Number 61

In this issue…

• Life Lessons

• Upcoming events

The Path of Mindful Living – Educator Retreat July 23 - July 27. Morning Sun Mindfulness Center, Alstead, New Hampshire, USA

• Ongoing events

Happy Teachers Sangha of the Americas

Happy Teachers Sangha International

Life Lessons

When I published Walking the Teacher’s Path with Mindfulness: Stories for Reflection and Action (Routledge, 2021), times were challenging for educators. I aspired to share inspiration I’d received and lessons I’d learned over many years as a student and teacher. Now I freely share these with you. My book is available to download in PDF form or read online.

The following is my invitation to you followed by Parker Palmer’s endorsement.

From “A Letter to Readers”

Here you will find stories about my mindfulness weekends for educators which I’d already begun to offer (in 2005) and, more recently, five-day and eight-day educator retreats. In all of these I draw on my life lessons both in and out of the classroom. My thoughts, words, and actions and the ways they’ve changed over the years have been the result of innumerable causes and conditions—teachers and mentors, books, and, most especially, life experiences. I share only a few in the pages that follow. You and I live in a world of pandemics, social injustice, and climate change, but what you bring to teaching is unique to you. These stories are not intended as a model or prescription. However you receive them, may they prompt you to engage with the queries that follow them as a way of reflecting on your own life lessons.

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“We teach best what we most need to learn.” Richard Brady is not the first teacher to affirm that idea, but his book expands on it brilliantly to illumine teaching and learning from the inside out. Beginning with his own journey as a learner and continuing with his life-long response to his calling as an educator, Richard reaches into the teacher’s heart and mind with well-crafted insights drawn from well-told teaching stories, and from his own contemplative practice. I’ve been a teacher for the whole of my adult life, so I know one when I see one: Richard Brady is a teacher’s teacher, and this book is a superb distillation of experiences from which all teachers can learn. --Parker Palmer

Upcoming Events

The Path of Mindful Living – Educator Retreat July 23 - July 27. Morning Sun Mindfulness Center, Alstead, New Hampshire, USA. This retreat will be of interest to teachers, counselors, and administrators.

Ongoing events

Happy Teachers Sangha of the Americas on Zoom the third Wednesday of most months from 7:00 until 8:30 pm ET

Happy Teachers Sangha International on Zoom the third Saturday of some months from 7:00 until 8:30 am ET

Check the Wake Up Schools Website for information and Zoom links for meetings. These meetings are intended to support and connect educators who are interested in Plum Village practice in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh. Each meeting has a theme, specifically focused on the educator, e.g., “Free at Work” and sometimes for both educators and their students, e.g., “Rest.”