DOING NOTHING IN ENGLISH CLASS

"Meditative Mood", oil, by Robin Cheers

I try to meditate for a few minutes most mornings – just a way of taking a break to do nothing at all but breathe and be grateful for my life – and I sometimes, surprisingly enough, do a kind of meditating in English class. Occasionally, in the midst of the pleasant maelstrom that is teaching teenagers, I simply turn silent and stand still for a moment or two. Thirty or forty seconds might pass while I stand in silence in the classroom, just following my breaths as they bring in and take out air. I’m sure the students are still somewhat bewildered by this behavior, but I think they are slowly becoming comfortable with these occasional moments of meditation by their peculiar, old-world teacher. I can sense their thoughts of surprise and perhaps astonishment as I silently stand among them for my minute or so of refreshing idleness. It’s as if some of the tautness and seriousness in the room is softly escaping, as from an enormous pressurized system called school, and what’s left when I start talking and teaching again is a more supple and easy-going atmsophere, full of the free-wheeling thoughts of a teacher and students who simply wish to understand more of the miraculous world they live in.