Gentling the Mind and Body to the Sacred Other

• In Event: Holistic Education as Practical Transcendentalism

Abstract

The phenomenological inquiry titled, The Flow and Pulse of Learning, is a research study that focuses on the experiences of six youth who practiced a unique form of mind/body awareness prior to their weekly drama class. Warm-up exercises, such as breathing, yoga, and meditation circles were introduced before the class in order to remain focused during the rehearsal time. At the age of twenty-two, the students agreed to apply these practices to a question posed by Vivian Darroch-Lozowski, what happens when we attend to nature feelingly? Conversant with the scholarship of the holistic education field, this paper will describe the benefits of mind/body gentleness and its overall relevance to developing empathy towards the sacred other.

Author

• Kelli Lynn Nigh, University of Toronto - OISE