Letting Go & Creating Safe Spaces: Rituals for the Conscious Classroom

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For teachers feeling overwhelmed by global challenges and classroom responsibilities, this episode offers a lifeline of wisdom. Amy Edelstein delves into the transformative power of letting go—not as abandonment of responsibility, but as a profound acceptance that creates space for growth.

Just as great trees stand witness through storms and seasons, we can bear witness, standing still, mindfully being with emotions without trying to fix them. We can practice being present with our own anxiety, grief, or despair. Inner work is essential. When we metabolize our emotions, we become capable of authentically seeing our students as unique individuals deserving of personalized attention.

The Refuge Ritual: How 5 Minutes Before Class Can Change So Much

In this episode Amy gives several practices, so you can create that space for yourself and as you create inner space the outer space will be there too. 

Magic happens when we educators do our inner work: students feel our authenticity and respond with trust. They become willing to step outside their comfort zones, support each other, and experience the joy of learning in community. In a world of educational bureaucracy that can unintentionally dehumanize, these practices bring humanity, personalization, and connection back into our classrooms.

Ready to transform your teaching experience? Listen now, then visit innerstrengtheducation.org for more resources to support your journey toward conscious education.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to the Conscious Classroom podcast,
where we're exploring tools andperspectives that support
educators and anyone who workswith teens to create more
conscious, supportive andenriching learning environments.
I'm your host, amy Edelstein,and I'll be sharing
transformative insights andeasy-to-implement classroom
supports that are all drawn frommindful awareness and systems

(00:32):
thinking.
The themes we'll discuss aredesigned to improve your own joy
and fulfillment in your workand increase your impact on the
world we share.
Let's get on with this nextepisode.
Share let's get on with thisnext episode.
Hello and welcome to theConscious Classroom Podcast.
My name is Amy Edelstein.

(00:52):
I'm happy to be with you today,wherever you are and whenever
you happen to be listening.
I've been reflecting a lotlately on the capacity to let go
as an educator when you'reresponsible for lots of people

(01:13):
who, as independent as they maybe, are still relying on you to
form the container and thecontext for their growth and
transformation In ourincreasingly fraught world where
, whether we acknowledge it ornot, the pressures of the times

(01:37):
create an emotional response inus.
We're human and we care aboutwar and starvation.
We care about speciesextinction and polluted airwaves
.
We care about forest fires andtsunamis.
We care about the bleaching ofthe coral reefs.

(02:00):
We care about the poverty of asixth of the world's population.
We care about those we know whohave addiction or mental health
issues.
We care about those we know whohave financial or relationship
issues, and usually what we dois we seal ourselves off from

(02:27):
that.
Caring and especially when weput on our teacher face and walk
into the classroom is that wetake the time and space to allow

(03:06):
ourselves to metabolize all ofour difficult emotions together
with others, so that we're notalone.
We recognize that as a memberof the human family, we share so
many common cares being presentwith what is tending to,
sitting quietly next to whateveris arising, as a companion, as

(03:32):
a witness in the ways that thegreat old trees sit next to you,
stand tall next to you as youprocess.
They don't move towards, theydon't move away.
They're rooted in the ground.
They've seen nights and days.
They've seen suns and winds andrains.

(03:55):
They've lost big branches andstorms.
They've had infestations ofbugs.
They've been home to birds andcreatures.
They've seen larger animalswalk past them or take shelter
in their shade.
In that way we can sit with andbe with practice, mindful

(04:22):
awareness and companionship withourselves.
That practicing of companionshipis ultimately a letting go.
It's a letting go of trying tofix things.
It's a letting go of our limitson what we believe we can
process.

(04:42):
It's a letting go of ourinsistence that things be
different than they are.
It's a letting go that allowsour innermost being to open and
in that opening we can see newshoots emerge.

(05:04):
We can see new growth, and whenwe start to see that new growth
in ourselves, when we allow ourinnermost recesses to thaw,
then new shoots emerge and thatis the most energizing and
thrilling and moving aspect ofour humanity, our aliveness that

(05:32):
we can transform.
Now, being busy educators, wemay not speak about this with
our young people, but whathappens when we allow ourselves
to experience and open, togetherwith others, the emotional

(05:54):
weight and pain that we oftenfeel?
Students were more able to seetheir joy and see their
potential and see theirinnocence and see their desire
to individuate and actualize.

(06:15):
So when we're able to let gofor ourselves, we're not holding
up barriers.
When we're actually in thepresence of our students, we see
them as unique individuals.
We allow them tocross-reference with each other,
to support each other, to bekind to each other, to be

(06:39):
supportive of each other.
We allow their different voicesto come in the lazy ones, the
apathetic ones, theover-talkative ones, the ones
that bring everyone together andmake them feel good, the
thoughtful ones, the reflectiveones, the shy and anxious ones.

(07:03):
We find ways to includeeveryone.
For our shy and anxious ones,who are terrified of speaking in
front of everyone, we cansimply say you're going to have
to speak, but with the class.
Since she's so terribly shy tospeak in front of others, why

(07:26):
don't you carry on little sideconversations so I can hear what
she has to say?
And over time, maybe two orthree days, you keep doing that.
You keep allowing for thatchild's anxiousness but
insisting for that child'sanxiousness, but insisting that

(07:49):
their voice be heard, that theirvoice is valuable, that they
have something to say, that itneeds to be said, and you enlist
the rest of the class assupportive classmates.
By the end of a few days,everyone will have bonded in
that support.
End of a few days, everyonewill have bonded in that support

(08:09):
and that shy student who wastoo anxious to speak in front of
everyone will forget and juststart speaking and everyone will
share in that victory.
Everyone will share in thatgrowth If we don't face our own
anxiousness and fear or despairor grief, it will become very

(08:31):
hard to authentically give spaceto our students.
It's critical that we allow ourown cares and concerns so that
we can become creative in ourclassrooms.
As we allow for our own caresand concerns, with more

(08:56):
impartiality and more sense thatwe are part of a planetary
aliveness that experiences somany different things, we are
not separate and alone in whatwe're processing Then we start

(09:19):
to feel also a tenderness and anawakeness and a passion for the
possible.
One of the ways that we cancultivate this and practice this
is by, as we enter ourclassroom, having an internal

(09:41):
ritual, having an internalorientation.
In the Buddhist tradition, whenyou sit down to practice, you
take refuge.
You take refuge in those who'vewalked before us, who have
discovered profound wisdombefore us, who have discovered
profound wisdom.
We take refuge in the fact thatthere is a wiser path to walk

(10:09):
and we can find that.
And we take refuge in the wiseones who travel with us.
And I would add to that, wetake refuge in the ten
generations to follow us.
And as we take refuge in theten generations to follow us, we

(10:37):
become more intentional aboutour actions.
So as you walk into yourclassroom and sit down at your
desk in your own way, in yourown words, in your own container
, you create your own containerof what are you taking refuge in
?
What big tree is providingstability and shade for you?

(11:00):
And also, as you take refugeand feel that support of the
wise ones who've come before, ofthe fact that there are
positive choices we can make andwe can discern them, that we're
not alone and there are othersall around the world who we can

(11:26):
align with and walk together,and that our actions matter,
that in some way the futuregenerations are looking down on
us and hoping for the best andencouraging us to reach for the

(11:48):
most caring response.
And then we set our intentionthat we intend to help our
students grow and develop andtransform.
We intend to bring joy andhappiness to ourselves and to
others.
We intend to walk softly, withcare.

(12:12):
If you make that your ritual,as you come into your class
before you straighten your deskand check your email and pull up
your lesson plan and lay outyour name cards or your
materials for the day, you willfeel like you're in the center

(12:34):
of your lesson.
You will feel like you havealigned with what is most
important to you and what willguide you in the class.
This is how we create consciousclassrooms.
This is how we make a consciousenvironment that the expression

(13:00):
of which is trust and safetyfor all those who come into that
environment.
They feel our care, they feelour intentionality, they feel
our passion, they feel ourresponsibility ourselves.
And when an adult is beingresponsible for themselves in

(13:22):
this deep way, out of care andlove, not fear and discipline it
creates an environment wherethe students themselves also
feel trust, feel respected, feelinvited to be heard, feel

(13:44):
excited, even in their shynessor awkwardness or boredom or
laziness, to grow.
They feel willing to step outof their shells and to bond with
each other and hold each other.
When students feel able to bethemselves, it creates an

(14:07):
amazing bond where they feelrespected and heard and seen and
able to be different withoutconflict.
It creates a sense of joy andreally all you need to do is be
yourself and let go.

(14:30):
So, as we approach this newschool year and as you're
thinking about these last weeksof summer, allow yourself to
process and take time withothers, to embrace all of

(14:52):
yourself, all of your feelingsabout this moment in time, all
of your sense about the future,letting go of any need to
control or act, because theprocess of being mindful,

(15:13):
without leaning towards or awayfrom, of being with yourself
like that tall tree, is with you.
Will do the best to prepare youfor whatever comes in this year
ahead, head.

(15:40):
It'll do the best to prepareyou to allow for community to
authentically emerge in yourclassroom, to allow the
unnecessary control anddiscipline and inhumanity that
comes into school systems, notas a fault of anyone in
particular, but as a result ofthe large bureaucracy that

(16:00):
school districts are a part of.
You can bring humanity andpersonalization and independence
and connectedness back intoyour classroom and students will

(16:23):
love it and they will rewardyou with their joy at being
together, at being with you, atlearning, at feeling that they
matter, at learning at feelingthat they matter.
And, of course, as an educator,when we feel that our students
are blossoming and growing, wefeel that our work has meaning

(16:51):
and that gives us energy forwhatever we might find.
So, in addition to taking refugein those wise ones who have
walked before us in the paththat incorporates more care and

(17:12):
love and insight anddirectionality, and in the
community of good people who arestanding with us shoulder to
shoulder and in our intentionthat we make conscious and

(17:33):
solidify each time we walk intoour classroom.
I invite you also toincorporate into your day the
practice of mindful walking, ofnoticing your feet connecting
with the earth, with the floor,the solidity of the floor

(17:57):
beneath you as you move fromplace to place.
Anytime you remember, let yourthoughts turn towards the
immediacy of walking and yourintention, as you move from
place to place, to walk in peace, to walk in care, to walk in

(18:23):
connectedness, to walk inpurpose, to walk in your own
unique significance, to walk inlove, by being mindful of each

(18:44):
step and by being mindful of ourintention, our deeper intention
for our own life to be fullyfulfilled, fully unfurled, for
our own life to be fullyfulfilled, fully unfurled, fully
what it could be, way beyondour expectations.

(19:07):
We can walk in peace andmindful awareness, and that
walking will not only carry usto our immediate destination,
will not only carry us to ourimmediate destination.
It will also carry us forwardat a heart level, and that is
one of the best things that ourstudents can experience and

(19:29):
absorb from the quality of ourown being.
Thank you, until next time.
Thank you for listening to theConscious Classroom.
I'm your host, amy Edelstein.
Please check out the show noteson innerstrengthfoundationnet

(19:51):
for links and more information.
And if you enjoyed this podcastfor links and more information.
And if you enjoyed this podcast, please share it with a friend
and pass the love on.
See you next time.