Sunday 4 September 2011

Yoga Sparks Chaos :)

Whenever changes are made to anything, things usually get "worse" before they get "better”. For example:

·      Cleaning: Mess hidden in closet, reorganize closet, take everything out (worse), reorganize, throw out, give away and put back (better).
·      House: No walls in basement, drywall the basement, mud the walls, sand the walls, entire house gets covered in layer of dust (worse), vacuum, dust, mop, paint (better).
·      Coaching volleyball: Ball served over net in large arc, adjust the contact point on the ball when serving, ball goes into net, too far, too short (worse), practice, practice, ball whizzes over and down (better).
·      Eating: Eating no sugar for months, eating (at least) 30 wedding cupcakes over two days, trying to stop eating sugar and met with intense sugar cravings (worse), eventually... sugar cravings cease and ice cream at 1:00 in the morning with colleagues does not appeal anymore (better).

·      Classroom:  Three rules. 1. Raise your hand. 2. Keep your hands to yourself. 3. Ask permission to leave your desk. Change to one rule, Work Towards Harmony, students learning what harmony means, how it applies to their life, learning through mistakes and testing what isn't harmony (classroom behaviours get worse), well this one is still unfolding...

What I'm trying to say is that there are many things in my life that I can see that there is a period of adjustment.  There is a period where things might be uncomfortable for a bit but I trust that because of the changes being made, because of the effort being put in, in the long run things will most definitely get better.  So why then does it surprise me so much when this happens in my classroom? It seems so much more uncomfortable to make these changes in my classroom.

I changed the rule in my classroom because what I had been doing wasn't lining up with what I felt to be true anymore. In changing the rules I was allowing harmony within myself. In changing the rules I am challenging myself to align what I believe will bring the world to a more peaceful state, with what I actually do in my classroom.

I find myself thinking, "Is what I am doing bringing harmony to this classroom?" and if I'm honest, sometimes I am definitely not bringing harmony. When I don't have set rules to fall back on it takes more conversations, more time, more thinking on my part and the students' part in order to see if what we're doing is creating harmony.  Teaching and learning harmony for all involved.  Which leads me to, it's going to get worse before it gets better.  It's going to get chaotic before it gets harmonious. But I am choosing to trust that this will happen, things will get better and not only better but I am trusting that things are going to get exponentially better because you can't go wrong when you're working towards harmony. In the end we will have a group of people that can choose to listen because they realize the value of listening rather than just putting up their hand to follow a rule. 

It's through embracing this chaos that our classroom will be led into harmony.  Yoga sparks the chaos that with trust will lead to harmony.  

What have you seen get worse before it got better? What chaos arises in your life from yoga? What does yoga spark in you? Let me know, I'd love to listen.

With much love,
Amy



1 comment:

  1. Amy,

    My little one came home and told our family the definition of harmony as she understands it. The biggest thing she mentioned is that it's work, and it has to make things better. I think that she has a good start. I love "working towards harmony" as it goes right along my belief that work is vital to success. I think that everything is possible through work. I work to be patient, I work to listen, I work to be a little better than the day before. Yoga sparks work. If you keep working towards harmony harmony is what you will get. We reap what we sow. Our actions will make a difference... and that is why we keep working.

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