that the snake skin was a symbol of renewal and that by being able toย let go ofย orย shed that whichย no longer serves us, we make room for a renewal ofย those things that do.
She thenย invited all her students to collect a meditation mat and cushion, toย remove their shoes, and toย lie down andย stretch out their bodies. She asked them to begin toย settle in by allowing their bodies to become still, to notice their breath and to quiet their minds. She played some soothing music while she and Mollyย applied warm compresses to the eyes of those students who hadย requested them. She explained that the compresses served as a tool that helps you toย relax, tune outย the things around you and help you to send yourย focus inward.
Susie then led the students in a meditation that beganย with a body scan;ย a mindfulness technique that allows you to focus your attention on your physical being in an effort to achieve deep relaxation.
Susie proceeded with a guided meditation. She stated, “now that the work of your body is settled, lets gently enter the mind. Even in the state of easy rest, your thoughts have great power.”
“You have the power to build light inside of yourself each day. So as we settle into winter, a time of darkness and rest, take these next few breaths to speak kind thoughts to yourself. Allow yourself to imagine that with each thought, your body fills with light.”
“Now that you have built your fire, keep it burning. Remember that this time of renewal does not only come once a year, but every day, and with every moment. Continue to stoke your fire”
“You also have the power to share your light with others.”
“Imagine that your light streams out through your ears, use this to listen for opportunities to compliment a friend.”
“Imagine that your light streams out through your hands, use this to create beauty and offer a gentle touch to friends or family.”
“Imagine that your light streams out through your eyes, use this to observe others from a place of integrity and empathy so that you do not judge just based on what you see.”
“Imagine that your light streams out through your mouth, use this to speak with intention and compassion because words are so deeply powerful.”
“Imagine that your light streams out of the top of your head, use this to share your brilliance and uplifting thoughts with others.”
Susie closed centering by inviting an awareness back to the room, the present moment and one another.
I am sure many of you have already engaged in your own reflective practice for the new year. I am sure many of you have worked to let go of the things that don’t serve you. I am sure many of you are already rich with goals and intentions for a new year filled with joy and happiness.
In order to better achieve those goals or live those intentions, I invite you, during this time of darkness, to claim your personal power and to embrace the tools and techniques that help you to turn your light and share it with others.
“Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light.” ย ~ Dumbledore
Listening Conferences: A Deep Listening Activity
The words of American spiritual teacher and author Ram Dass encourage us to live FULLY, in the present moment, without judgement. How do you achieve this? What practices do you embrace?
โBe Here Nowโ for example, calls on mindfulness practice.
โThe quieter you become, the more you can hearโ invites stillness.
โThe heart surrenders everything to the moment. The mind judges and holds backโ summons your love.
As individuals on our own unique spiritual journeys, we are always looking for inspiration that may guide our inner work.ย Ram Dassโs wisdom offers insight and intention that may aid in cultivating a heightened self-awareness. We know that an elevated self-awareness has the capacity to lead to meaningful and enduring relationships.
RCS is founded on meaningful relationships.
The relationship between the teacher and the learner is the heart of education and a parent is a childโs first teacher. Rainbow honors that and strives to communicate with parents compassionately and empathetically, learn from the parent, see the child from through many lenses, support the child holistically and ย bridge home life and school life. One of the many ways these relationships are nurtured is through meaningful and intentional conferencing. Rainbow sets aside a conference time in early September called Listening Conference. During this conference the faculty calls upon self awareness by practicing the skills of deep listening.
Deep Listening is a way of hearing in which we are fully present in the moment without judgement or control. Deep listening asks us to let go of our inner dialogue, pre-formed opinions and assumptions, challenges us to abstain from crafting a response and simply listen in a mindful and respectful way to what is be shared. This is a time to be attentive not reactive, to listening actively not passively, to embrace compassion and empathy, ANDย to bring a great self-awareness to the act of listening.
To do this effectively requires that our mind takes a backseat to our heart.
Each conference embraces these powerful questions:ย Can we develop a practice of listening that allows another person to find their next step?ย Can we become the birthplace of understanding for someone else?ย Can we learn to carry in our hearts the destinies of others?
Each conference opens with a sacred ritual. Teachers may light a candle, read a reflective quote, hold space for silence, lead a guided mediation and/or offer a prompt with the purpose of inviting the childโs spirit to the conversation.
How can what we do at RCS inspire your own personal or professional work?ย What if we practiced deep andย mindfulย listening in our everyday lives, what if weย always invitedย spirit in to the conversation?
Turning Routine into Ritual
Fall is here andย fallย break has likely come and gone for many of us. This season oftenย brings a lot of transition for our students. These transitions are embedded in theย rhythms of the natural world, the energy around celebrations and holidays, and within theย refection andย personal goal setting that emergesย from the start of ย each school year.
With this in mind,ย I invite you to stop for a moment andย imagine the experience of a childย as he transitionsย from home to school after just one night, aย weekend, or a longย holiday.
Maybe you imaginedย the hustle and bustle as heย arrvied-ย the classroom filled withย stories, sharing, reconnection and laughter.ย Or maybe you imaginedย the groggy, sleepy child, dragging his feet and resisting the weekday routine. Or even the child emerging from a car ride full of screen time. Maybe you witnessed aย child arriving hungry withoutย a proper dinner and/orย breakfast. Or a child who isย sleep deprived due to long workingย hours from the previous. Or evenย a childย who is managing some sort of trauma in his life. Regardless, the classroom youย imagined wasย likely flooded with 20+ learners holding varying levels of energy, focus, fuel, andย general centeredness. As educators, we recognize the importance of holding space for all those varying energiesย but for also fostering a culture of centeredness so that all pathways to learning are open.
How doย we activelyย support this transition from home to school each day?
How do we invite a level ofย awareness orย mindfulness for our learners?
How do we foster a sacred intention forย learning?
At Rainbow we achieve this through a morningย ritual called centering.ย Ritual is simply defined as aย ceremonial act. To that end, our centering practices are ceremonial in nature. During these practices, simpleย routines are turned into rituals through tone, intention and mindfulness.
First, the hustle and bustle of the morning is calmed and quieted with the ring of a chime or bell. It is amazing how a softย sound can silence a room and even more amazing how silence can invite sacredness into a space.ย This sound is aย reminder to the students that theyย are about to engage in a sacred ceremony.
Secondly, pausing to take deepย breaths together shifts each person’s individualย energy into a collective synergy. Then, lighting a candle in silence invitesย something powerful and even magical into the classroom. This fireย alsoย servesย as an anchor point for which learners can choose to cast their gaze when reflecting or meditating. Additionally, sending a greeting around the circle orย turning to greet aย neighbor not only allows each individual to be seen and to be witnessed, butย itย invites compassion, empathy andย mutual respect. Speaking a verse, blessing or word into the circle also supports coherence and connectedness among all class mates.ย It serves asย anotherย reminder that we areย on this learning journey together.
These rituals not only help to support the home to school transition, focus each learner, nourish class coherence and synergy, but they remind us thatย learning is scared.
Rainbow utilizes ritual in other transformative ways; meal blessings, honoring and memorializing people, animals & places, expressions of gratitude and appreciation, blessing ways and other birth and death transitions, rites of passage, communal celebrations all become ceremonial acts.
How can what we do at RCS inspire your own personal or professional work?
Can you replace a daily routineย with aย ritual by adding a mindfulย presence to it or by enhancing it with ceremony?
Try creating ritual for your classroom,ย organizationย and/orย home?
Here is a brief list of simple rituals:
A gratitude exercise, aย silent nature walk, quote reflection, a daily song/ verse orย blessing, aย visualization, read aย daily story with aย virtue/ย moral, draw and/or color a mandala, borrow/adapt a ritual from a particular culture/religion,ย create nature art, give affirmations to friends and family members, practice mudras,ย yoga, qigong, or a martial art, and daily journaling.
Rainbow Community School: 40th Anniversary Announcement
Our Executive Director, Renee, has created a video inviting all students, staff, alumni and families of Rainbow Community School to join us in celebrating 40 years of holistic education.
Below is a summary of the video, with invitations to the 40th Anniversary Celebration and the More Than Mindfulness Conference.
Celebrating 40 Years of Love!
Rainbow is 40 years old. We invite you to celebrate with us!
Some great leaders and healers gathered together in 1977 to found Rainbow Mountain Children’s School. Now known as Rainbow Community School, it was founded on love.
The world becomes what you teach. — Zoe Weil
The school’s founders envisioned a curriculum that taught love and mindfulness, so that the world would become more of these things.
40 years later, we’re doing a two year celebration.
This is because school leaders began shaping their vision for the school in 1977 through parent meetings, gathering ideas, and research. The school opened its doors for the first time in 1978.
This year, in 2017, you’ll begin to see a lot more information about the history of the school, interviews with alumni, and more. In the fall of 2018, we would like to put together a celebration involving all members of our community, both past and present.
Rainbow alumni are invited to the first annual alumni gathering on Friday, Oct. 6th, 2017 from 7-10pm at Rainbow Community School.
Looking For Volunteers
To that end, we are looking for volunteers for a 40th Anniversary Committee.
If you’re interested, please contact Kate in the office at info@rainbowlearning.org.
You can also contact Renee directly at 258-9264 ext. 111 or you can email her at renee.owen@rainbowlearning.org.
The More Than Mindfulness Conference
We believe that getting the word out about love and mindfulness is so incredibly important. Because of that, we also want to invite you to the More Than Mindfulness Conference.
RCS has an adult education component where we train parents, teachers, and other adults in using holistic education practices, and mindfulness practices. It’s a great opportunity for folks to deeply understand what we are about here at Rainbow, and the larger purpose behind what we are doing.
Register for the MTM Conference Here
Thank you for celebrating 40 years of love with us. We know it’s a great education for your child and a great education for the world.
Nature as Divine Teacher
A culture that is permeated by a materialist philosophy sees the Earth as a commodity- a resource to bought, sold, quantified and controlled. In this view- humans are separate from nature instead of interdependent.ย Many of the educational methods at Rainbow aim to shift this paradigm by paying homage to the sacred bond between nature and humanity and connectingย children to nature on heart and soul level.
Our model andย methods have beenย inspired by educators such asย David Sobel. Sobel anย educational theorist and author,ย is most known for his theories on placed based education- in which the local community, culture, landscape, and environment not only become the classroom but also the teachers.
In Sobelโs educational philosophies the natural world plays a central as a teacher. In one of his most famous works, Beyond Ecophobia: Reclaiming the Heart in Nature Education, he explores the learning needs and characteristics of three primary child development stages and likewise, proposes three nature engagement methods. In early childhood, the focus should be on nurturing an empathetic connection towards nature. In middle childhood, nature exploration is emphasized andย in early adolescence, stewardship and environmental action takes precedence.
He suggests that this progression not only supports a childโs โbiological tendencyโ to bond with the Earth but fosters โenvironmentally aware, empowered studentsโ He goes on to state, โif we want children to flourish, to become truly empowered, then let us allow them to love the Earth before we ask them to save it. Perhaps this is what Thoreau had in mind when he said, โthe more slowly trees grow at first, the sounder they are at the core, and I think the same is true of human beings.โ
Sobel’s work aims to connect children on that heart and SOUL level.
At RCS, Nature is not only a classroom for every student but also plays a central role as a teacher. The Natural World is highlighted in RCSโs mission, vision, guiding principles, and our Rainbow Seven Domains educational method. However, school’s out for summer…BUTย we invite you to consider nature as aย classroom and a teacher.
Summertime for many children means being outside. Summertime often yields many opportunitiesย to deepen our natureย connection- longer days, warmer temperatures, trips to new places, nature hikes, water play, gardening, summer camp, the list goes on.ย In what ways have you and your family engaged with nature?ย In what ways has it become a classroom orย been your teacher?ย What have you learned in it and from it?
Now consider your own childhood, how did summertime offer opportunities for a nature connection? Through play, adventure, inquiry and expression? What about deep observation, a cultivation of awe and wonder, what about meaningful relationship and veneration? Most importantly, can you remember a spiritual moment that occurred whileย in the natural world?ย These moments in nature can have profound and lasting effects on a child. This connection if nurtured, has the capacity to become intimate, empathetic and sacred. Children can begin to see the natural world as a divine teacher. Therefore it becomesย our role as parents, friends, family members,ย and mentors to hold space- to nurture- to foster that intimate, empathetic and sacred bond.
As you and your family make summer plans for time in nature, consider how you mayย invite “Nature as divine teacher” along.ย Embark on your adventures, but pack these considerations with you:
- How can you approachย natureย with a robustย wonder and awe?
- How can you bring a heightened mindful presence to your activities?
- How can you makeย time for deep contemplationย andย reflection?
- How can you show gratitude?
