What follows is a transcript of the Podcast I recorded last year regarding self-care and meditation. There’s never a bad time for self-care so I thought I’d re-post it here as a part of the blog. If you have 20 minutes, please check out the recording. I hope you enjoy it!
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I want to start by welcoming everyone back to the podcast. This is a place where we talk about trends that are taking place in education or right here where I am at Lincoln School Costa Rica. I hope it gives you a little insight into what’s going on in education in general or why we’re making some of the decisions we’ve come to here at Lincoln School.
Today, I’d like to talk a little about what is probably the most important skill/activity that we’ve been working on with our staff and students, which is the practice of self-care.
Obviously, we’re all going through trying times with the Covid-19 pandemic. Here in Costa Rica, we’re in month 14 of the pandemic and the resulting quarantines and lock-downs. For most of the past year we were educating our students virtually, but back in January we were able to return to campus in a reduced capacity and went to a hybrid model of learning and teaching. We do it a bit differently at each level here at Lincoln School, but basically our students come to campus every-other week, except for the families that have elected to remain completely virtual due to health concerns. We’ve also gone to a half-day schedule this semester to avoid the logistics of serving lunch AND we have virtual Fridays when all of our classes connect online so that students and teachers get a bit of a break.
It’s worked really, really well…at least until we got to Semana Santa. A few weeks later the numbers in Costa Rica went up dramatically and we’ve missed a few weeks while we’ve gone into voluntary quarantines to mitigate the risk of having everyone on campus during potential outbreaks. Earlier this week, the Costa Rican Ministry of Education announced though that they’re closing public schools and compelling private school to go virtual for the next month which is effectively the end of our school year.
The upside is we’ve done really well in terms of educating and assessing, but the downside recently is that the numbers in Costa Rica have been spiking, our teachers haven’t been able to get vaccinated yet, and we’ve had a lot of uncertainty over whether we will or will not be in-person in the near future. All of this has the potential to lead to increased levels of anxiety and stress, which is absolutely no good for anyone.
So, today I’d like to offer a potential strategy for both proactively and reactively dealing with stress, which is meditation. There are a lot of different types of meditation out there; my personal favorite is mindfulness meditation. For me, this is a way to practice focusing and quieting the mind. It definitely brings down my stress levels, both when I’m meditating and when I’m not. This is because the skills I learn while meditating help me to approach stressful situations more calmly and from a place of discovery rather than fear. Again, I’m talking about my experience, so it’s possible this won’t be the case for everyone. What I can tell you is that it has made a very real difference in my life both personally and professionally, so I recommend everyone try it out a few times to see if it works for them.
What I’d like to do today is give everyone a sample of a particular type of mindfulness meditation called a Body Scan. This is a really simple meditation that again helps you to learn to focus your mind’s attention. There are many, many samples of body scan meditations online, but I’m going to spend the next 10 minutes or so doing one for you here. I hope you enjoy it.
Let’s begin by finding a comfortable seat. This might be sukhasana or a cross-legged pose. You might be sitting in a chair or with your back against the wall. What’s important is that you feel supported and comfortable, without being hunched over with your back dramatically arched or slouched to a side. Try extending in the crown of your head skyward and expanding your chest and shoulders. Think of offering your heart to the world and see how that feels. If you’re not comfortable, don’t be afraid the shift into a posture that feels more right to you. This is your meditation and you’re body. There is no judgement here. Only you know what’s right for you.
I invite you to softly, gently close your eyes so that you might focus your attention inward. If that doesn’t feel right to you, perhaps you can focus on a point in front of you with the goal of freeing yourself from the distractions of the world around you. This is a time that’s just for you and you’re worth your full attention.
Try taking a deep, full inhalation through your nose. Let it fill your lungs and belly. Hold it for a count of 4, 3, 2, 1, and exhale fully through the nose. Feel the belly and lungs empty through the throat and nose. Inhale deeply again for a count of 4, 3, 2, 1, and exhale fully for a count of 4, 3, 2, and 1 letting the belly and lungs empty again. Keep breathing fully at your own pace, taking each inhale and exhale through the nostrils, filling and emptying the belly as well as the lungs. Allow yourself to relax.
Now, bring awareness to the top of you head. Notice any sensations in the scalp or where your hair makes contact with your head, ears, or neck. Notice any tightness in your scalp, along your ears, or in the top of the neck and let that go.
Now just breathe
Bring awareness to your forehead. Try to let go of any tension you might be holding there. Let the skin of your forehead release and go smooth. Let go of any tension between the eyebrows and let them drop. Let the eyeballs relax and sink softly into their sockets.
Now just breathe
Notice any tension or tightness you might be holding in your jaw. Let the teeth part and feel the jaw hang loosely as you release that tension. Let your tongue go soft and rest in your mouth away from your soft palate, filling the space between your lower teeth. Let your whole face go soft. Notice if any stress has seemed to slip away as you’ve released and relaxed the muscles and joints in your head.
Now just breathe
Relax the muscles in the sides of the neck. Relax the throat, and imagine warm water softly rolling down the back of the neck, releasing any tension in your neck muscles and cervical spine as you do.
Notice your shoulders, left and right. Allow them to drop and rest, supported but letting go of any tightness or tension. Let that feeling of relaxation flow down your arms, the biceps and triceps, and into the elbows and forearms. Let all of the tension in the arms go, and rest loosely from the shoulders to the hands.
Notice your hands, and see if you can feel them from the inside out. Is there any tension there in your palms or fingers? Any tingling? Imagine letting that go, instead feeling only the points where the hands make contact with each other, or your lap, or knees, or wherever they are resting now. Let go of the work you’ve done with your hands, leaving behind only the gratitude you feel for the help they provide. Let go of any tension in the thumbs and fingers and let them rest too.
Now just breathe
Bring your attention back to the chest. Let go of any tightness or tension you feel in your shoulders and the chest. Let go of any restrictions you feel, and instead create a sense of spaciousness for your lungs and heart that give you life, and love.
Bring your awareness down to the belly, letting go of any tension you feel in the muscles of the abdomen. Let the belly fill and empty freely with the breath, without restrictions. Let go of any mental models or restrictions you might typically carry in the belly, and give it the freedom to just be.
Now, move your attention around your body to the lower back, and release any tensions you typically carry there as well. Bring that attention up the back, along the sides and spine until you arrive and the upper back and the backs of the shoulders. Again, enjoy a sense of letting go and of just being here, now, with nowhere else to be.
Become aware of the whole upper body: the belly and back, the chest and the shoulders, the arms and the hands, the face and the scalp…and notice the sense of relaxation and calm that you’ve given yourself as a gift today.
Now just breathe
In your mind find your hips and thighs. Let go of any tightness in the tops of the thighs, the back of the thighs, the inner and outer thighs. And let that feeling roll like warm water to the knees, filling and releasing the tension in the joints before finding your calves and shins. Let all of the tension go in your legs from your pelvis to your ankles and finally your feet.
Notice your feet, right and left, and let the tension go in your arches and heels. Find your toes in your mind, your big toes, and then each one all the way to your pinky toes. Notice any tension or tightness in your toes and let that go, leaving them to just be in space.
Notice again your entire lower body and the feeling of relaxation you have there, in both legs, both feet, and in all ten toes. Notice that you’ve let the accumulated tightness and tension go in the entire body, and now you’re totally relaxed, from your feet to your head.
Just breathe
Notice if there’s any lingering tightness or tension anywhere in your body, and take your breath there. Use your breath to share your own natural, beautiful healing energy. And to heal.
Now, take a moment and come back to your breath. Notice on your next inhalation where your breath begins at the tip of your nose, and follow it: through the nostrils, the throat, and into the lungs. Feel your breath fill your lungs and belly with a renewed and soothing energy. Feel that energy permeate your body, through your torso and chest, your shoulders and hips, your arms and your legs, your feet and your hands. With your exhalation feel your body let go of any tensions or stress. Feel it leave your feet and hands, your legs and arms, your hips and chest, your belly and lungs. Feel those tensions release through your throat and nostrils until they’re gone. And you are left renewed.
Stay with this feeling of total relaxation and renewal, and allow yourself to let go, and just be you.
Just breathe
Wherever you are, wherever your attention has fallen, come back to the breath and notice again as it enters and exits your body, bringing renewal. When you’re ready, wiggle your fingers and toes, and then flutter and gently open your eyes, bringing this sense of awareness and relaxation with you for the rest of your day.
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So that’s it. I hope you enjoyed this body scan meditation and that you feel a little more relaxed. If you’d like to learn more, I recommend anything from Tara Brach or Jack Kornfield. I also recommend the “Insight Timer” app. It has literally thousands of recorded meditations that you can sort and search by time or the person leading the app. Again though, there’s a lot out there and you should definitely take the time to look around and discover what’s right for you.
I hope everyone has a great day, and that I see you again either through my blog, vlog, or podcast at pleasecometotheprincipalsoffice.com
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