teacher appreciation

Each year, I do massages for Teacher Appreciation Week. I go to schools and give teachers a little bit of time where they are being cared for. Certainly, they deserve it, and the kids benefit from a teacher who is grounded in her body and calm.

I teach them techniques for letting go of tension and becoming present. I found myself taking about how people with high stress jobs often end up holding stress in their bodies long after the situations have passed. Usually, its a tension slight but over time such that we don't even know it's there. But it builds in layers, and becomes like a filter we look though; we may feel weighed down or unclear and not know why.

Because we train ourselves to deal with stress and put-up with pain, we must re-train ourselves to listen to our bodies. We must remind ourselves to notice the breath and release patterns in the body and mind that are not needed at that moment. In this way, we can notice the safety and fullness of the present.

Teachers know a lot about the need to do your best and then let go. One meditation of being a teacher is finding how to do your part by giving the teachings, but you cannot force someone to learn, and in fact you can't even assume that they need to learn what you offer. To speak and act from one's heart is the dharma, and what is received by the listener is their karma. In this way, no one person has to "hold the world on their shoulders". We all become students together. When I put my hands on a teacher and let her relax, I remind her that, just as she holds, she is held.