Greetings,
Is is okay to teach the 3 minute breath space in MBSR if you dont call it the 3 minute breathing space? I recently experienced an MBSR teacher teach the breathing space in class 5 but call it a “breif mindfulness practice”, when I asked them about this they stated it was okay to teach the 3 minute breathing space as it relates to the triangle of awareness, if the name is changed
Is this Ok or not encouraged?
Please provide some explanation.
With much appreciation,
Dorlie
Hi Dorlie,
This is such an interesting question, thanks for posting it. And, if others
have thoughts and ideas here, please chime in!
For me, the name of the practice isn’t all that important; that’s simply a
helpful reference so we can all understand what we are referring to.
What peaks my interest in your question is the matter of navigating class
flows and the possible, occasional, usefulness of (and/or reasons to avoid)
including shorter practice periods to support the flow of a class. I have
at times found that a few minutes of guided practice can be a useful way to
support a particular transition in a class. That being said, linking such a
practice to an appropriate class theme - like the triangle of awareness for
class five - sounds skillful. (To be clear: I am not talking about
substituting shorter practices for longer ones, by the way, which in my
view would be a mistake.)
You didn’t discuss your experience of the short practice period in your
question, Dorlie. I am curious - how did you find it? Useful? Not? Why?
In fact, each of us must handle our classes in the moment as well as we
can, making our choices based on the wonderful guidance of the curriculum
and the cumulative wisdom of our previous experiences, together with a
clear connection with the arising moment in the classroom.
Hope this is helpful, and hope to hear more from your experience, as well
as any other contributions from the community.
Kind regards,
Eowyn