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Journal of Transformative Education

10(1) 22-41
ª The Author(s) 2012
A Portrait of Reprints and permission:
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Contemplative DOI: 10.1177/1541344612456431
http://jtd.sagepub.com

Teaching: Embracing
Wholeness

Kathryn Byrnes1

Abstract
The aim of this article is to investigate how a contemplative orientation to teaching
may facilitate wholeness for teachers and students through a portrait of Diana, a
kindergarten teacher working in a contemplative elementary school. The portrait,
one of three portraits from a larger study, illustrates three central features of
contemplative teaching: compassion, integrity, and mindful awareness. These three
central features develop internally within individual teachers and are animated and
influenced externally through their role as teachers. The context of their teaching,
relationships with students, parents, and colleagues, and pedagogical choices, in turn
influence the three central features. The emphasis on wholeness, unity, and inte-
gration of a contemplative orientation to teaching moves us toward a view of
teachers and students as beings with not only minds and heads but also hearts and
bodies. Contemplative teaching offers educational communities a path toward
transformational, holistic, and integrative learning and teaching.

Keywords
contemplative teaching, elementary education, holistic education, mindfulness,
transformational learning

1
Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME, USA

Corresponding Author:
Kathryn Byrnes, Bowdoin College, 7400 College Station, Brunswick, ME 04011, USA
Email: kbyrnes@bowdoin.edu
Byrnes 23

In a contemplative orientation to teaching,1 there is a seamless interconnection


between inner and outer as illustrated by the Mobius strip. Mobius strips are unique
because of their one sidedness. Rather than having two sides and two edges, with a
simple twist a piece of paper has one side and one edge. Inner and outer become one.
Palmer (2004) ruminated about the implications of the Mobius strip for human lives.

I have to keep repeating, ‘‘what seems to


be’’ because there is no ‘‘inside’’ or ‘‘out-
side’’ on the Mobius strip—the two
apparent sides keep co-creating each
other. The mechanics of the Mobius strip
are mysterious, but its message is clear;
whatever is inside us continually flows
outward to help form, or deform, the
world—and whatever is outside us conti-
nually flows inward to help form, or deform, our lives. The Mobius strip is like life
itself; here, ultimately, there is only one reality. (p. 47)

The interconnection reflected in the Mobius strip is a keystone of a contemplative


orientation to teaching. What is internal is influenced and influences what is external
and vice versa. ‘‘Contemplative teaching begins by knowing and experiencing our-
selves directly. We unlearn how we habitually think, sense, and feel, so we can
return to the present moment freshly and clearly’’ (Brown, 1998, p. 70). The quali-
ties of compassion, integrity, and mindful awareness are situated internally within
each individual teacher and yet are intimately connected to, influenced by, and
impact the external world. A teacher’s acknowledgement, appreciation, and work
to understand her or his inner life support the capacity to teach with compassion,
integrity, and mindful awareness.
Contemplative teaching offers an educational vision with the goals of both personal
and societal transformation. Contemplative teaching is ‘‘a set of pedagogical practices,
originally developed in the great contemplative traditions of the world, that have as their
aim personal growth and social transformation through the cultivation of conscious
awareness and volition in an ethical-relational context’’ (Roeser & Peck, 2009, pp.
119–120). While contemplative teaching has long traditions in religious education and
training, its relevance and value in how we teach young people in secular environments
has garnered attention in North America through the work of scholars such as Brady
(2007), Brown (1998), Hart (2000, 2004, 2008), Jennings (2008, 2011), Kahane
(2009), Lichtmann (2005), Miller (1994, 2000, 2006), O’Reilley (1998), Palmer and
Zajonc (2010), Roeser and Peck (2009), Zajonc (2006, 2009), and other scholars
connected with the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, the Garrison Institute’s
Initiative on Contemplative and Education, and the Mind and Life Institute.2
Interest in contemplative teaching has emerged recently among educational prac-
titioners and researchers because of its emphasis on wholeness and potential for
24 Journal of Transformative Education 10(1)

transformation, which run counter to many contemporary mainstream educational


practices that emphasize isolated knowledge and transmission.

The practical legacy of the modernist tradition is a compartmentalized, fragmented way


of learning and teaching, dualistic alienation of body from mind, emotion from
intellect, humans from nature, and art from science, whereas the basis of contemplative
understanding is wholeness, unity, integration. (Bush, 2006, p. 1723)

Contemplative teaching, like contemplative understanding (as described above), is


an orientation to the processes of teaching and learning that is based on wholeness.
Wholeness embraces both strengths and weaknesses and thrives on paradox; seem-
ing contradictions such as art and science can actually complement each other. A
teacher with a contemplative orientation attempts to teach with compassion, integ-
rity, and mindful awareness. These three qualities of being are revealed in descrip-
tions and observations of one’s teaching self, relationships with others, and
pedagogy. They will be discussed in depth in the portrait of Diana,3 a kindergarten
teacher.
Teaching with compassion involves feelings of empathy and loving-kindness.
Jerslid (1955) comments, ‘‘To be compassionate means to partake in passion: the
passions of others, the passions that arise within oneself’’ (p. 126). Compassion is
characterized by being open to and moved by suffering; feelings of caring and kind-
ness; taking an understanding, nonjudgmental attitude toward inadequacies and fail-
ures; and recognizing that one’s experience is part of the common human experience
(Neff, 2003). The sharing of passions and the embodiment of compassion between
teachers and students creates learning environments that recognize the centrality of
wholeness for meaningful learning and relationships. Wholeness includes suffering
and failure as well as kindness and passion.
Teaching with integrity involves honoring and utilizing aspects of one’s identity
in one’s work. We teach who we are (Palmer, 1997, 1998, 2004). Teaching with
integrity involves congruence between a person’s inner life and their external role
as a teacher. Palmer (1997) believes that teachers who teach with integrity are mod-
els of good teaching. ‘‘. . . [G]ood teaching comes from the identity and integrity of
the teacher’’ (p. 16). Teaching with integrity is variable and individual and when
guided by the qualities of compassion and mindful awareness serves to enhance the
learning of all students and teachers through a desire for wholeness. One dictionary
definition of integrity is ‘‘the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished.’’ bell
hooks (2003) explains how important one’s integrity is to one’s work as a teacher.
‘‘All the work we do, no matter how brilliant or revolutionary in thought or action,
loses power and meaning if we lack integrity of being’’ (p. 164). Teachers who are
open to bringing their whole selves to their work with learners connect their inner
life with their role as a teacher.
Teaching with mindful awareness is a quality of mind that allows a teacher to
attend simultaneously to both the minute details and wholeness in a moment.
Byrnes 25

Mindfulness focuses on the minute, the immediate, while awareness offers a more
global picture. Ellen Langer’s (1989) groundbreaking book Mindfulness and 1997
follow-up The Power of Mindful Learning have been integral to an understanding
of this concept in educational contexts. Teaching with mindful awareness is central
to contemplative teaching because ‘‘like all contemplative disciplines, it deals with
the whole rather than with the parts’’ (O’Reilley, 1998, p. 21). Mindful awareness
focuses on wholeness, on the process, and on the potential of oneself, others, and the
moment through a quality of attention. Senge, Scharmer, Joaworski, and Flowers
(2004) describe mindful awareness as being ‘‘. . . fully conscious and aware in the
present moment’’ through a process of ‘‘. . . deep listening, of being open beyond
one’s preconceptions and historical ways of letting go of old identities and the need
to control’’ and ‘‘. . . a state of ‘letting come’ . . . ’’ (pp. 13–14). Mindful awareness is
not a static state a teacher attains but rather a constant process of returning again and
again to the present moment guided by a sense of the whole.
Contemplative teaching is a framework that enables transformative experiences
for teachers, students, and educational communities. Transformation means to
change one’s current form and describes both a process and an outcome. Transfor-
mative learning theory’s roots of Paulo Friere, Jack Mezirow, Larry Daloz, and
Robert Boyd have been extended and elaborated by scholars such as Baumgartner
(2001, 2012), Clark (1993), Cranton (1994, 1996), Dirkx (1997, 1998), Kegan
(2000), O’Sullivan (1999), and Taylor (1997). Dirkx (1998) compares transforma-
tional learning to instrumental learning and argues how transformative educators
‘‘teach the content with a different end in view, often using quite different
instructional strategies’’ (p. 2). The emphasis on process and outcomes of conscious-
ness raising, critical reflection or perspective changing, developmental growth or
individuation distinguishes this approach to learning.
Arthur Zajonc, the former academic program director at the Center for Contem-
plative Mind in Society and current Executive Director or the Mind and Life Insti-
tute, insightfully shared in an article on contemplative education, ‘‘Knowledge, from
the point of view of a contemplative tradition, is not primarily object-oriented. It is
epiphany- or insight-oriented. It’s not good enough to know about reality; you need
to change how you see reality. Real education is transformation’’ (cited in Boyce,
2007, p. 73). In order to facilitate transformative experiences for students, teachers
require personally transformative experiences in their lives. Teachers’ transforma-
tive experiences have the potential to develop and enhance their ability to teach with
compassion, integrity, and mindful awareness. Contemplative teaching and
transformation exist in a symbiotic, interdependent relationship in which
practitioner teachers create the opportunities for unique, transformative experiences
for their students.
‘‘Transformation is a movement toward increasing wholeness that simultane-
ously pushes toward diversity and uniqueness—become more uniquely who we
are, and toward unity—recognizing how much we have in common with the uni-
verse (and perhaps even the recognition that we are the universe)’’ (Hart, 2000,
26 Journal of Transformative Education 10(1)

p. 26). Wholeness can be described as undivided or as an entity or system of


interrelated parts. Wholeness involves welcoming and connecting all aspects
of being human. An orientation toward wholeness accepts the good and the bad
and purports that you cannot have one without the other. Transformation toward
increasing wholeness is the goal for a contemplative teaching and learning
environment.
The portrait presented below is one of three portraits in a larger study of a con-
templative elementary school (Byrnes, 2009). This larger study aims to understand
and describe the principles and practices of contemplative teaching. The other two
portraits focus on the co-teachers of first and second grades. In this article, the
kindergarten teacher, Diana, is presented because of her unique role working inde-
pendently to guide and facilitate student learning. Diana’s attempts to integrate her
inner life with her contemplative approach to her role as teacher reveal both her
strengths and limitations in exhibiting compassion, integrity, and mindful awareness
in her teaching. She transforms toward greater wholeness through her successes and
her struggles as a teacher and she creates opportunities for her students to learn from
both their successes and their struggles.

Method

We profit from portraits of practice that have the capacity to capture the forms of life
we ourselves would like to lead. (Eisner, 2003, foreward)

Portraiture serves as an appropriate method to study contemplative teaching prac-


tices because of its emphasis on connection rather than separation, on seeing the uni-
versal through the particular, and on self-awareness and transformation of both
participant and portraitist. Portraiture, like case study, attempts to detail an individ-
ual story with the underlying premise that ‘‘. . . as one moves closer to the unique
characteristics of a person or place, one discovers the universal’’ (Lawrence-
Lightfoot & Hoffman-Davis, 1997, p. 14). Portraiture retains many similarities to
case study methods in its reliance on data sources obtained utilizing methods such
as interviews, observations, and artifacts. It also departs from these methods in its
placement of the researcher at the heart of the research process and in its search for
goodness, for what is working.

. . . portraiture is a method framed by the traditions and values of the phenomenologi-


cal paradigm, sharing many of the techniques, standards, and goals of ethnography. But
it pushes against the constraints of those traditions and practices in its explicit effort to
combine empirical and aesthetic description, in its focus on the convergence of
narrative and analysis, in its goal of speaking to broader audiences beyond the academy
(thus linking inquiry to public discourse and social transformation), in its standard to
authenticity rather than reliability and validity (the traditional standards of quantitative
and qualitative inquiry), and in its explicit recognition of the use of the self as the
Byrnes 27

primary research instrument for documenting and interpreting the perspectives and
experiences of the people and the cultures being studied. (Lawrence-Lightfoot &
Hoffman Davis, 1997, pp. 13–14)

As Ladson-Billings (2005) observes, portraiture is a methodology that is ‘‘more than


a new way to do narrative scholarship; it is also a new way to ask important episte-
mological questions about the variety of ways we can come to know another human
being’’ (p. xvi). A central component of both portraiture and contemplative teaching
is seeing oneself and others clearly. Portraitists attempt to ‘‘record and interpret the
perspectives and experience of the people they are studying, documenting their
voices and their visions—their authority, knowledge, and wisdom’’ (Lawrence-
Lightfoot & Hoffman Davis, 1997, p. xv). Similarly to contemplative teaching, por-
traiture focuses on wholeness, integration, connection, awareness of the present
moment, and the quality of experience.

Research Setting
The teachers selected for the larger study (Byrnes, 2009) all taught at a small, inde-
pendent elementary school located in Pebble City in the Western United States. The
school’s mission was to offer a contemplative education to students in grades kinder-
garten through second grade. Pebble City offers a unique context for studying con-
templative teaching in that it is the home of a Buddhist-affiliated university with a
contemplative education department. There is a contemplative preschool affiliated
with the university and in 2006, the first contemplative elementary school, The
Gandhi School, opened under the direction of an alumnus of the university. The mis-
sion of the contemplative elementary school was to ‘‘develop a comprehensive
reform model for contemplative education that can serve children from all cultural,
religious, and socio-economic backgrounds. Our aim is to draw forth students’ facul-
ties of clear thinking, empathic feeling, and skillful action so that they may find
meaning in their own life and the necessary inner resources to be truly helpful to
others’’ (school website).
The school was chosen as a research site because of its mission to design and
implement a contemplative education reform model. The Gandhi School conceptua-
lized education as a path involving three journeys: intelligence, compassion, and
confidence. Intelligence was described as both acquiring and situating knowledge
and being able to distinguish and discriminate. Compassion was the ability to have
one’s own sense of self through increased individualism, which was paralleled by
and intersected with a sense of belonging. Confidence was the ability to know one-
self in a way that allows one to act in the world in ways that manifests intelligence
and compassion. These three journeys were visualized as occurring for students,
teachers, and families.
The mission of the school was to deepen intelligence, compassion, and con-
fidence through five guiding principles that were tied to particular domains of
28 Journal of Transformative Education 10(1)

learning. The guiding principles mirrored development that can occur within a
person, while the curricular areas were external to a person but could facilitate
the internal development of the principles. Similar to the Mobius strip, the inter-
nal guiding principles and the external curricular areas are interconnected and
influence each other. The guiding principles and their accompanying curricular
areas were (a) allegiance to the present moment nurtured through the domain of
contemplative practices; (b) appreciation and interconnection nurtured through
the domain of the humanities; (c) authentic communication nurtured through the
domain of the arts; (d) synchronized activity nurtured through the domain of
embodiment disciplines (athletics, health, and nutrition, etc.); and (e) precision
and insight nurtured through the domain of the sciences. For example, engaging
in contemplative practices such as 20 min of silence every day could cultivate
an allegiance to the present moment and the capacity to be in the present could
inform a study of contemplative practices.

Data Collection and Analysis


The researcher utilized qualitative methods of data collection and analysis and
spent 2 to 4 days a week in the school for approximately 3 months in the spring
of 2007 and 2 weeks in the fall of 2007, observing the teaching and learning
environment, talking with teachers, students, and parents, and collecting artifacts
of practice. Sources of data included two formal, individual, audio-taped inter-
views with teacher participants; individual interviews with school staff, students,
and parents; and observations of classroom teaching and other professional
responsibilities. Artifacts such as lesson plans, teaching reflections, and journals
were also collected.
Data analysis involved an iterative process of data collection, reflection, and anal-
ysis so that each step informed the others. The themes of compassion, integrity, and
mindful awareness guided the process of constructing emergent themes, but the
framework served only as a guide not the sole determiner of themes. Events, beha-
viors, statements, or activities were highlighted that (a) occurred multiple times; (b)
connected with other events, behaviors, statements, or activities; (c) were rare or
influential; or (d) did not occur even though the researcher expected them to
(LeCompte & Schensul, 1999). Triangulation and listening for dissonant or discon-
firming evidence were also used as an accuracy check of the principles and practices
of contemplative teachers. Collecting information from multiple sources of data
decreased the risk of inaccurate or false information and systemic biases. The sys-
tematic analysis of data occurred during two phases—first, during data collection
through a recursive cycle of collection, reflection, and analysis; and second, after the
data collection process concluded.
Portraits were created using the systematic analyses of data to create holistic
pictures of teacher’s vision of contemplative teaching, beliefs about one’s teach-
ing self, practices/pedagogy in the classroom, and relationships with students.
Byrnes 29

Portrait development involved multiple phases of creating the essential features of


a teacher through a vignette of a typical day, an essential metaphor for teaching,
and critical incidents of the teacher’s self, relationships, and pedagogy. The fol-
lowing portrait presents detailed descriptions and analyses of Diana’s principles
and practices as a contemplative teacher.

Portrait of Diana: See Me Beautiful


The school day for Diana began around five in the morning. She drove 20 min west
from her home watching the sunrise reflected in the beauty of the Rocky Mountains.
The sun and the color yellow were important to Diana and she explained that she
hoped her teaching would be like a ray of sunshine illuminating her students’ gifts.
Diana used the phrase ‘‘see me beautiful’’ as a reminder to look for beauty in her
students, parents, colleagues, and herself.

There’s this song . . . called ‘‘See Me Beautiful.’’ I don’t remember the song, but I
remember the title and it, basically, just reminds me that we’re all trying to do our best.
. . . our school is founded on the premise that we all have basic goodness. So, I try to
remember that.

At 8 o’clock the teachers and interns gathered in one room for 10 min of meditation
and silence. They sat in chairs in a circle with hands softly placed on their knees,
eyes looking at the floor. There was some shuffling, clearing throats, and coughing
every now and then, but mostly silence prevailed as each person focused on his or
her breathing and being present in the moment. The group ended meditation by bow-
ing into the center of the circle with hands resting on their hips, acknowledging the
space and time they spent together as a community. After the meditation, the teach-
ers discussed the agenda for the day, noted anything out of the ordinary, and
reviewed events from the previous day or personal circumstances of life such as a
book being read or a new restaurant in town.
Students began arriving soon after meditation ended. Diana stood in the hall-
way, greeting students and parents with hugs, handshakes, or a ‘‘hello’’ or
‘‘good morning.’’ She held hands with some students as they transitioned from
dropping backpacks and lunches off in cubbies before heading outside to the
playground. Around 8:30, the kindergartners gathered at the gate in the chain
link fence to walk 20 yards to the creek. Several parents and Diana’s teaching
assistant accompanied the class. Diana was engaged in conversations with mul-
tiple students during the morning walk and play time. They had many questions
and stories to share.
During lunch, a group of five kindergarten boys sat in a semicircle outside on
the grass in front of the school having a discussion about who were the best and
worst soccer players. Sammy initiated the talk and was dominating the conver-
sation along with one other student. Each boy stated he was one of the best
30 Journal of Transformative Education 10(1)

soccer players and wanted to rank all of the soccer players (that were male) in
the school including the first and second graders. Diana was sitting on the grass
near the students watching, listening, and observing their conversation. Her
lunch lay untouched on the ground next to her. After five minutes of listening
to the boys’ exchange, Diana called Sammy to come see her. He put down his
uneaten sandwich and walked the 10 feet over to where Diana sat cross-legged.
He stood next to her expectantly and she placed her right arm around his
waist as she looked up at him. It was a common practice for Diana to call stu-
dents over to her away from a group for her to talk with them. Usually it was to
end some kind of activity that the student was initiating. Diana shared with
Sammy, ‘‘It’s not helpful to compare yourself to other people. The conversation
you are having could hurt people on the inside. I’m glad you are good at soccer
and enjoy it so much. People have a lot of different skills and areas where they
are good at something.’’ He nodded demurely as she talked. He started to walk
away, but turned around, and with tears in his eyes, returned to Diana. Gently
putting her arm around him again, she asked, ‘‘What’s wrong?’’ He replied,
‘‘You used a sharp voice with me.’’ Taking a deep, slow breath, and a moment
to pause and consider the feedback, Diana calmly asked Sammy, ‘‘Could it be
that you didn’t like the message I gave you?’’ He paused for a moment before
slowly nodding his head yes. He remained, eyes focused on the ground, crying
for another minute with her arm around his waist.
While it was a private conversation between Diana and Sammy, it was also a
public conversation since Sammy’s peers were only 10 feet from the dialogue.
Diana asked Sammy if she could share with the group what they talked about
and Sammy moved his head up and down in affirmation. Diana recapped the
conversation with the group and asked them if they had experiences of not being
good at something and how that felt. She asked them if they could think of a
time when they worked to be better at something. Students eagerly shared exam-
ples in response to Diana’s prompts and Sammy shared an example of playing a
lot of soccer so that he would be good at it.
Each day after lunch the students gathered in the sunrise room for story time. The
children clustered on the floor around Diana. This afternoon, Diana began her
storytelling by lighting a candle on the end table to her right. The students recited
the following lines together followed by a simultaneous bow.

Body like a bow and arrow


Speech like a silent bell
Mind open to the bright blue sky
All together kind and well.

Since it was Wednesday, this was the third time the students were hearing the week’s
story. Speaking from memory, Diana leaned forward with her elbows on her knees,
then after making eye contact with each child, she began . . . .
Byrnes 31

If you see a bee fly out of someone’s nose, good fortune will be yours.
Every morning Shin said goodbye to Yuki and went up to the mountains with his friend
Tasuke to chop wood. . . . The day the story happened, Shin said to Tasuke, ‘‘Ohhh,
Tasuke, I am so tired.’’ So Tasuke replied, ‘‘why don’t we do some work and then take
a nap.’’ So they did. Tasuke fell right asleep but Shin couldn’t fall asleep. Shin listened
to the snore of Tasuke and watched his chest rise up and down when suddenly he saw A
BEE FLY OUT OF TASUKE’S NOSE. Shin wanted to wake Tasuke so badly, but Shin
decided to let his friend continue to sleep. Eventually Tasuke sat up and stretched and
asked Shin about his nap. He said ‘‘Well, I couldn’t really sleep. While you were sleep-
ing, I saw a bee fly out of your nose’’ Tasuke responded, ‘‘Wow, I didn’t feel that at all,
but I did have a dream.’’ Can anyone tell us the story of the dream?

Several students raised their hands and Diana called on Gina to tell the story of the
dream. Tasuke dreamt of going to a nearby town where there was buried a treasure of
pearls and rubies and gold in a famous garden.
After the story, Diana brought out a board that was on the floor behind her.
The board had five colors representing the five domains of learning. Each color
listed several activity options, for example drawing or sewing for the arts, frac-
tals or pattern blocks for the sciences, coloring or drawing mandalas for contem-
plative practices, writing alphabetical letters or looking at words in their word
boxes for the humanities, or hopscotch or finger painting for the embodiment
disciplines. As Diana orally reviewed the activity options for five-domain time,
the school-wide gong rang to signal the start of the daily 20-min silent time.
Students moved to their individual activities in silence. After 20 min, the gong
rang to signal the end of silent time and the kindergartners cheered in their usual
ritual.
For afternoon snack, Diana made popcorn and passed around plates of car-
rots. One student served the popcorn to the other students and together they sang
a song of thanks for their food before eating. The Chinese language teacher
entered the room as the students were finishing their snack and orally they went
over colors and shapes in Mandarin. Diana sat in a chair in the corner of the
room and ate with the students and practiced her Mandarin. After the lesson,
Diana shared her frustrations with the class.

I’m not sure what it is about Mandarin. I feel like it brings out my worst qualities.
I’m kind of crabby because I feel like I have to keep telling people to sit down, be
quiet, and listen to the laoshi (teacher). What should we do? I feel like part of the
problem is me.
One student suggested, ‘‘It might just be that we just got back from spring break and
maybe it will be better next time.’’ Diana replied, ‘‘Next time we have Mandarin, I
would like you to not be whispering and rolling around on the floor. I will try not to
be so rrrrrrrr.’’ School ended at three o’clock and students were dismissed individually
when they recognized their first name being spelled backwards by Diana.
32 Journal of Transformative Education 10(1)

Discussion
In the preceding portrait, Diana exhibited multiple examples of teaching with com-
passion, integrity, and mindful awareness and ways in which she struggled with
these qualities. The following sections illuminate how these qualities of contempla-
tive teaching are evidenced in Diana’s teaching principles and practices.

Compassion
Compassion is characterized by being open to and moved by suffering; feelings of
caring and kindness; taking an understanding, nonjudgmental attitude toward inade-
quacies and failures; and recognizing that one’s experience is part of the common
human experience (Neff, 2003). Diana’s interactions with Sammy reveal several
characteristics of compassion. It was a delicate conversation for Diana for multiple
reasons. The topic of competition was a sensitive issue for Diana because of her own
negative experiences with it, and yet it inherently is a part of life. Diana recognized
that Sammy’s comparisons with his classmates were not helpful because they
appeared to intentionally place him in a superior position to his peers rather than
extending compassion to others. While the conversation could have focused on Sam-
my’s joy of soccer or the skills he had mastered through hard work, Sammy was
using comparisons or put-downs of his peers in his ranking system of ‘‘good,’’ male
soccer players in the first and second grades.
Also of importance to Diana’s exhibition of compassion in this incident were
prior interactions between Sammy and Diana. In the past, Sammy had accurately
identified exchanges when Diana had used a harsh voice with him and so she needed
to consider not only what she said but the manner in which she expressed herself
before she responded to his criticism in this situation. Was she being too harsh? Was
it personal for her because he was so competitive and she had negative experiences
with competitive people? In reflecting on the incident, Diana conceded that her first
impulse was to be sharp, but she worked very hard to temper her response. She
observed that the highly charged engagement demanded not only a caring disposi-
tion to the student but also a nonjudgmental attitude toward her own inadequa-
cies—what she might consider failure on her part as a teacher. ‘‘I am so grateful
to him on so many levels because he just helps me so much. One of those is when
my voice is sharp, it’s really great to just connect in with that because it is.’’ Diana’s
past openness to Sammy’s feedback and her commitment to act with compassion
both toward Sammy and herself is an ability she has cultivated through years of
practice.
In reflection about the experience with Sammy, Diana explained some of her rea-
soning for presenting the issue to the group as a means to promote compassion.

Well, I was hoping it would benefit everybody, actually, and also, timing wise, I
wouldn’t have done that probably much earlier too because now that they’re—I feel
like they’re very close and really understanding and they really get each other. They
Byrnes 33

are now becoming really good sort of feedback for each other so it was that kind of
thing. Just I like to present certain things to the group because, well, it gives feedback,
for one thing, to the person, but then also––I think it really helps with compassion when
you see that somebody’s struggling with something. Even if Sammy wasn’t struggling
and didn’t feel met by that compassion, it would be a chance for others to feel it in other
situations.

Diana’s reflection on her interaction with Sammy illustrated her ability to be com-
passionate with her self when she made a mistake or unintentionally caused suffering
to a student. Diana was open to listening and learning from her students and being
vulnerable as a person developing. She consciously chose not to present herself an
expert teacher who portended to understand everything and could never be wrong or
inadequate. Diana did make mistakes as a teacher, and she was willing to
acknowledge them when they were brought to her attention.
Diana also promoted compassion as part of the human experience through the
story of ‘‘The Bee and the Dream’’ which ends with Shin and Yuki sharing their
good fortune with their neighbors and family. The moral of sharing and giving was
highlighted in the story. Whether the characters were sharing and buying dreams or
sharing ‘‘good fortune,’’ the view of people as being interconnected underlies the
motivation to act with compassion toward others.

Integrity
Teaching with integrity is a process of acting in ways that are true to oneself, ways
that are genuine, real, and authentic. Integrity in teaching varies for every teacher
because of the individual principles and vision each teacher possesses. Diana’s core
teaching vision addressed issues of truth, beauty, goodness, and service. Diana
believed that an effective learning environment for her kindergarten students
addressed truths such as the three journeys of intelligence, compassion, and confi-
dence; ‘‘May you see clearly’’; ‘‘Let kindness be your guide’’; and ‘‘May you know
yourself.’’ Truths were examined through stories such as the message in ‘‘The Bee
and the Dream’’ that good fortune was meant to be shared. Some of Diana’s proudest
moments occurred when students expressed truths she upheld. One afternoon, a
parent came into class to play the marimba, a percussion instrument, and she
appeared to be nervous about making mistakes. As Diana recalled,

So, she said to the students, ‘‘I’ll play you this song but I haven’t practiced it for a
while, so I’ll make lots of mistakes,’’ and she said that about five times. And finally
two of them said, ‘‘It’s okay. You’re a human being. We all make mistakes.’’ and I just
felt so proud of them because they got that. I thought that was great success. So, that
even kids being the teacher in a way and that’s our goal, I think, to step back and let
them do it.
34 Journal of Transformative Education 10(1)

The preceding example was so inspiring for Diana because in many ways her ulti-
mate truth is ‘‘to oneself be true’’ or ‘‘live with integrity.’’ These students expressed
the truth that mistakes are part of the common human experience and they are okay.
Integrity was also apparent in Diana’s goal to remember to ‘‘see me beautiful’’
and her genuineness in her relationships with students. She was excited to be with
students and verbally and nonverbally expressed her beliefs that she was lucky to
be with them each day. Instead of voicing her frustrations with another teacher or
her assistant about the Mandarin lesson, she involved the students in understanding
her feelings and allowed them to be a part of the process of problem solving how
things could change.
Often a person’s integrity is revealed in instances of challenge or difficulty. Diana
explained one of the tools she used when a student or parent challenged or frustrated
her was to breathe and take the other person’s perspective. ‘‘One is always take a
breath; just always, always, always, and realize that they are using the best tools they
have at the time to get what they need, and then also that I am using the best tools.’’
The understanding that another person is using the best tools they have reflects the
principle of ‘‘see me beautiful.’’
Teaching with integrity welcomes differences, diversity, and even adversity as
crucial for learning. Without challenges to one’s beliefs, values, or principles, it is
often difficult to observe teaching with integrity. Diana’s integrity in teaching was
based on her teaching principles of truth, beauty, goodness, and service. When she
experienced challenges to her integrity, Diana utilized breathing techniques and the
phrase ‘‘see me beautiful’’ to remind her to look for the goodness in others. Teaching
with integrity emphasizes teaching with wholeness, bringing your whole self to your
role as a teacher. Wholeness embraces the paradox of accepting where you are and
where you are not exhibiting the qualities of contemplative teaching. Teaching with
integrity, like compassion and mindful awareness, was not a static state to be
attained, but a dynamic process that Diana strove to keep in mind as she dealt with
the complexities of teaching.

Mindful Awareness
Teaching with compassion and with integrity in many ways relies on the quality of
mindful awareness. Mindful awareness in teaching requires openness to the present
moment with a perspective of equanimity that is driven by a sense of wonder. Mind-
ful awareness was cultivated in Diana’s morning meditation session. It was exhibited
in the consciousness of space and time during the course of a school day and how
transitions occurred between events, in knowing when students needed to be
removed from a situation to debrief or hearing a new perspective, and how to most
effectively facilitate learning.
A parent described how she believed Diana taught with mindful awareness,
which allowed the students to be themselves.
Byrnes 35

. . . I like how they (teachers at the Ghandi School) allow children to just sort of open
up and not always know all the answers and let it all unfold in a slow sort of process and
let the children really think about it. I remember early on in the fall there was a child in
the class that none of the children were getting along with and the child was absent one
day and they had a huge pow-wow and the kids were saying things like they were glad
he was out. Diana said, well this has been really hard for you guys. Let’s talk about it.
The kids themselves came up with all these ideas like, maybe he doesn’t know how to
interact, maybe he doesn’t know how to get into a conversation, or maybe he’s afraid.
The kids came up with it themselves. . . . She allowed the children to come to a place of
absolute compassion without directing them in that way. Just opening up and really
letting the conversation unfold. . . .

Diana’s quality of attention to her students and to the context of their feelings contrib-
uted to her facilitating this discussion with them about one of their peers. The parent’s
insight of Diana’s openness and willingness to not control the students’ thoughts or feel-
ings revealed how teaching with mindful awareness was embodied by Diana. She
opened the conversation with an acknowledgment of the students’ feelings and frustra-
tions. She listened to students with openness, equanimity, and wonder, which encour-
aged students to develop a deeper understanding of the situation on their own with
her support and guidance. She gave them space to share their thoughts and feelings and
to deepen their perspective of another human being, a peer. She opened the door to com-
passion and a transformed understanding of another human being through her mindful
awareness and the students chose to enter and live on that path of compassion.

Embracing Wholeness
Contemplative teaching focuses on uniting the deep inner life of the teacher with his
or her outwardly visible actions. Rather than acting like a teacher or performing the
role of teacher in the classroom, one who exhibits a contemplative teaching presence
may engage in ‘‘a state of alert awareness, receptivity and connectedness to the men-
tal, emotional, and physical workings of both the individual and the group in the con-
text of their learning environments and the ability to respond with a considered and
compassionate best next step’’ (Rodgers & Raider-Roth, 2006, p. 266). Many great
teachers exhibit these three qualities of teaching, but it is the unique synthesis of
teaching with compassion, integrity, and mindful awareness that reflect a teacher
with a contemplative orientation to teaching. The whole is greater than the sum of
the parts and an intention toward wholeness creates the potential for personal and
societal transformation.

Contemplation is not a method, but rather a practice—an everyday practice that can
transform the world. Bringing a contemplative attitude to preparing for the day,
choosing what to think about, perhaps creates classrooms where life can be lived in
many possible and diverse ways, through our relations and the spiraling-out stories
of each person here. (Seidel, 2006, pp. 1910–1911)
36 Journal of Transformative Education 10(1)

Contemplative teaching is a path leading from the past to the future. Rather than
viewing teachers and students as disembodied beings by focusing solely on their
intellect and rational systems; contemplative teaching’s emphasis on wholeness,
unity, and integration moves education toward a view of teachers and students as
beings with not only minds but also hearts and bodies.
While acknowledging the realities of schools today, the potential for contempla-
tive teaching to create positive learning experiences, improve the working lives of
teachers, and create transformative experiences for school communities so that the
individuals within can see themselves, others, and the world in new ways is power-
ful. The current emphasis in our society on speed, multitasking, and ‘‘getting my
way now’’ limits our ability individually and collectively to understand ourselves
and our world. Contemplative teaching offers educational communities a way,
which I believe allows students and teachers, to live and learn in ways that offer the
most potential for transformation and for a holistic, integrative learning experience.
While Diana did not always view herself as the ideal contemplative teacher, she
brought central, core characteristics of compassion, integrity, and mindful awareness
into her teaching. The following description was Diana’s vision of an ideal contem-
plative teacher.

Well, I would hope a contemplative teacher is someone who’s incredibly kind and
patient, but brings out the best in each student and really takes the time to know them
and see them for who they are, and also doesn’t get caught in their own trip so much
which, of course, is really kind of ridiculous, because maybe what the ideal contempla-
tive teacher should be is just a human being working with herself or himself. So, in that
way, I guess I do. I see where I could be better and that’s kind of hard, but I also see that
I’m a person. I need to just realize that and have some respect for my feelings in the
situation too, and it’s hard. It’s hard.

Diana was open and reflective about both the gifts and limitations she brings to her
teaching. She believed that her weaknesses as a teacher and as a human being were
her ability to be too harsh or short-tempered. Diana also saw herself as quick to
judge, which could limit or even inhibit her perception of people and situations. She
believed that she was a loud and silly teacher, which did not match her conception of
an ideal contemplative teacher as someone who is spacious and quiet. She was a
human being working with herself which takes courage to do that hard work.
Diana’s experiential voyage involved struggle and was a complex undertaking
but one that she felt was foundational to her role as a dedicated contemplative edu-
cator. Strategies like slowing down, taking time for in-and-out breaths in one’s body
and in the daily rhythm of the day, or being curious about student responses or beha-
viors whether correct, incorrect, or even just unusual all facilitated Diana’s capacity
to embody a contemplative approach to her teaching.
Contemplative education begins with the most intimate relationship possible––
relationship with oneself. It is a journey that moves both outward into the world and
Byrnes 37

inward into one’s own mind, body, and heart. It is a journey of knowledge and
self-knowledge toward transformation. ‘‘Transformative learning involves experien-
cing a deep, structural shift in the basic premises of thought, feeling, and actions’’
(O’Sullivan, 2002, p. 11). Contemplative teaching attempts to create transformative
experiences for both teachers and students. Teachers’ experiences with transforma-
tive learning create opportunities for students’ transformative learning experiences.
‘‘We work toward this depth when we invite students to directly and openly meet
their world and themselves. This is enabled when we, as educators, meet ourselves,
ideas, and our students directly, openly, and honestly; in this way, teaching primarily
becomes a way of Being’’ (Hart, 2001, p.171).
Diana observed that the job of her kindergarteners was just to come to school and be
who they were. Her openness to her students and her invitation to be who they were
opened the door for transformative experiences. A contemplative approach to education
focuses on understanding humans’ basic goodness, how to be of service in the world, the
importance of being who you are, and a focused attention in the present moment. Con-
templative teaching is a possible link to our future of equitably educating all children
and supporting the development and growth of whole human beings.
A parent described the teachers at the Ghandi School as teaching with mindful
awareness, compassionate, and integrity. Her insight into how this kind of teaching
presence impacts children serves as a powerful reminder of the transformative
potential of contemplative teaching.

The teachers are so present with the children.

They really focus on one thing at a time. They are calm, gentle, and focused. When
talking with a parent, they are completely focused on that conversation. Children know
to touch them on the shoulder if they need their attention and wait until the teacher has
finished with his or her other conversation. They know the children and they take the
time to be aware of each child. . . . The contemplative practice is a centerpiece of this
school. I think learning here is exciting and evolving and growing. Each teacher is
empowered to find his or her own path, what contemplative education means to them
individually and collectively evolves. They hold children in a space of presence. They
deal with challenges or conflicts by involving the children in the problem solving
through empathy. Their values come through in their teaching. One of the three ques-
tions on the application for this school is, ‘‘How does your child find joy?’’ What other
place would emphasize or be aware of children’s joy. The theory behind the school is
that if you give a child space, they will naturally want to learn.
Contemplative teaching embodies teaching with compassion, integrity, and
mindful awareness. These three qualities of teaching are enacted daily by teachers
such as Diana with a contemplative orientation and all three qualities embrace the
wholeness of being human. A contemplative orientation to teaching creates space for
learning and is a model of education that links the inner and external life in
meaningful, transformative ways.
38 Journal of Transformative Education 10(1)

Acknowledgments
My thanks to the teachers who participated in the larger study from which this portrait is
drawn; to the anonymous reviewers and John Dirkx for their helpful criticism; to Doris San-
toro and my colleagues at Bowdoin College for their support and feedback on this research;
and to Hilda Borko, Deborah Haynes, Susan Jurow, Dan Liston, and Jennie Whitcomb for
their feedback on earlier versions of this article.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests


The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship,
and/or publication of this article.

Funding
The research was supported by a grant from the Fetzer Foundation.

Notes
1. Currently a debate exists within the field concerning the relationship of the terms contem-
plative and mindfulness. In this article, mindfulness is equated with mindful awareness,
one of three qualities of contemplative teaching, a broader, more inclusive concept.
2. The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society seeks to ‘‘transform higher education by
supporting and encouraging the use of contemplative/introspective practices and perspec-
tives to create active learning and research environments that look deeply into experience
and meaning for all in service of a more just and compassionate society.’’ For more
information see http://www.contemplativemind.org. The Garrison Institute’s Initiative
on Contemplative and Education ‘‘works to develop the field of contemplative teaching
and learning for K-12 educators and classrooms. It supports the field’s growth and
evolution by introducing evidence-based contemplative methods to educators.’’ For more
information see http://www.garrisoninstitute.org. The Mind and Life Institute ‘‘seeks to
understand the human mind and the benefits of contemplative practices through an
integrated mode of knowing that combines first person knowledge from the world’s
contemplative traditions with methods and findings from contemporary scientific
inquiry.’’ For more information see http://www.mindandlife.org/
3. All names of people and places have been changed.

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Byrnes 41

Bio
Kathryn Byrnes is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Education at Bowdoin College. She
earned her PhD in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis on Teaching and Teacher
Education from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her research focuses on contemplative
pedagogy in teacher education and K-12 education. She works with undergraduate and grad-
uate teacher education students and high school educators to integrate contemplative practices
and principles in education.

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