Details
Facilitated by
John Klingler
Date/Time
Tuesdays| 7:00pm -8:30 pm ET | 3 weeks | April 9 to April 23
Cost
Free to Members | $79 for Non-Members
Location
The Hive: A Center for Contemplation, Art, and Action | In Person
1628 Hoffner St Cincinnati, OH 45223
About the Class
Domains
Description
Somatics for Teachers is a restorative workshop designed to help educators come back to center in the midst of intense pressure, stress, and burnout. Working in schools in today’s climate can leave us feeling exhausted, disconnected, and far from the values and passions that brought us into the profession. This community workshop offers practical somatic tools to help manage and release stress held in the body, be more present and grounded in the classroom, and respond to challenges with greater calm, confidence, and dignity.
What is “Somatics?
“Somatics” comes from the Greek word “σῶμα” (soma), meaning the individual in their wholeness. It is a modality that includes the full person—including the body—as the domain of healing, transformation, and empowerment. A “somatic practice” is one that goes beyond talking and reflecting using the thinking mind, but includes the physical body. This may include bringing attention to certain areas of the body, breathing exercises, or gestures designed to emulate real-world situations. Modern culture has largely ignored the body’s role in our mental and emotional wellness, but much research has been surfacing about how the body “keeps the score”* by holding onto imprints from important emotional experiences in our lives. Somatics sees the body as an important domain and resource for our overall well-being.
*Bessel Van der Kolk (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma.
Who is this workshop for?
This workshop is open to any and all educators. While it is primarily designed for classroom teachers working in K-12 schools, educators and facilitators in universities and non-traditional settings, as well as school psychologists, counselors, social workers, administrators, and other school personnel are gladly welcome to join.
What will it look like?
The workshop will primarily consist of simple but powerful somatic practices that heighten awareness and give us greater latitude for choice in the face of challenging situations, which thereby increases our capacity to act in alignment with our values. The workshop will also include space to reflect through journaling, peer-to-peer sharing, and group discussion.
We teachers deserve to feel whole. Unfortunately, the structure within which we work does not view that as a priority, and so meaningful workshops dedicated to our own well-being are virtually non-existent. But more consistent wholeness, balance, and joy in the classroom is possible, and this is a unique opportunity to move in that direction as a community. Some of the benefits include:
More aliveness, openness, and confidence at work
Better relationships with students
Increased ability to stay calm and centered in dignity in stressful situations
Ending the day feeling joyful, connected, present, purposeful, and open
Rediscovering the teacher you joined the profession to be and becoming the teacher students remember
Support and encouragement from a group of educators on a similar journey
Intention of the Hive
When you join a Hive experience, you're invited into our intention to create a group experience that's inclusive, rooted in mindfulness, and dynamically relational. We aspire for each Hive experience to model these intentions, and even to refine them as we continue to learn how to gather in a way that's transformative! The embodiment of these intentions by Hive facilitators, Members, and class participants is what makes the Hive the unique and healing social container that many experience it to be. To view our Hive Intentions for gathering, click here.
More About the Facilitators
John Klingler
John Klingler is a ten-year teacher at Cincinnati Public Schools with a passion for helping educators feel more whole and alive in their practice. He recently completed a year-long intensive training as a somatic coach and is eager to bring somatic strategies and practices to educators committed to a just and equitable education even in the face of structural injustice and inequity.