Keep calm and bloom
Dharti Vaibhav
Kabir says, “धीरे-धीरे रेमना, धीरे सब कुछ होय | माली सीचें सौ घड़ा, ॠतु आए फल होय ||”
(Dheere-dheere re mana, dheere sab kuchh hoy. Maalee seeche sau ghada, ritu aae phal hoy.)
Meaning – go slow, have patience, good things take time. The gardener may pour a hundred pitchers of water, but the fruits will come only when the season comes.
In a classroom where varied energies, thought processes, and emotions play against each other, it becomes very important for a teacher to keep calm, as without it concentration and right discernment is not possible. This couplet by Kabir reminds me to remain calm and carry on with the work in hand. Here, I share a few practices that help calm me.
Practice 1: Flower I adore and adorn
I wear a flower in the buttonhole of my shirt or keep a flower on my desk in the classroom. I hold the flower gently to get back to the essence of my being, sometimes just as a reminder to calm down. I carry a flower with me, especially to meetings.
Practice 2: Lotus of gratitude
Mukulahasta is a mudra in natyashastra. In Sanskrit, mukula means a blooming bud and it is depicted by bringing the tips of the fingers together to take the form of a closed bud. In times of chaos and classroom dysfunction, relax and make the mudra. Instead of shouting at the top of your voice, start counting your blessings and show your gratitude by opening one finger at a time. The students are the blessings, all unique and seeking love, giving love. As all the fingers open, we get another mudra – that of a lotus in full bloom, padma mudra.
Practice 3: Sing a song
When there is chaos around, I start singing my favourite songs. Sometimes, I ask the children to sing along. One such song is from the plum village album, composed by Thich Nhat Hanh, Breathing In Breathing Out. There is a line in this song , ‘I am blooming as a flower,’ which reminds me that one day we all will bloom and there is no need to ‘boom out’ (shout).
Practice 4: Just be
Just hold the posture of a bud. Just be a flower, a smiling one. Connect to the vastness, or your breath, or the space beyond the mind. This allows one to open to the universal source and let the calmness and peace descend upon one.
We are all like flowers with our own essence. We will bloom at different times. Keep looking for those learning moments for yourself as well as in the students.
The Kabir couplet also reminds me not to panic or get too stressed. Things will happen in their own time. So, hold on calmly. Don’t react. Let the action come from just being.
Dharti Vaibhav is an integral learner, living and learning from Anahad, a community near Hyderabad. He works as a school consultant, coach, and curriculum designer who also works with homeschoolers. He has 15 years of experience in Integral Education. He can be reached at vegmaan.mbk@gmail.com.
