I was given an amazing opportunity to present to a school on the subject of ‘Reflection’. This school was trying to address some behavioural issues and decided that delivering a fortnightly skit on ‘good’ behaviour at assembly would be part of the solution.
I saw this as an excellent opportunity to present to the whole school and to share the responsibility that we each have with the way we are, how we affect others and what we reflect to others from our choices and our way of being.
I decided that I didn’t want to speak to or at the students, but I wanted to show them with simple, practical examples in order to generate responses from them.
After I got the whole school’s attention by raising my hand and waiting patiently for everyone to stop, to look and to listen, I spoke in a low, calm voice and they tuned into my every word. There was no need for a microphone or for me to raise my voice. This was all setting the tone and feel for the presentation, as it was about reflection, so I was taking responsibility for everything I was actually reflecting to them by bringing gentleness to the way I spoke, the way I walked, the way I looked and engaged with my eyes.
I asked the whole school to just watch, explaining that I was going to do the one action three times and they had to observe very carefully.
I asked the students to pay attention to:
- what they see
- what they hear
- most importantly, what they feel.
At the back of the hall I had 3 chairs and at the front of the hall I had 3 papers, 3 pens and a whiteboard.
Firstly I stormed to the back of the hall, my heels making lots of noise and magnifying the anger I was walking in: I grabbed a chair, stormed back with it, banged it down at the front of the hall, wrote something on the board aggressively and slammed down the paper and pen on the chair.
Secondly, after taking a moment to bring myself back to being gentle, I gently walked to the back of the room, bringing presence to every step and gracefully making my way to the chair. I walked with my head up and my posture correct. I caringly picked the chair up in a way that supported my body and with presence, walked it back to the front of the room, paying attention to the way and care of how I placed it down. I wrote on the whiteboard with gentleness, allowing myself to feel my fingertips as I wrote. I then placed the pen and paper on the chair with care, making sure it was where it needed to be.
Thirdly, I walked back down to the end of the hall with my head down and shoulders slumped with each step having a dragging, given-up feel to it. I then took hold of the chair and dragged it to the front of the hall in a disregarding way; I sloppily wrote on the board and just dumped the pen and paper on the chair.
From here I asked the children one question:
“Which one out of the three chairs would you like to sit on?”
They all pointed to the middle one and from the principal sharing with me afterwards, the kindy, pre-primary and year 1’s not only pointed but were up on their knees pointing to the middle one.
From here the discussion and communication was amazing. I opened it up and asked: What did you see? What did you hear? What did you feel? What did you observe and what happened to your body during each skit?
‘When you walked angrily I felt scared and didn’t want to be near you.’
‘When you walked gently I felt cared for.’
‘When you stormed down I could feel the floor move.’
‘When you dragged the chair it felt like you didn’t care’ and so on . . .
We were then able to discuss true reflection and how we affect others with the way we speak, the way we walk and the way we look. This presentation gave me an enormous appreciation for the power of reflection: the effect of what I presented to the students was astounding.
They really got it and participated fully, feeling the power of what I shared. Another awesome confirmation happened the next day in my year 6 class – the first girl who walked in said ‘I am going to do what Ms did yesterday with my chair’ and six others followed her doing the same. The ripple effect!
Inspired by the true reflection, work and presentations of Serge Benhayon, the practitioners of Universal Medicine and the student body.
By Johanna Smith, Waikiki, Perth WA
Bachelor of Education (Major Special Needs, Minor Psychology), Graduate Certificate of Early Childhood, Practitioner of Esoteric Therapies, Wife, Mother, Teacher, Practitioner, Writer
Further Reading:
Serge Benhayon – A Real Example of Walking the Talk
Inspired by Serge Benhayon & Universal Medicine: Feeling the True Me
We teach more by reflection than by words
What a way of living we currently have where we have to share such simple ways of living so others get to feel what it is like to be in our bodies. Thank you Johanna, this standard of teaching should be normal and natural world-wide.
True education for life.
‘When you walked gently I felt cared for.’ This line sums up how beautiful true responsibility is when we take care of ourselves lovingly first, and then bring a supportive loving quality to our every movements.
The ripple effect of reflection can last a lifetime, or lifetimes.
What an amazing way of presenting and teaching children, I know all children would love this presentation, as they can relate, and it makes so much sense, whilst confirming them in their feelings.
I love how you interact with the children, and the way you confirm what they are feeling and innately know.
Such a cool experiment that shows we feel much more than we see. How confirming for those kids to witness.
An amazing opportunity offered to all those children to feel that they all each hold a power and that through how they choose to move, talk and express the power of love or lovelessness is communicated which has a direct impact on everything and everyone around us.
Yes, the children were offered so much in this presentation, ‘We were then able to discuss true reflection and how we affect others with the way we speak, the way we walk and the way we look. This presentation gave me an enormous appreciation for the power of reflection: the effect of what I presented to the students was astounding.’
I like here how you set the tone right from the start, making the whole presentation every single minute of you being in the room.
Brilliant Johanna, children love the practicalities in life so this simple exercise with the chair brings about presence and engagement with the children no matter what their age. When we make it about connection and real life situations it makes it so much easier to relate and understand how our every move has an impact on another in one way or another.
I so love this, if we don’t have an education system that incorporates the all then we are left with a system that is cold and lifeless.
I love how you asked the children not just to observe what you were doing but also how it made them feel. The power of reflection demonstrated so palpably and no doubt an ongoing lesson for all who were present.
So simple, but oh so powerful in what it reflected to the children, this experience will be remembered by them allowing them to understand how every thing we do affects all others, they got to feel the effects of all your movements in their own bodies.
The honesty and awareness of children is so amazing and so incredibly refreshing but how often as adults do we not appreciate what we have just been presented with? And just imagine if simple exercises (lessons) like these were shared with the children on a regular basis. As these children showed these lessons are life lessons and so easy to understand and then begin to live for themselves.
Very powerful Johanna to give them three examples of the quality we can choose to do something in and the effect is has on others, when we make it practical and tangible everyone gets to feel the responsibility we have, that we cannot but reflect to others although we think we can get by unnoticed.
This is one of my favourite blogs. It brings us back to the responsibility of what we are reflecting to each other and our children.
How practical examples can lead to evolution of mankind when truth is spoken and thereafter acted on! It is inspiring.
The importance of busting out of the ‘good’ mould to deal with what is true and to bring responsibility for how we are into the equation.
I love this Johanna what an amazing lesson, we could all do with this type of education no matter our age.
Very cool presentation Johanna. I love the simple, yet profound message it conveys and it makes me see just how much we can be effected by the quality of someone else’s movements, even if they are not in direct contact with you. I have always been super sensitive to when others move with harshness and anger and kids can feel this even more, so we need to appreciate this.
What a great lesson that could be taken into every school and then students would be able to explore so much about what they feel, which would bring evolution to the schooling system.
So much is offered through this sharing Johanna and it also highlights just how tuned in children are to the quality of how we are with them, great impact they feel without question, which they can open and clearly express when asked. This is true education, fostering of their innate awareness and wisdom that is what supports them to be guided by their inner-knowing of what feels true through life.
There is no point in telling young people what to do and then not doing it yourself as all that teaches them is to not trust adults! So, what you shared was for every teacher in the room as well as every reader of this blog!! Our reflection matters and either confirms, triggers or potentially heals past experiences.
Reflection, the science of reflection and an action begets more of the same – gentleness begets gentleness and turmoil begets more turmoil. Reflection is what will eventually change the world as one by one, humanity discovers, each for themselves, that devastation does not work and that we are part of a much greater All that we are all, each one of us, responsible for.
What a great experiment this would be to do in schools, and not only for the sake of the children but the teachers also.
Yes what a great learning for all those involved. Maybe we could all have a lesson in energetic responsibility and start a kindergarten system that we all must attend, so we can all at-least learn how to be gentle again.
What I like about this is that it goes beyond what is ‘good’ behaviour and looks more at the quality of how we are and how this impacts on others. Children are very perceptive to energy and how things feel and through this they can pick up on when something is ‘polite’ but there may still be underlying tensions present.
When truth lived is reflected love will be felt.
That is a great visual representation of what we all feel but often never talk about, a great practical example to open up the dialogue.
A deeply inspiring blog to read once more and appreciate the power of reflection. Thank you for reminding us that our movements are so key in all this and that so much can be felt by how we carry ourselves.
Wow absolutely genius!!! These are the kind of lessons we need at school, real life practical examples of how we are constantly, non-stop effecting other people.
What a wonderful opportunity to share the power of reflection and confirm to the kids that what they feel is very real, and how we behave around each other has a huge impact on everyone else. It was awesome to hear of a school going beyond good behaviour and taking it to where real behaviour change can occur.
What a simple and practical yet totally profound lesson on reflection to bless the students of your school with Johanna – one that I am sure would have definitely set new foundations for each of them regarding their awareness of quality and how we move.
It’s clear that children feel everything and pick up on each others moods, and also that of the teacher. Great example Johanna of how we affect each other.
A powerful and practical lesson in how energy effects us all, all of the time.
” When you stormed down I could feel the floor move.’ ” when I was at school this is what I felt and still feel when people walk with anger . Some of my teachers were average weight but when they walked with anger they were like an angry elephant I could feel the ground shake . Its so wonderfull you have presented this to the children as it honours what they know to be true and now they can give voice to it because you have shown them permission thank you Johanna.
I agree John, giving young children permission to confirm what they feel is vital and rarely done, yet is just a sentence away.
Not only a testimony to the power of reflection but another indicator that as children, we do feel everything and are very clear about what energy to choose. This does not go away when we grow up but we learn to override it and decide to fit in, possibly even excel at acting out and acting up.
Yes to overriding what is innately in us all and choosing to numb as so often this is not valued in our current climate.
Johanna, this is such a simple and yet profound exercise to do with children, this would be amazing for all schools to present this and to show how our actions affect not only ourselves but all of those around us too, this could change how pupils and staff move and interact at school.
What an amazing opportunity …. To present to a whole school an essence of wisdom that is ageless.
What I love about this is that it demonstrates just how much children do read and learn from our movements, without words, and that they do know the difference between what is loving and what is not. Beautiful to bring to our attention that not only can we feel the quality in which another moves but also the awareness of the impact we have with the way we move. Definitely a lesson of a lifetime that would serve us all to learn.
This just shows all we do is felt- what a beautiful opportunity we can bring each other in how we are everyday.
Re reading your words Johanna I can see how amazing this example is for all of us but especially young children who will be changed by this for the rest of their lives !
Johanna, I can feel from reading what you are sharing how powerful your presentation with the chair was for the children and I’m sure the adults too, this is such a simple exercise but very profound and will have lasting effects on those watching and feeling.
An awesome example of how actions speak louder than words and the impact that we have on others through our movements. Demonstrating this to children is such a valuable lesson for them to carry through their lives and support them to feel the responsibility they have for all their actions. Thank you for sharing the power of reflection and the ripples that flow from this.
Even as I read your account of the assembly I could feel the difference in the three skits. We reflect with every expression be it our movements, words, writing-everything is reflecting to everyone. How much are we paying attention to this fact?
We have enormous power in the way we go about our everyday life whether harming or healing in what we give to our own bodies and what we reflect out to others.
Very simple and powerful. I feel to go about my day like you in your second skit. No words necessary.
What a beautiful sharing, the simplicity in what you shared. How easily it is to get the attention of children and reflect to them a way of movement. When we show the movements ourselves they can connect and feel that energy. Our every movement counts and what energy we choose.
This is an amazing marker for the children, something that will stay in their bodies forever and giving them a true choice to come back to and an understanding of how energy affects our bodies and those around us, powerful!
We are all masters of energy, yet as we grow up, we can choose to forget or not be aware of the energy we are constantly feeling. Amazing to give kids consistent opportunities to talk about what they feel and that it’s actually how we are designed to live – with a relationship with energy at all times.
What a beautiful sharing. It is something we ALL know so deeply and yet few live with the conscious awareness and responsibility of how our EVERY movement affects all.
I remember the first time (over 12 years ago) I observed Serge Benhayon do a similar demonstration of just walking in two different ways – it totally transformed my life. I gained a whole new level of awareness and energetic responsibility and have never looked back.
In school children pick up on our movements much more than our words. They measure whether we are safe by watching how we are and how we interact with others- this is something we need to teach in University to new teachers. If you want to support children in the classroom how you are provides the foundation to the quality of your classroom.
What an incredible opportunity to give young children permission to speak from their heart and share the magic they play in.
I agree – the more this happens the better – so children do not renounce or reject the innate quality of feeling energy.
Johanna, this is such a powerful example for us all. Every movement we make, either in gentleness and connected to our presence, or in emotion and disconnection to others really has an effect. When we are connected to who we truly are, our essence, the gentleness and consideration for others comes naturally, because connection to self is connection to the all.
A beautiful reminder of the power of reflection in the way I choose to be and live and the knock on effect this way of being has on my surroundings. It is this way of being, the way of the Livingness that inspires and not empty words (words spoken that are not lived) that come from my mind.
True appreciation of our own qualities allows us to embrace the power of our reflection and to feel the level of responsibility in the quality of our movements, as it is through gentleness that we inspire another to get in touch with the love we all are.
If everyone saw that example we would learn the power of energy, and the effect it has on us all. It would open up the possibility ” that every thing is energy and everything is because of energy.”SB It would introduce a conversation we rarely give voice to and the possibility of responsibility with the energy we choose.
What a lovely way to be at school and with the children, this has to become a part of schools curriculum.
An inspired and inspiring example of true education Johanna. Allowing children to feel, see an hear that how we move and live is felt others. A lesson in ‘Everything is energy’.
Thank you Johanna for a truly beautiful blog sharing with us the the power of reflection, it is so powerful every move we make and every word we speak in its reflection to others. The children received so much by your simple demonstration. Every movement spoke volumes.
Love this Johanna, your simple demonstration to the children about reflection was beautiful and also deeply powerful – how amazing to bring this to all schools for children learn so much through this level of play.
Woah! What an ace demonstration. What an ace teacher. Genius. Love it. Now THAT should be in the national syllabus.
Thanks Otto- your comment made me laugh out loud.
Such great lesson you present here, more practical common sense, life changing lessons like this are what true education is really about.
So true. True education is about the whole person – supporting our students to be all of them and be purposeful, loving, energetically responsible and successful participants in life.
Education seems to be all about recall today and many leave the system not actually equipped for life. I don’t see the point.
Johanna, it is great to re-read your article, I can feel reading it how powerful the exercise with the chair was for the children, it feels gorgeous that the presentation was about noticing how it felt and that it wasn’t a wordy lecture to all of the children, but an exercise in observation and feeling.
I too particularly like this way of presenting as it confirms that we do all infact feel and are aware of energy and what is happening around us. It is a way of presenting that allows people to have space to express what they already do know and then it is their wisdom forsaking to which is the base for taking the conversation further and deeper together.
Love this. True confirmation that all our actions and feelings, conscious or otherwise, can be felt, consciously or otherwise, by everyone. That’s massive responsibility for our moment-by-moment reflection to others – and also a huge opportunity, once we embrace it.
Johanna, I absolutely love what you have shared here. It is so in the reflection – in the way you move in the way you speak in the way you blink – there is a quality that can be chosen and that can absolutely be felt by everyone. This is the reflection that we give all around us all of the time whether we choose to be aware of it or not, whether we choose to empower ourselves with this or not. But when we get to really feel how we move and how we are and how this affects us and every one else it does offer us an opportunity to be a support to self and all those around rather than the opposite. Thank you Johanna.
Thank you Henrietta. It is absolutely about all of what we reflect and how we are and move. Really it is all about responsibility in its true meaning. How responsible are we for how we are with our selves and how we are affecting others.
It is amazing that a practical and simple exercise like that you are able to share so much about life and philosophy, I was moved to tears and wish that you taught at my kids school, thank you, beautifully sharing.
I could not agree more Sarah – this is such a tangible example and it was offered as a reflection not just to the kids but to the entire school, teachers included. This is so powerful!
Thank you Sarah. That is such a gorgeous appreciation and I am touched. It would be wonderful if schools took this level of responsibility seriously and implemented into their professional development and student learning activities. Great aspects to explore as a whole school. Living love and integrity in education.
A great blog Johanna and shows clearly that we absolutely feel energy. Unlike the focused demonstration, we don’t stop to discern and make choices about how the energy affects us. What a subject to add to the curriculum!
A very needed addition to the curriculum and even to the standards of how teachers teach would be fabulous. The teachers would have to live this before they could implement it truly for students.
Thank you Sandra. The ripple effect is not something we always see but I definitely know the power of reflection and know in some way it works and is seen and inspires who and where it needs to.
I love reading this blog Johanna, what a gift you were able to offer these children. For them to not only see, but to feel the difference for themselves and what it means to truly feel energy and what connection is about. Fantastic demonstration.
Whenever I have come back to this blog Johanna, I am always amazed that even through your written word we can all feel the mood you were in, the way you walked and acted and had similar reactions such as fear, loving gentleness and lack of care or depression just like the children expressed! This shows also the connection that we all feel as humanity and the need to be mindful of this when teaching young children. It was a brilliant demonstration too!
Absolutely Roslyn. And it also shows that their are a gannet of choices and ways of being just their for use to go into. We can either be present and choose our gentleness consciously so or be checked out in our every move and then our movements will then be reflection of us at the mercy of how the world makes us feel.
A practical demonstration of energy… Very simple… So simple that kindergarten children can understand it… And yet most of us live in a world where this simple understanding is not acknowledged, and as a result we are moving in a minefield of energetic detritus
Yes. Kindergartens understand it more than adults because they have not strayed from their natural way and essence as far. However our heart remains pure in each one of us and we can all feel the effects of everything -perhaps we choose not to as we don’t want to face our contribution to the mess or being responsible for our actions.
What a great lesson learning by reflection Johanna. I struggled at school because I couldn’t learn from a text book I seemed to only learn when it was shown to me. I feel this was because a text book is not interactive and less personal. If I had had classes like this when I was young I would have found school enjoyable instead of struggling through lessons.
This is still the same with me now. I am a very visual hands on person and I learn and remember by doing things myself. The flatness of a book or computer screen, now matter how bright and entertaining, is nothing compared to a person and true interaction.
This is a great blog Johanna. It will be awesome if the ripple effect has gone out to many schools since first published.
As silly as it may seem at first but the same thing happens at my work place with boxes. They get dumped, thrown and kicked behind the counter in a confined area causing ripples of whatever the person is feeling at the time. The boxes are used for customers to take their purchase home in. We all have an opportunity to choose what we are rippling on to others.
Wow Johanna – Assembly was never as much fun as that when I went to school.
What a beautiful example/reflection you set for those children (and fellow teachers) It is no surprise that children from such an early age pick up on every little detail and the reflection we set as adults remain with them in their own growing up processes to then be followed through to the next generation.
It was a great reminder for me to read this again today Johanna. We are constantly being watched and we all have a responsibility for what we reflect to each other. I especially see this in the workplace, if someone is having a ‘bad’ day and is huffy and puffy and making it very known that they are frustrated, it affects the whole office. We are going to have off days but when we are honest and open with ourselves and others I find it changes how we feel a lot quicker.
Wow, what a marker for these students to now have in their bodies forever more. Thanks Johanna, this speaks more loudly than just ‘talking’ at someone. Loved it.
Yes such true power with no words. The body holds all the answers.
This is a pearler of an exercise Johanna, not only did they get to feel your grace and care in action, they also truly felt it and were confirmed as more within their own selves through this exercise. Very beautiful.
And the beautiful thing is Julie that even though I am technically having an audience look at me I know the power of reflection and that we are actually on stage every moment of every day. So I know this effect is touching others when I am not even realising it. To walk gently and presently in this world stands out and allows others to trust in something that is not seen commonly in society.
Yes absolutely Ariana. It is how we are living that reflects the truth of our lives in full.
I feel this kind of lessons are the most important ones to teach. How to treat yourself and others with gentleness and the effect it has when you do something in anger or sadness.
So true Lieke – perhaps these could be the first lessons we teach children before they go onto anyhting else.
This article never gets old Johanna. I love how quickly the students got it. In fact, it feels as though they had no time to really get it, they just got it instantly. I just know this was an exercise they won’t forget. It will forever be a marker in their bodies. What an amazing contribution you were able to share with them.
So beautiful Johanna in bringing all of you to the class room to reflect your love. I am amazed how simple it was to have such an impact on the children, and to realise they see and feel everything. Every move we make is registered for good or ill, it makes me more aware, of how great then, is our responsibility in our moment to moment living.
So much is felt by us all that is often not expressed.
What you demonstrated Johanna in reflecting disconnection and connection in the simple movement of a chair and placement of papers is enough to impact a whole classroom.
What a powerful demonstration of the mark we leave behind us in all that we do.
Awesome story Johanna- the power of reflection that you witnessed proved that children not only learn from seeing actions and pictures, hearing sounds, but are also so intune to energy around them.
Yes Loretta, children are in tune with energy around them, and have just learnt to tune out for various reasons. But your exercise with the children Johanna brought in a moment of great reflection and opportunity to reconnect to their own inner knowing and feel it is okay to choose this.
Children experience the world not only with their 5 senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste but also with a 6th one, the ability to feel energy. Energy is going on all around us and children are constantly picking up on it. We as adults generally don’t confirm to them that there is energy around us to feel because as adults we have shut down our own ability to feel energy to various degrees. When children have their ability to feel energy confirmed they hold onto it for longer and give themselves permission to trust what they are feeling.
Well said Kate. Hear hear to all you have shared.
I was just thinking about what you presented to the kids here, but also what you presented to the teachers. It would be great if something like this could be shared with all the schools around as it is a great learning for everyone.
It also allows everyone to appreciate how much they actually do feel.
I agree this simple energetic presentation allows us to appreciate how much we do feel and how deeply we are aware of energy.
This is awesome and reminds me of when working as a supervisor at a cafe, I had a few staff sit down and I demonstrated what it felt like to be a customer who is met with a waitress who is present, makes eye contact and takes care when placing the cuttlery and then how different it feels if you have a waitress who doesn’t make eye contact, is busy and distracted, and dumps your cutlery in front of you in a harsh way. Every thing we do, every movement effects those around us and it is so important that we are aware and responsible for this.
Before I was aware of how I moved, walked and placed things affected others I didn’t flutter an eyelid if someone closed a door hard or put their books down with a bang. Now most of the time I am gentle with how I close a drawer or tidy the house or move around the office at work, that when someone is oblivious to what they are doing and slams something down it’s like a shock wave of energy felt in my body. Imagine if everyone saw this example that Johanna showed the school, it would then be very obvious what we are choosing.
A gold teacher Johanna. You presented a lesson in life to the children that they were able to learn for themselves, a lesson that they will never forget. The ripple effect will be felt every time each one of them lives the lesson you reflected to them.
How glorious it is when you can present the truth to children. They get it straight away and embrace it with such playfulness. We could remember what that is like.
Awesome Johanna, you have not only reflected this true healing for students and teachers alike, but you have reminded me of how truly simple it can be and of the immense responsibility we carry in each moment to live and express in a gentle and loving Way !
Children watch what we do and observe us all the time. My experience has been they watch us more than listen to our words. If we want to be taken seriously and be inspiring role models for our younger generation, our actions have to match what we are talking about. What we do and how we do it count a lot more than what we say.
Totally agree with you here Debra, if I’m just talking and not following up with the same actions my boys glaze over and not listening to a word I’m saying. Which is good really that they are not listening, yet when my actions are consistent then I can see they feel it with their whole bodies.
That was a great exercise Johanna not only for the kids but also for the teachers. There should be more emphasis on encouraging kids to honor what they feel and to base their decision making on how their body feels
Thank you Johanna. What a truly awesome and engaging presentation. It is so true that the power of reflection is enormous and we hold that power within each of us – a great lesson for all. I love how you shared this with the children at your school and love how they expressed thereafter. I’m sure this lesson will be one they remember.
This is beautiful blog Johanna, I love the way you have shared with everyone the importance to be gentle and the quality that it brings on a day to day life. So simple yet very powerful, if everyone on earth was aware of this fact and applying gentleness on a daily basis, it would make a huge difference. ?
Amazing work Johanna, I can feel the incredible strenght of this exercise. I bet all the children will remember this and be aware of the fact that everything they do comes with responsibility and has an effect on another. It is with love practised by you, I like that. This is true éducation, always done for and with love.
I re read this blog Johanna because I was considering different aspects of education and once again feel that it expands the word education from being a box ticking exercise of passing exams to learning life skills. Quite beautiful.
Yes lifeskills that will have an effect on everyone these children and teachings come in contact with.
So cool Johanna, what an awesome opportunity, an astounding outcome and best of all , the ripple effect.
This is a beautiful and powerful example that should be shown in all schools… for it encapsulates the enormous responsibility we possess and can reflect in the way that we are with ourselves, and how this can not only affect others but inspire them to choose differently for themselves.
What your wordless demonstration to the students powerfully shows, Johanna, is that we are reflecting every moment of every day, with every movement, facial expression, thought, body position… people can pick up the truth of whatever is going on for us, and how they feel will be immediately affected. Bottom line is… energetic responsibility!
Yes! Energetic responsibility, a ‘subject’ not even considered in our school curriculums. What an oversight by the education system. Thank God for teachers like Johanna who are able to bring truth back.
Such a wonderful illustration of how we can truly learn through that which we can experience and feel – and of children’s (our) innate ability to discern when we listen to this.
I love reading this again Johanna. It is so clear through what you have shared, how children love to naturally express what they feel and know. And how important it is for us to reflect the truth to them, so they develop and confirm their connection to the truth that they are and naturally feel.
It feels like what you have shared in this blog Johanna, is the livingness in action. A true example of ‘teaching’ which comes through what you embody and great understanding of what quality we can choose to live in every moment.
What a simple yet powerful and memorable way to show children (and adults) the responsibility we have when expressing. Every detail of our life does affect all those around us in ways we often are not aware of. I can see all the little ones excited and pointing to the middle chair. Beauty-full.
Yes, I can just picture the kids too. Thank you Johanna for writing in a way that allows us to be there with you and have the experience that the kids did by your description in words.
What a great lesson. Children and adults alike respond well to practical demonstrations rather than being asked to “feel the energy”. This skit also shows that we feel energy all the time, and it influences our choices more than we realize.
This would have been a great confirmation for the children – confirmed that they know, see and feel energy all of the time and that it is ok to express how they feel, that they too can lead by example, and the responsibility of our choices that are reflected in every moment.
This needs to be demonstrated in every school.
Johanna, it would be interesting to hear how the adults in the room felt about this demo, and also the effect it has on the schools behavioural issues – the reason it was done in the first place.
This exposes the responsibility every one of us has to be a true reflection and inspiration to others – in everything we do, say and think. It also blows out the window the flippant comments about children that are often heard – ‘children don’t understand,’ ‘they’re too young to know whats going on,’ etc. And reveals the truth that we all feel and know energy, equally so.
Energy work in its simplicity!
It just goes to show Johanna that kids/students feel everything. What an amazing opportunity to bring this awareness to them – true education to connect them to the fact that what they feel is real and true. And also what an amazing awareness and presentation for teachers to bring full responsibility to all their actions in a class. If only we were all aware that how we are affects all those around us. What a true educational day for the students to learn this and take with them forever.
I agree Gina, and what is beautiful for those children is the blessing of being given space to express what they felt, saw and heard. As children we were all so receptive to life, finely tuned little instruments that picked up everything. But when we do not get the opportunity to express that those sensitivities do not get confirmed…and slowly as the years pass we leave that behind.
Johanna has given those children blessings in more ways than can be imagined and has inspired many professionals, including this dentist. How aware have I become of how I sit and move and place my instruments down of the table? How I touch people? And how much opportunity I offer them to express how they feel?
A really great description of how much awareness we all have to see and feel energy all of the time. It is a beautiful thing when this is so clearly seen.
The power of reflection and the power of simplicity Johanna – thank you so much for sharing this, not only with the students at your school, but online here for all.
This stuff should be the very foundation of education – the foundational stones upon which it stands.
What struck me the most as I read of the three examples you gave, was how any fellow teachers/adult school staff present would take it – quite a ‘lesson’! When is the teachers’ presentation??
I thought of this too Victoria… but realised that this was the teachers presentation, presented to the kids for all the teachers to see in a really simple demonstration.
I wish I had this in my school! What you have written about is beautiful and deffinatly should be shared with other schools. It proves that children can feel the energy of the person with their actions.
Johanna, I had a strong response to reading your blog, I started to get teary!
I felt ‘Wow’ the power of what you shared, the power of the true teacher. I felt the many teaching experiences in my life where I have been imposed upon and where discipline has been used as a way of affecting behaviour. What you did was inspirational and I hope I will be able to offer this kind of confidence in presentation before too long.
Kids are the most astute little scientists, they observe everything and make their own deductions about life and how to be in it. This blog really highlights the responsibility we each have in every moment not just in how we affect others but in how we influence how they may behave also.
What an great opportunity you provided the children, to not only feel the effects of their behaviour, bit also to honour and express to the class what they felt. This is such an important thing, how amazing would it be if all children were taught this at school, and what sort of humanity would that create?
An amazing reflection for us all Johanna, reminding us of the level of responsibility and accountability we have in all we do and how that effects everyone around us. By appreciating ourselves and what we bring to others, we can build on our connection to ourselves, and share this with everyone.
Johanna, I love how when you started to speak to their hearts they came alive. These kids know love and know energy inside and out. From what you have shared, it is very clear that as soon as they were given permission to express from their hearts they are right there, ready to learn, express and evolve together.
Johanna That is an amazing blog on how children get it already they just need the adults to be what they the children already are for there to be a connection and true understanding.
Imagine if every school brought this awareness to their children.
Thank you.
I love this blog and how it brings such simplicity to our own responsibility in such a playful way.
Living proof that get children to see and feel everything, anger, gentleness and carelessness and act on it by the ripple effect. Amazing Thank you Johanna.
a beautiful and simple and profound demonstration of the effect we are having upon everyone around us, and how fortunate these children are to have this being demonstrated to them and for them in their own school so that they can feel the effects.
Super powerful demonstration here Johanna – what an amazing lesson! A great way to start this conversation about what feels loving and supportive to our bodies. What stood out for me while reading this was how we can take responsibility and bring awareness and presence to our actions and choose the quality we want to carry them out in. A moment or a pause before speaking or moving and connecting to that quality is all it takes to make that choice. So simple, yet, incredibly powerful. Thank you for your sharing.
INCREDIBLE Johanna – we need teachers like you! Making it very practical, engaging, real and allowing people to develop and honour a marker of what they felt means that you have confirmed in them that they can feel everything, and that it is about responsibility in the way we live. What a life-long learning and blessing. The fact that we effect everyone and everything is not widely acknowledged – but the simplicity of your presentation – has proven to all that we feel everything, and we need to take responsibility in how we are.
Yes amazing observation and insight Amina, the power of awareness changes the way we live, how we interact with people and develop or expand the society and world we live in.
So true Zofia – when we apply this in our daily lives boy what a difference we make to our selves as well as all others we come into contact with.
Johanna your simple and clear demonstration to the school about how energy works is both a grand service and inspiration to many. Truly if education was to unearth this level of responsibility then bullying and abuse would not be tolerated or accepted and from here would unfold a generation who begin to understand the true value of honouring what you feel.
Absolutely Lucinda. Abuse of any kind would not be tolerated if this were the foundation of our education system.
This needs to be in our everyday awareness, that children and people of all ages are also empowered to speak up when they know something is not ok.
Indeed Lucinda, and if parents also offered this honouring reflection of responsibility in the home, it would be a generational game changer for humanity.
Johanna, this was most powerful but a simple way of reflecting to the children how the way we are can affect others. It was great how you set the scene for them to hear see and feel what was before them. This opened it up for the children to feel safe and be honest in expressing what they were feeling. This would have been an eye opener for the teachers as well, reflecting to them that the way they behaving in a classroom can change the way the students are responding to them.
Johanna, what a great way to demonstrate how behaviour effects others in reflection. An amazing experience for all those watching your performance, I could feel how keen they were to say which one felt best, and so lovely that you got the ripple effect too. We all need to be reminded of this on occasions.
Sally this is true, we all need reminding at times what we innately know but have forgotten. Johanna reminded the children in this instance that they already knew which scenario felt awful and which one felt great. They live these examples through their own expression every day. They may just not have clocked them consciously even though they feel them all the time.
Amazing Johanna, the teaching of responsibility that we have with everything should most certainly be on the curriculum across all schools. It is often the pivotal point that is missed in education in that the way we are and be has a huge effect on us and others whereas often schools teach that the focus is on achievement no matter of the means or the quality that gets us there. However really it is the way that we are and our ability to just be our natural selves that determines our true success.
Gorgeously expressed Oliver. True success is yet to be measured or looked at in this way, that is, of vital importance. When you read what you have written it makes complete and utter sense, yet somewhere we have missed this golden opportunity in our curriculum to stop and look , and assess, how we are really doing.
Good point Oliver. We have a very narrow definition of what success is, and judging by how many students and teachers are truly not happy at school for a whole myriad of reasons, the system is not working for anyone. We need a new definition of success based on our well-being and our ability to appreciate ourselves, others, not settle for less and engage with and enjoy life.
Johanna this is gorgeous. Not only is it a story about presenting reflection, it is also very clearly about responsibility and what a wonderful way to show the children how what we do affects others. The choice they clearly made when they picked the middle chair, and the flow on affect the next day was the perfect confirmation, children want this level of love and gentleness in their lives, no question.
Johanna this is so gorgeous and such a beautiful lesson for everyone, no matter what their age. I wonder what the kids went home and said to their parents 😉 Now that would be funny to hear about!
Hi Johanna, I came back to re-read the blog today it is so awesomely simple the way you presented truth for everyone to feel. Totally inspiring.
Johanna what an amazing opportunity to take forward into life, the fact that if we listen to what we feel and honour our feelings then we are no longer at the mercy of the world. So often I get caught in my head and life becomes confusing – what this exercise with the children shows is there is so much more than meets the eye or that we can think about. Beautiful and simple.
Ariana you nailed it that would be awesome – let us start to do so because our kids are in need of this.
Johanna I love how you set the scene from the start. Even the way you raised your hand and waited for everyone’s attention gave an indication of how you wanted to engage with your audience. The other thing that I loved was the way you just presented and got the children to feed back to you their opinions and feelings. So much better than standing there and telling them about the effect we all have on each other. I can imagine there were a few adults who felt the power of your presentation as well. I did.
This is beautiful Johanna. It is a perfect way to start the day, and no matter how many times I am shown something similar it never ceases to stop me in my tracks, bringing back the importance and responsibility we all have, and asking me to go deeper, further, still.
What a beautiful example of feeling energetic imprints – the children responded with their hearts. This is such a powerful sharing with all of us, I certainly won’t forget it, thank you Johanna.
This is such an awesome exercise in true care that you reflect here Johanna, showing them the value of not only what you presented, but that this is a value that you most definitely hold for yourself, being true love and care for yourself and others. Your exercise brings with it the opportunity for those children to feel that as their value as we naturally all are kindred souls that do know the way to be with others.
WOW Johanna, this is such a powerful blog and a powerful example you have given! I think I might try it with my staff…!!!
Yes I agree Susan, such wisdom in this lesson showing how we effect others through our actions, this should really be fundamental in every part of of our education system.
This is a great article showing us that everything we do has such an impact. We can choose to do something with love and offer healing for everyone or we can do something ‘in our stuff’ and impact everyone in a harmful way. Your blog clearly shows us we have a choice to be loving in every moment Thank you.
Samantha, so true with what you have said here. This is the question for all of us with our behaviours. Is it harmful or loving? By being aware of this we then can take the responsibility to choose how we are going to be with others.
Powerful words Samantha, we have a choice in every moment, to be loving or to not be loving.
Such a great sharing, Johanna. Your experience shows very clearly that we all know energy and that we all can read energy. How can it be then that on a daily basis we ignore those facts and live as if there were no energy? The way we live and the way we educate children in school is totally upside down. We first address the temporal aspects, push for them to learn how to function in life, define and identify them by what they can do and only when they develop behavioral problems we stop and are worried about what has gone wrong. And then we want a solution, something to fix it, to be able to go back to the well functioning and don’t feel the disturbance and the tension. But don’t we all have developed behavioral problems due to the lack of love we are brought up with? Some know to better hide them or live according to what is demanded of them, but this does not mean that they are full of joy and love. Isn’t it time to start to teach and live what truly matters for our human development instead of this reduced version that never works? We clearly have to start talking about energy and that everything is because of energy!!
This is simplicity at its best. What a beautiful and powerful way to show everything we think and do has an effect and can be felt by all.
Yes how powerful the ripple effect is… on everyone and everything around us, and therefore how important are the choices we make on a daily basis?
Yes awesome – the ripple effect-every little pebble creates a ripple… imagine we all did this like Johanna did – what a huge ripple that would create…
What a beautiful example of the power of reflection Johanna. Inspiring.
If we were presenting simple truths like this to our children in every school more often we would have less issues with understanding others and what it means to be truly responsible. This is HUGE!
Absolutely awesome. Such a simple teaching and yet something that will stay with those kids forever. This is the kind of education that is needed in schools. I’m also inspired by the way you were from the get-go, attracting the assembly’s attention by raising your hand and waiting unjudgingly for everyone to stop, look and listen. Just the gentleness of purpose in that one move meant you had them at the hand.
Johanna, what a powerful and yet simple example you have given us to explain to children the energetic laws and how we are responsible in every movement we do and the quality we choose. And that we can feel everything!
Amazing and deeply inspiring. Looking forward to read more from you about education!
What an impressive demonstration for those children.
An unforgettable demonstration of the energy that each action came with. Also how that energy affects each of us! It also shows we can make a difference just by being conscious of the energy we choose with every action through out each day.
No doubt your lovely ripple has spread across an ocean of children by now, Johanna, as love does naturally!
Johanna Thank you so much for sharing this experience, so simple, so clear, so profound and so obviously inspiring!
That shows and brings to mind & body that: I count.
What a fantastic idea Johanna, a tangible way for the children to feel the effect of energy and how we affect all.
Using chairs is such a great example in schools as I am always astounded at how roughly the children move their chairs, the noise can be deafening, it is so normal to be rough and hard that no one notices. I love asking them to experiment with doing it differently and gently the difference is very much felt by everyone!
I love your blog Johanna – such joy to return to and re-read again and again – the simplicity of your reflection is awesome.
This is awesome Johanna – it is incredible that these kids have you as a role model. When I was at school, a distinct memory was when one of the teachers gave an assembly about how, if we liked, we could go ahead and smoke, but as long as we didn’t do it on school grounds or in our uniforms! What a difference, and what a true reflection on your part to these kids on a daily basis
This is such a powerful exercise that we can all learn from, “…the responsibility that we each have with the way we are, how we affect others and what we reflect to others from our choices and our way of being.” Such a beautiful experience for the children.
Thank you Johanna for this lovely expression of what was your experience in regards to differing behavioural patterns within the schoolroom – and of course, not just retained within the boundaries of any school. What a wonderful way for the children to learn, to see and feel the difference that certain ways of behaviour has on all those around them. It seems that these simple examples could be shared within the early developing years of some children, long before they reach school age. It has been my experience that some parents seem to have aligned with a belief system that the discipline and understanding of behaviour and its impact on all those around them is held back until the children begin to attend school, for I have heard it said on many an occasion that the children will learn the behaviour of respect and courtesy once they reach the classroom – seemingly shirking the responsibility beforehand and choosing to leave it to the teachers.
I agree Roberta, it shouldn’t necessarily be left up for school to teach our children how to be in the world or even to use a single event or exercise such as this, but rather this should just be our normal, everyday teaching children the first and foremost important thing in life the way that we are not what we do or achieve, for children naturally have this at a young age but as it is not consistently reflected to them then over time that naturalness of being changes.
This is a valid point you make here Roberta. Schools play a very important part in the development of our young people, mainly because they spend so much time there, but it does need to be in partnership with all the other adults in each student’s life. School is part of the community, but can be viewed as a stand-alone separate institution. I feel school need to make more of a commitment to engage and involve parents in its day-to-day activities. It has to be something we all work together on.
Superb presentation Johanna, what a true gift of a lesson for all the children to have. I can really feel just how powerful each skit was and it must not only ripple out to the children but the staff too. Your article is a beautiful reminder to ensure I remember to treat my “chair like Miss did’ throughout my day, regardless of whether it is a chair, my computer, pillows, clothes, shopping trolly or anything else I touch. Thank you.
Yes Rowena I totally agree, and as I type this, I have become more aware of how I am doing it. If we want our young to be more aware and sensitive to how their behaviour affects others, we must be the ones who constantly reinforce this through our own actions. In this way, we are all teachers, because young children are watching how we behave all the time.
Such a simple exercise, yet so unbelievably profound. Slot this into every curriculum and sit back and watch things change!
This is brilliant Johanna. I love what you have done here with the children, making it so real and natural and letting them feel for themselves what they would choose and why.
Johanna this is such an inspirational blog, I love the simple yet profound exercise you did with the school kids. What a breath of fresh air it for the kids to get to see and feel what it is like and get to make their own decision on the experience compared to what mostly happens, which is teachers telling them how it is and how they should behave.
I would love you to be my teacher.
Hear Hear Mary-Louise. What a valuable lesson for the teachers to experience how they can be with their students instead of the old way of disregarding what the students are feeling as if it doesn’t matter. This allows children to be heard and feel their opinions are valuable and worthy.
True Katie – not many people want to know that what our thoughts and actions have a consequence. We are far more sensitive to energy than we sometimes care to know. Just being next to someone angry can make us uncomfortable and impact on how we feel whether they are saying anything or not, it is palpable. Accepting this comes with a lot of responsibility, sometimes it is easier to just pretend this is not the case and hence the state of the world we currently live in.
Wow such a simple article that demonstrates easily how, as we are in the world, we have an impact on everything depending on how we are in ourselves. This so valuable for teachers to read and feel but in all situations in life, home work and play and can bring changes and how we see our responsibility in daily life. Thank you – Johanna.
What a powerful learning for all – and something I can feel your students will take with them for the rest of their lives. This really is the sort of thing that should be taught at school – it is fantastic that you are bringing this Johanna in a way that has true impact as confirmed by the ripple effect. Your blog captures and magnifies this too. Thank you.
This is so very inspiring and something so simple that can be used in many schools, it is something the children can connect to and actually feel, they are being asked to feel. I would love to hear about more of your teachings.
Great point you raise here Vicky – the fact that Johanna was asking the children to talk about how they feel. This is so rare, especially in secondary schools where the pressure of delivering the curriculum is so great, and both teachers and students feel the pressure to perform to targets, with little thought given their own well-being.
It is very inspiring and shows clearly that children are still in touch with their feelings, and if they were encouraged in this way throughout school and onto College, we would be so much less likely to harbour the hurts and stresses we do as adults. This is revolutionary teaching.
True – I would like to hear more about The Way Johanna teaches- it is revolutionary!
This piece of writing is awesome! The presence in this blog is amazing and I feel so inspired! The example is perfect for us all to see, hear and feel the impact we have on others in the way we talk, hold our body, walk etc in every moment of our every day lives. Thank you Johanna for sharing your presentation.
Our schools are brimming with acutely sentient beings and yet the universal directive is to listen and watch – these children were invited to feel the true power of movement and intention. They “got it” because they engaged with their all intelligent bodies not merely their minds. The spherical nature of this learning is the future of education.
Our current education system is very based on doing and results and this beautiful example shows the power of simply be-ing, which is far more powerful in creating harmony in relationships than all the knowledge in the world. Learning like this could stop war forever.
So true Carmel, there is so much that should be taught at school that is not. Simple skills such as how to care for ourselves and others, how to develop a true and loving relationship/s should be the foundation of all our education systems and not the current competitive drive we have today, causing a great deal of stress and exhaustion in its drive to get outcomes.
Wow Johanna, I love this. What an example to inspire all.
The photo attached to this article entices me every time I see it! I am drawn back to this post Johanna because I feel the power we have to engage and support a child like the toddler in the photo. Imagine scaring the openness and trust from this being because of our own hurts, overwhelm and frustration? And yet that’s what happens every day. Your sharing is a stark reminder of the choices, we have to reflect the love we are to one another or deny it and the consequences of the latter are devastating.
True education, I can feel that you are a natural teacher Johanna, teaching the truth of life. Absolutely beautiful.
I absolutely agree Lisa. Johanna is a natural teacher presenting truth and not just in school but every where she goes. Teaching children is something I have always wanted to do but because of our education system I was put off when I was at school. Since attending presentations and workshops by Universal Medicine I have been offered another way and when I read blogs like this one I am so inspired that being present with oneself can be done while working in a school.
Great comment Lisa. True education is inspiring your students.
Wonderful comments. Children will respond if they are shown love, kindness and lots TLC.
You see parents out with their children, they are not spoken too in a loving manner, more like being dicated to. Do this do that. Definately not the way to bring up a children or teach them right from wrong. Children learn from adults, if we cannot get it right, what hope do they have.
They are the future generation, we need change in this world, not the same old ways as we see now.
A beautiful sharing with us all Johanna – What a blessing for those children and such an inspiration for the other teachers who observed an angel at work.
What a great way to “teach”!, by example, by feeling, by practical daily action. No head stuff. and also, the learning coming from them. True education: I heard one day E-ducare really meant originally: take out from or draw from… so inviting them to feel, hear, see and express. That stays forever, it is not memory, and will always be remembered as it is experienced.
Tender Joanna what an absolute joy to read your blog. Every word you wrote was an offer of reflection for me. What you did with your opportunity to present to this school about reflection is so amazing and inspiring. Thank you for sharing this because it showed that everyone is open to learn through reflection.
This is very true Esther, ‘Thank you for sharing this because it showed that everyone is open to learn through reflection.’ I can feel how simple and powerful learning this way can be, it gives children and adults an opportunity to FEEL and experience something very simple and clear, rather than the usual way of learning in schools which is something that is wordy, mental and from my experience much more complicated.
A joy to read and feel, what a great confirmation for the children – and adults. The power and simplicity in your skit and teaching, I would love being one of your pupils.
A great lesson for all, thank you for sharing this Johanna. I am loving recognising the detail to which I can take the opportunity to bring my awareness, even as my fingertips here lightly touch the keys, beautiful to feel.
I agree Giselle, a great teaching to take true care of ourselves and allow others to see, hear and feel it.
Me too Giselle I am also playing with and discovering just how much detail we have the opportunity to feel. Typing with tenderness is an awesome marker.
A great marker here Giselle and Johanna to take care even with the way we type. I forget the detail to which I can bring my awareness, and its lovely to be reminded of this.
The power of this exercise still astounds me, as it is so simple. It just goes to show we are only choices away from living in true harmony. We can choose to walk around in anger and sadness – affecting all those around us, or we can choose to not live this way and have joy in our everyday. This can be a process as we work through our hurts, but knowing it is a choice we can make is very empowering. Thank you Johanna for sharing this once again.
I always love what Serge Benhayon says: a chair is not just a chair (peace of furniture) but a place where somebody will sit. When I have to re-arrange meeting rooms at work, I love moving the chairs in a very loving and gently way, knowing that somebody will sit on that chair today or tomorrow. If we remember this with everything we do, then we will never sit the same again in the train or tram for instance, because we know that when we get up and leave, somebody else will be sitting there. The question is then: how did you leave your chair?
The world is changing by tiny steps or more correctly the amazing teachers that are showing those that are young there is another way.
Johanna what you have shared is awesome! And how easy it was to communicate this important fact to the students – and it shows they already new this fact, because they knew which chair would feel great – they just needed a reflection to validate how loving it feels when a person moves with gentleness and love.
Anne when I read your words “and it shows they already new this fact,” I could feel the joy in the fact that yes they know it and are also ready to bring this knowing out and claim it for themselves. They are so ready to be the love and gentleness that Johanna presented. People in our everyday lives are ready to feel the permission to be loving and gentle…they are just waiting for the living demonstration to open up their awareness.
That’s true Anne, the children know what kind of behaviour honours the amazing, delicate beings they know themselves to be, that they are undoubtedly worth it, and how to make the choice towards that. A great reflection of what we do already know.
Yes, it just goes to show that we ALL do already know and can feel the truth of energy.
Johanna, I love the way you truly connect with your students, these are simple and powerful lessons in life worth reflecting.
I often learn more from someone’s reflection that anything they could ever tell me. How beautiful is that.
This is really well expressed Vicky and I can only say the same. It is really awesome to observe and learn, because then it is felt and not just spoken about.
I particularly liked the part when a child told you they felt cared for when you were gentle, as it brings home the effect we have on others and the responsibility that we hold. Very inspiring.
Something that happens in everyday life in almost every human interaction we watch how others are in life and with each other and we either respond in kind or react and want to avoid at all costs. Why is this very common happening not being taught everywhere when it happens almost everywhere? What you’ve shared here Johanna with the children and all of us is an education that can be picked up by anyone and it makes a lot of sense.
Reflections speak louder than empty words, Livingness touches deeper than knowledge. Together with true expression is the communication of the future we are living now.
I so agree Adele, reflections are so powerful, it is allowing ourselves to see and feel what they are, then to make other choices if we should need to. Very powerful indeed.
True Adele. Are we able to learn from our own reflections or do we turn the other way and choose to remain ignorant to the way we are with ourselves.
Wow Johanna I love what you’ve presented! I’m deeply inspired to keep an eye out for opportunities for such presentations if they’re called for with my work.
I’m sure the adults got the message too, Johanna, it is a way of showing everyone how we affect each other by our moods. How did the teachers respond? Maybe this is a workshop for teachers as well, how valuable that would be.
School has so far been about disseminating knowledge to prepare a child for adult life, but it does little to prepare them for an all round life where we are faced with people. Life preparation would be a helpful support for a child so that they have the vocabulary to understand and express what they have ‘read’ is going on energetically in their lives and of those around them.
Re-reading this blog today it brought a distant sadness that there was not this reflection when I was a young boy and that without it I chose a hardness and protectiveness which remained well into my adult life. How wonderful for all students to witness this and see that there is a true way to be in simple everyday activity.
Simple and really transforming. Thank you for sharing this awesome experience
This is awesome Johanna. With this simple example you showed what effects our choices and the way we behave can have on others, and therefore the responsibility we have. Thank you for sharing and reminding.
So beautiful, I understand that those kids felt what you were doing. As you said , so powerfull if we are reflecting who we are to kids , so they know that being themselves is safe. Love it.
What a great way you present true teaching and learning by way of practical example and those learning to then discern for themselves what they have learnt. So insightful and inspiring.
This is great to read. I have recently started facilitating workshops to teenage school boys on gender equality and what it means to be a man. It’s amazing how the classes differ in their scale of rowdiness, but if I bring my stillness and tenderness in my voice and actions, it does bring the room back into focus. Quite the opposite from the shouting that many of us are taught to do when trying to control situations.
I so agree Jinya, no one likes to be shouted at for a start, it feeds the behaviour in my experience. A memory that stays with me is when I lost my voice and had to talk to the kids in the car, we had a pattern of me shouting to get their attention or to stop arguing. During this time when I could only whisper, they listened to every word and that completely changed our way of communicating. I realised I fed something, they ignored me more the more angry I got! So frustrating but such a great reflection. Now, as teenagers, I very rarely communicate in that way, their idea of shouting is feeling the frustration of a situation or raising my voice slightly. They didn’t know that wasn’t mormal till they heard arguments in their friends houses. It was lovely to hear them share how much they appreciated that we didn’t communicate in that way.
I had goosebumps rereading this blog Johanna! Another confirmation that we indeed feel everything and those young children who we with you will remember the experience in their bodies for a long time. So simple and yet so telling about our responsibility and the impact of our actions!
What an amazing reflection for the children, how absolutely fortunate are they to have you as their teacher, a beautiful blog Johanna.
This is a very inspiring blog Johanna. The children and the other staff got to see three different ways on how to do an everyday task and to feel what each one felt like. What an awesome gift to your school you are.
Johanna, what an inspired presentation you gave. So simple, but everyone could get what you were demonstrating. How great it would be if you could travel around lots of schools, and other institutions, this great learning could be spread more widely. Wow, what a great ripple effect there would then be.
I guess we all can teach/share this wisdom with the world. If not by a presentation, at least with leaving lovely imprints everywhere, very day, every movement we make.
That was amazing and powerful Johanna what you’ve shared with the children. The examples you presented was incredible. I love how you did the presentation with so much love and care in the way you delivered the message of ‘reflection’. Your intention from the start was already very powerful: ‘I decided that I didn’t want to speak to or at the students, but I wanted to show them with simple, practical examples in order to generate responses from them.’. You had their attention from the start because you treated the children as equals.
I cried after reading this incredible blog, Johanna, firstly for the joy I felt that the children got a chance to experience that great example of how reflection effects everyone and they all knew which one was the true expression, but also I could feel how much I would have appreciated a teacher like you who connects fully with the students with real understanding and love. It also helped me remember just how much we effect other people when we choose to feel sorry for ourselves or are too hard on ourselves and contract. Everyone gets pulled down from that, and I could tell how I had recently done that at work. Even if it only happens for a brief time, the ‘ripple effect’ (as you mentioned) works both ways, both positively and negatively, and reaches much greater distances than we may imagine.
Johanna what an extraordinary powerful exercise that you did with the whole school. I feel that what you presented will stay with those children for life and has the potential to change all of their lives. I have learned from my own experience that what Universal Medicine teaches about where our thoughts come from is true. The fact is the quality of our thoughts come from the way that we move and so what you have taught to these kids is as life changing as it gets. Without knowing it they will be improving the quality of their thoughts simply by being more mindful of the way that they move. Powerful stuff !
Thank you Alexis, after reading your comment I realised that I hadn’t given full appreciation of the depth Johanna’s demonstration was, and how this ripple effect would carry on to others. Something like this would have change my life as a child, and forever been in my body. It would have given my a glimpse of truth and confirmed what I felt as a child.
Joanna this writing on reflection is simply glorious. I love how you asked the children to choose the chair they would prefer to sit on after you sitting on each one in a different way.
What a beautiful way to learn and make new choices for themselves by this reflection of how differences in energy are felt so deeply in their own body.
What I feel loud and clear as I read this article is, ‘Everything is Energy’ Einstein and ” if everything is energy, then everything is because of energy” Serge Benhayon. In this clear and powerful example, children and teachers feel and discuss energy and their preference for a particular chair, illustrates very clearly that we humans live on many different levels other than only the one we see.
Wow, I could feel the power of what you presented jumping off the page to me, what an awesome reflection you have offered not only those in the assembly but for each person reading this blog. It shows the responsibility we each have in choosing within each moment the quality we bring to all that we are and all that we do. What a truly powerful lesson for us all.
I agree Jade, this is definitely a powerful lesson for us all. It is an awesome reminder for me of how my choices and taking responsibility can affect myself and others too. We can’t see it but we can sure feel the energetic ripple effect of our choices.
Johanna this a gorgeous. A powerful yet simple example of how we effect everything and everyone around us. I love how after your example, you allowed the kids to share so openly. This has given them permission to continue to share that same openness with everyone from that day onward. Your school will never be the same again.
It is amazing how much we can learn from such a simple exercise that give the kids an opportunity to feel what their bodies tell them.
This is truly very beautiful to read and experience. Your description of the three alternative ways of getting the chairs and placing them down is very powerful and offered much to consider, concerning how we choose to express ourselves in life. it is also very lovely to read of how the children and staff responded and were affected by this reflection.
Johanna Smith, this blog brought tears to my eyes.. we all feel everything and what you have so beautifully shared about the power and responsibility and reflection is profoundly powerful and breathtakingly beautiful. I feel so touched by your sharing, as I could feel myself and my body reacting to your first and third chair (without even being in the room!) it just confirmed to me how delicate, tender and preciously aware of everything I really am and that each and all of us is equally the same. How important it really is to know and understand that everything is energy.
Cherise I agree with you. How important it is to really know and understand that everything is energy. How we walk, sit, eat and talk can have such an impact on others, let alone ourselves. To know that we can choose the quality we are in, in any given time, and that we are not at the mercy of our emotions is empowering.
I want to sit on the middle chair as well…hmm what about to create a world out of this ‘middle chairs’? How would the world be like if each of us would – in the best of our ability – act, move and speak in a loving way and so bring a new set-up to the world? How would it be like to sit down in a chair in a meeting, in the train or wherever and the last imprint of this chair was lovingly? Wow – that feels lovely.
A wise men said: there is not something like a ‘chair’ – it is someone’s seat.
So let’s care for everyone and leave our seats in love, prepare in love and with the knowing of our responsibility that we are living together on this planet. We imprint the world – but what with? It’s our choice! And this decision will come back to us. The chair we once left – we will sit on again one day! That is an energetic law we can not avoid.
When I am out and about, I love straightening the chair I was sitting on gently and leaving as a seat for the next person. So yes Sandra I am gladly part of the ‘middle chair’ society
Yes a very timely reminder Sandra, that we are imprinting this world energetically and the quality with which we do that impacts others and also ourselves as we cycle through our lives.
I love what you’ve shared Sandra. This is a great reminder for me to be more aware of how I am everyday and how my choices affects everything around me and beyond.
Great point Sandra, we have a choice all the time to imprint everything that we do with all the love and care for another. This is such a powerful and simple tool that we should be teaching our youth.
Beautifully said Sandra. Thank you.
Yes Sandra, your comment along with Johanna’s blog really brings home how we can all feel energy and how we are responsible for how we do things and the energy we do things in. All of us I imagine would only want to sit on the middle chair, but your comment raises the question of how do we leave ours chairs? What energy do we leave behind for another to sit in? A great conversation to open up the topic of energy.
When children respond to a question “how did that feel’ they give the most honest and truthful answers about how they feel. Their expression is so amazing, and yet so simple.
“When you walked angrily I felt scared and didn’t want to be near you.’
‘When you walked gently I felt cared for.’
‘When you stormed down I could feel the floor move.’
‘When you dragged the chair it felt like you didn’t care’ “
I just love it, Johanna. Rereading your article shows me how we as human beings very naturally know what is true and naturally are drawn to this truth. Through our growing up and accumulating hurts we are disturbed and start to reject this truth and love in us, we start to go against us. If we allow again our natural expression and heal our hurts we can come back again to this loving truth deep within ourselves. And children can be great examples as often they follow naturally their true impulse.
I agree Ariana, it should be presented everywhere, everyone cab be fit, from adults to children. Once everyone has greater understanding to the impact we make on the world, then possibly the world will become a more harmonious place.
Last year I bought a long handle brush and dustpan and promised myself that I would sweep my kitchen floor every day. I am amazed just how much dirt I sweep up, there is only me living here, where does it all come from?
It is an opportunity to see my physical impact everyday and reflect on what would be in my ‘energetic ‘ dustpan.
I agree, it is a WOW blog, when I read this I can feel how amazing it is that Johanna created that instant connection with the children. And it had nothing to do with being authoritative but instead having the awareness to connect to the children, recognising that they are precious and allow them to feel that they were valued and cherished. Everyone wants to be loved and the more we bring this type of loving care to teaching the better it will be for all.
Very true Stephen! I could really sense the power of what Johanna was achieving in this description.
Sometimes that great divide which exists between youngsters and adults seems like a yawning chasm.
What Johanna managed to demonstrate here is very encouraging!
Yes Jonathan, and as adults our focus should be on reducing that chasm at every opportunity. When I find myself talking at, or down to children I cringe, as it is the surefire way to lose their attention. It amazes me that I still do it as it is so clear that this is the most unsuccessful way to try and create a connection and hold their attention.
Awesome observation Stephen G.
Oh yes we are reflecting. And what we are reflecting is also a reflection of our living. You reflecting here so much connection to humanity Johanna, such a love for people, this enormous joy of sharing – I just can congratulate and appreciate you. And say: thank you for sharing! It is very much inspiring me.
Johanna, this sharing made me smile, in fact I can’t stop smiling. If wish that was taught when I was at school and congratulations to you for bringing such a life changing experience to all involved. Here is to reflections and making responsible choices. Thank you!
This is gorgeous Johanna, how much we can learn from children and from the reflection of others. I felt a lot of joy reading this especially when at the end you talk about the kids saying they wanted to place their chair down just like you. That is joy, inspiration and a previous lesson for life — not just for our young but off all of us.
A simple but oh so powerful presentation, we have no idea how huge the ripple effect of this will be, for all the children for the other teachers who were present, for the parents when their children take this home, for the school and so on and so on. Fiery chairs, beautiful Johanna.
It is amazing how a presentation with a true reflection, like the one you offered, is so simply yet can have such a profound and deeply inspiring effect on the people around us. We really do have the power to change the world around us.
Wow, Johanna! This is so inspiring. We all see and feel these things all the time. As children they seem obvious, but as adults we can gloss over them thinking that someone else’s actions or demeanour will have no affect on us or that our own will have no affect on others.
To have a chance to see this and clock what it actually means at such a young age is an awesome gift!
The most powerful teaching of all is by example and the best example is by how we live. You have demonstrated this beautifully here Johanna – thank you for a gorgeous teaching.
Absolutely Jonathan, living and teaching by example is so much more powerful than preaching. It’s the way we live that inspires others.
It is good for us all to remember that our living is always being noticed and the teaching is therefore always there through our reflection.
There are many who are now taking responsibility for bringing gentleness and presence into their movement – and from this the world is blessed.
Johanna I love how you set the scene, by holding your hand up until you had everyone’s attention without having to say anything, and the children were able to feel that there was something different in what you were about to present. I agree with Ariana the simplicity with what you brought to the school should be taken everywhere not just schools.
This is beautiful Johanna, I got goose bumps while reading your article. How great work you do with the kids but I had to think what great work this is for the teachers as they are the ones to whom the children look and listen all day.
Johanna you took the opportunity you were offered and brought “show not tell” to life with your powerful presentation. Asking the children to feel as well as to see and hear and allowing them to express how they felt would be life-changing for many, who will carry this awareness with them. Showing how we are affected by another’s energetic state is a truly great life lesson. Thank you!
I nearly cried Yessss and jumped up and down when I read your experience of Reflection Johanna, what a beautiful example of true education which is sorely needed. Lessons where children tap into what they know how to do feel life and make their own energetic choices to bring more love in how they live and impact others.
What you have presented here to these children will definitely have a ripple affect out too many. It’s incredible…how we are in every way is what we are all reflecting out to the world and a lot of us don’t even realise it. Possibly the question we could all be asking ourselves is …what is it I reflect out to humanity everyday?
Wow….no wonder the children got it. Awesomely expressed.
A lesson without words, just action that speaks volumes.
Exactly Matthew, – action speaks louder than words, and so beautifully demonstrated by Johanna, thank you.
Dear Johanna that was so cool.
After reading this blog, now when I am at work I remember the chair, pen and paper, and I have been making the choice to move in a different way. I’m not sure how my colleagues are finding this, but I am enjoying it immensely. The day feels so much less stressful and far more simple.
So cool Shami. Secretly they are enjoying too, I am sure. How could they not be enjoying someone moving around them in gentleness and in regard for all others.
What a great story Johanna, Such a simple presentation with a powerful message for teachers and students. An activity that happens hundreds of times over in a classroom. I love the schools initiative is using skits at assemblies to share a message and address behavioural issues.
Yes this was also a lesson for the teachers, reminding them that how we move and how we think, and what we feel effects the other people around us. We have a huge responsibility in how we are in every moment.
There is no greater way of teaching than by example.
Absolute truth Jonathan….it has taken me a while to get this.
People say it is hard to be tender and caring, but you have simply shown how easy it really is and felt by others from our actions… it plants seeds.
Exactly Steve- it’s just a choice. And the tenderness and gentleness is so powerful and strand in itself, which is something we have not been brought up to truly know.
…and what is so great about seeds is that they can lie dormant for years, then along come the right conditions and they grow and blossom.
And how much more powerful being gentle and caring actually is.
Beautiful story and great inspiration. Simple things like this should be shared in schools. How amazing the energy in schools would be if they all had this shown to them. Children would start to take more responsibility, as you demonstrated, they learn from reflection of others.
I agree Ariana – the workplace is filled with training courses on how to present, how to be a more productive worker, how to master processes – but how about the simple teaching of our actions towards others. How about teaching the way we do things are just as important is what we are doing.
What an opportunity for much of the corporate sector whom most of which are tired, unmotivated, and seeing work as ‘just a job’.
What strikes me is that so many of those courses had complex techniques often with fancy ad contrived mnemonics…whereas learning’ the way we do things are just as important is what we are doing’ seems super simple …and far more effective!
Yes Hannah, this is such a profound reflection for any one of us in whatever profession or walk of life we are in. I was astounded by the power of what Johanna did here, so simply,showing so clearly that the way in which we do everything has an effect on everyone/everything. The kids certainly felt it. We all do feel what is harmonious and what is a disturbance around us, and in us, all the time.
I Really do love this blog Johanna, firstly I’m amazed at the gentle control you had at the start just raising your hand to get all the kids attention and secondly what a great lesson to teach that our every action matters and effects everything around us. On a bigger scale, the absolute maddness of testing a nuclear bomb or any bomb for that matter, let alone using them on our fellow man defies belief.
Wow, Johanna, with such simplicity you have offered up the experience and practical tools to change schools worldwide…thank you, deeply so.
I can feel how truly inspired you are as a educator and facilitator. The power of what you shared with these children is a remarkable example of the fact that everything is energy as Albert Einstein once proved and how much we can choose the way in which we move … That has a catastrophic affect on all those around us
.. Very powerful and cool article Johanna.
Thank you Natasha- very true . . . we are reflecting all the time and the question is ‘What are we actually reflecting?’ Are we reflecting something that is inspiring and true to others or something that as you say can cause catastrophe?
Oh my gosh Johanna this brought tears to my eyes, as I felt every skit you showed the school and how absolutely loving and holding it was when you did the middle skit. What an absolute gift you shared with each person present and all the many many people related to them that also get it when they go home and share it. This has inspired me incredibly as I’m sure many who read this. A great reminder that everything we do, think, feel and act has an impact on everyone. Thank you!!
Great point Aimee. That ripple effect wouldn’t have only happened in my class the next day but in all the homes of all the children, in the conversations the teachers and adults had and in moments following. This is gold and the magic of God.
Thanks Johanna for this awesome and inspiring blog. I love how you showed the children and allowed them to feel rather than standing and talking at them as they get so much at them at school. We often do role plays like this at work and the children really get it.
Yes I have found that role plays are very powerful too. They allow a space for the ones observing to formulate and express what others see and feel with no dictation.
Great blog Johanna! I love the way the little ones were up on their knees pointing to the beautiful chair! So simple and so true. The skit sounds as if it was very powerful – a great means of communication that dispenses with words!
This is the most incredible story… I would love to see this go viral on Facebook or Youtube (a video of it) even better, so educators all of the world have an opportunity to feel it for themselves and share it with their students.
What an awesome idea Heather. I will look into it.
Heather that really is an awesome idea, throwing more pebbles for the ripples to continue.
Totally agree Heather, what a great idea. This is the sort of thing that should go viral on youtube, social media and the like. So many can see and feel what Johanna has presented to these kids.
Johanna, how profound. Your blog has reinforced to me yet again how important it is that we take responsibility for our every movement and the subsequent ripple effect on our surroundings.
This is the best – I was hanging on every word – feeling myself back at school and connecting what we all had to feel and navigate and now how much we know we can feel but can often dull down and switch off. It shows that we all know what we want – truly cared for by action and movement which is awesome.
Very cute sharing Lee. Absolutely Lee we do always feel and do know when we feel cared for by action. How much would children wisdom would express if they were given the true space to share what they do always see and feel?
Johanna what an amazing thing to do – I am sure they will always remember that day – brilliant! So lucky to have you as their teacher.
To get the opportunity to touch multiple people with one demonstration is simply awesome Johanna. Also the way you wrote the blog had me feeling I was sitting in the school participating. Very well written.
Yes it was an amazing opportunity as this one simple teaching, was so powerful . It was literally seen, felt and heard by many in one sitting.
‘When you walked gently I felt cared for’…..this is one of the most exquisite things I have ever read.
Agree Ariana and Amina, this should be taught everywhere. I know that I didn’t pay much attention to the way I was and how it might affect others until Universal Medicine as well, and it has changed my life so much.
This is so awesome Johanna! What you brought to your school really gave them an opportunity to be able to express and share what they feel when another is in anger/disregard/sadness etc, and also the chance to feel how they might affect others. Super simple and super powerful!
Thank you Melissa. It was not only an opportunity to feel it but to express it. It also validated that we do feel all the time and that this is always being seen, heard and felt by children. Imagine if they all had the opportunity to express freely what they are always observing.
Oh my gosh johanna08smith – That would be awesome and it would also show where the real problem lies with school. We make it about knowing things first without knowing (!) that it’s about living first and knowing (yet again) that there is a life within us that needs to be nurtured first and foremost before any knowledge can be taken in properly.
Very inspiring story and presentation. It felt like I was right there with those students. We hold so much power thru expression. Thank you for sharing!
I agree, its brilliant that Johanna is ensuring these kids are not just taught what they need to know about different subjects, but about how to like responsibly as a person.
Johanna, the power and beauty of this has brought me to tears. I felt every skit like I was there in the room. The truth of what you brought to that school has inspired me to bring more of this to my own world.
That’s awesome Jennifer. Go for it- no holding back.
The simplicity children show is amazing and so much reflected in your writing. You show to me Johanna, how we all have this simplicity in us.
If ever we start to doubt ourselves and what we bring, we can go back to your blog and remember the enormous power of reflection! Never again underestimate what people see and feel, and the responsibility we have to reflect love.
Yes for me too- this writing , learning and reflection will always be there as a beautiful reminder, as will all these totally inspiring comments.
I had to cry when I read this article…wow, reflection is so strong and surely a gift from heaven! You’ve done it so great Johanna. To not talk about it but to make it perceptible is the key.
Wow Johanna, thank you for sharing this amazing experience. Our reflection is indeed our greatest power, as it will touch people in their depth, without their mind getting in the way.
What a simple yet super effective exercise not only for those present but for all of us that have been able to share in the experience and feel the power of what you presented Johanna.
Actions speak so loudly to children and I bet there wasn’t one child in that room that didn’t get it.
That’s education!
I agree Julie- in the moment you could have heard a pin drop- all focus was on me and everyone was still and super quiet.
This is so true, Julie. The children can feel the difference in how you expressed and responded to that. We can all be such power houses when we are fully present in everything we do.
I agree Ariana, each time I have presented something similar at Women’s Groups across the world I have been met with a similar response to Johanna. So simple but so profound.
Johanna, your blog is truly deeply inspiring. I could really feel those children coming alive as I read it.
Imagine all kids being educated like this, ALL the time – it would completely turn everything around.
Instead of harshness, judgment, comparison and competition we would have gentleness and harmony in a world that desperately needs it.
Beautiful sharing, thank you. It is amazing how such simple examples can be so profound, and these simple exercises can be taught to children to show them responsibility.
I find that the most simple words and actions are often the most profound. Perhaps the key to life is for us to get back to simplicity.
Hi Johanna, the learning you have brought to the students at your school, is the greatest lesson they can ever learn. They were taught to observe, become aware of what they were feeling, express their truth and how simple living with energetic integrity truly is. My time teaching was offering this reflection every day. It made some students puzzled, a few contrary and others just wanted hugs and to sit with me at my desk . Other teachers also benefitted greatly, changing their attitudes towards how they related to the children. It was great reading your blog and being reminded how powerful our reflection can be, especially when we hold it consistenty.
Imagine this in workplace relations training! No dry lectures, just this demonstration and workshopping it by moving chairs and writing on paper.
This would be a life changer, for the office and for home.
So true Rachel. No longer having to sit and wait for the next break…
This is fabulous Johanna. How powerful it was to show them something by example so they could really feel the difference. I’m sure they will remember this for a long time to come. The impact you have had is huge.
Yes, a truly awesome lesson, one that will be felt and remembered forever.
I still can remember words from my teacher today, honouring words they are. This example shows to us so much – we have lots to share!
Thank you Monica.
Absolutely we are all reflecting all of the time. I love how you expressed your knowing of being able to change everything by moving in gentleness.
This is SO cool Johanna; I felt like one of the children in the audience and have a deeper understanding of the power of reflection. What an amazingly simply yet profound exercise. We are indeed in an ocean of energy, we feel it all and each hold great responsibility in how we are with ourselves first as well as with others.
Can I be in your class Johanna?! As you say so perfectly – the knock on effect is huge. You only need to be shown this once – to feel the difference once – to give permission to express what you felt once and it stay with you for life. There will always be a little something that nags when you slam a door or scrape a chair. My guess is that everyone who reads this blog will feel the same – never the same again 🙂
Me too I want to be in your class. This is what we need to be teaching kids. Awesome presentation Johanna
Spot on, Lucy. You only need to be shown this once for the invitation and knowing to be always there. I am blown away by the simplicity and power of what Johanna has shared.
This is true Lucy. I know that at times I can feel if I have not been a gentle as I know myself to be and it is very obvious. I often go back and reimprint the action as I want my body to remember the quality of gentleness and care.
Thank you for this simple example of taking responsibility for our actions and behaviours which effect other people – there should be more classroom discussions like this.
The power in this exercise is massive Johanna, well done for going there with the whole school. And, we all have this power in our everyday lives in how we move chairs, sit on them, open doors, etc – people notice these things even if not consciously, but they do notice and can be inspired by the reflection we offer in that moment.
This is so beautiful. Reading how the kids responded to you brought tears to my eyes Johanna Smith. We are all constantly reflecting to each other either love or something that is not love.
I was in tears reading this not only because of the way in which you delivered such a powerful message so perfectly but from the response from the children able to feel what you showed them and then inspired to emulate your care and gentleness for themselves. Amazing…..you are an incredible teacher and a blessing to that school.
What a beautiful story Johanna. I often forget that people can see, feel and hear. When I am closed off and when I am open and gentle, people get whatever I am reflecting. Responsibility is a word, in how I live, that is getting bigger and bigger!
Wow, that is such a practical example of how tangible the way we are in what ever we do has a very real and physical affect on those around us.
Hi Johanna,
A Powerful demonstration indeed. I remember Serge Benhayon demonstrating in a similar way while presenting on stage once and it was transforming for me as an adult. This blog has reminded me of my responsibility.
Johanna, you are a true role model for these children – what you offer them through your reflection is amazing. The way you were so play-full with the children in acting out your practical examples inspired me to bring this into my home with my daughter – she not only loved it, it also gave her the opportunity to feel the difference. Thank you.
That’s gorgeous Anna. The ripple effect continues. And I am able to further appreciate that it was a blessing from the school that I was able to present such a presentation on reflection and responsibility. One’s openness to receive, makes all the difference.
What an awesome case study, and great example for the kids… learning a fundamental life skill like that in a very practical, non-imposing way. Seems so easy when I was reading it, it makes me wonder why more of the syllabus does not include these methods, or these ways of living as subjects.
A good question Simon.
I loved this blog Johanna, and brings me to look at every moment my ‘ripple’ effect on the world. So thanks Johanna.
That is true schooling ! Something you can take into your life not just as knowledge but an embodied knowing to be lived and applied every day. The ripple effect for sure extends to the children´s families and friends as well. True reflection = true education.
This is hilarious! And a miracle – getting all those kids’ attention. What a confirmation for your authority and true connection. Well done!
Wow! This is so awesome Johanna. What a blessing for the children to be able to discuss this topic with yourself and each other and learn about energy from such a young age. The children are super lucky to have you as a their teacher, offering a “true” reflection.
I say, bring on this type of education. The world is in need of it.
Absolutely
Yes indeed and thank God they are already getting it via you Johanna. What a shining example you are not only to all of those children but every teacher present. Something that they will remember deeply forever. Wow.
Hi Johanna. I just had to get back to you and share the ripple effect of reading your blog today.
I had been working in my class with ‘imprinting your day’ all year and with ‘organising your work space.’
Today, I was later than usual to school and 3 students witnessed how I imprint my entry to the room. They were so appreciative of this ( they described it as joyful – I was singing ), that i asked them to share it with the class. It was a great moment so I built upon it by presenting what you have described here.
The children loved discerning the difference between disregard, anger and gentleness for entering the room, seating themselves and then – hugely – the different ways of writing. The atmosphere in our class was absolutely gorgeous all day. I shared with my Grade team teachers, who now want to utilise it also next term. Other teachers also asked what I had been doing today so they picked up on it too.
I felt that, by offering the students this type of choice, they understood another way to be responsible for themselves. So, in ,most sincere appreciation, all power to you, Johanna, and thank you.
Coleen, such a joy bringing tears to my eyes, that yourself and Johanna are living reflections of love in all you do and bringing this to children. All teachers and people doing this is a precious gift to humanity.
Amazing Coleen, ‘The children loved discerning the difference between disregard, anger and gentleness for entering the room, seating themselves and then – hugely – the different ways of writing’, what you and Johanna are presenting is so simple and practical and yet so profound, there is so much learning here and the children actually get to feel the difference between disregard, anger and gentleness and how this affects them and their classroom and their day, amazing learning , so very inspiring!
This is true education Coleen. The fact that you took the time to express to your class this simple truth and open it up for everyone to feel and discover for themselves is amazing. I would have preferred this to any game any day at school. It also seems that by doing this you really brought a sense of equality to the classroom and that ultimately we are all students of life. It is just so fantastic how this is and its beautiful to read that you gave it a go. Your class must be evolving like crazy.
I feel so moved by what you have shared Johanna Smith and reading about the gorgeous impact you have had on the lives of so many young people by what you reflected in your sketch. A great reminder that every choice we make provides a reflection and deeply impacts the lives of others as well as our own.
Your blog is so confirming Johanna – when my grandson, who is now a teenager questioned me about energy I asked him whether he could feel the sense of anger/joy in a room when he entered and he confirmed that he could. It is amazing how we have been set up to question these simple truths that we are using all the time to protect ourselves rather than realising that they build our sense of trust that we are connected and enough in the world. It’s as though we are walking around in the world half awake rather tapping into the wisdom and way that is God communicating and allowing us to live our lives fully and vitally.
What a beautiful and simple reflection on true ‘teaching’ – that is – teaching by presenting and being a living example not by telling or lecturing. How fun would school be if it was like that everyday!
I love the ripple effect you describe.
Absolutely they are so observant (children).
I sometimes catch myself when I have not been as observant as I know myself to be, then reflect on why? and what at that time was I truly reflecting to the kids.
No perfection but a beautiful journey of unfolding and deepening awareness.
Wow… This does happen all the time.
What a great lesson!
Wow Johanna I wish I had a teacher like you! What an awesome lesson and one I am sure they will never forget. It is so simple yet so powerful the way we are with everything and how this effects everyone. I would love this same lesson to be taught in the houses of parliament!
Samantha I too wished I had a teacher like Johanna and how beautiful must it be if all teachers around the world would work like this. I have to laugh – your amazing idea that the same lesson would be taught in the house of parliament – that would be wunderbar.
I have come back to this blog because of its simplicity and the very practical message around ourselves and the impact we can have on others. It has stayed with me since reading as I work in a school too in the nursery and see everyday how the children react or respond to the people and situations around them. It seems like the children are well aware of what they see and feel so in this presentation it is amazing they were given the opportunity to express this. However with this presentation there was also much for the other teachers to learn and reconsider and I can feel this is what would be a stop moment for them. Thank you Johanna for the sharing 🙂
I agree with you… It should be presented everywhere! The way we move and the quality we move in affects everyone around us. It’s so obvious when shown in the way that Johanna has done, but we are not taught this when young and are not aware as adults even though we all know. Imagine if this was taught in every school, at least once, what an impact that would have?
Yes Michelle and Rachel, and the fact that we do not see visibly what (i.e. the energetic imprint) we leave behind, is an excuse to avoid being responsible, or taking responsibility. Choosing to see through feeling what we do feel, and as in the case here with the school example, is a great step towards awareness, and so responsibility.
I agree Rachel – what a life lesson this is, to understand how our actions affect others and be aware of this fact. This is something that can be taught at any age and I just love this live example Johanna presented. It shows that even the smallest things people to pick up on can make a big difference. Especially as we live at a time when sometimes we are afraid to speak up or ask questions so we have got into the habit of observing people and copying what they do. So the more we can live and reflect in a way that is loving, the more others can benefit from this and perhaps be inspired to make choices they otherwise would not have, were it not for a choice we made.
You are leading by example Johanna Smith, it is amazing how easily the children pick up the essence of what you have shown to them. It makes clear to me that they do know everything about it but we never ask and do not engage them in that knowing.
Wow, Johanna this is so beautiful. I loved reading every word! The school you teach at is blessed to have you and your clear, sparkly reflection. You have presented responsibility in such a real and simple way ~ very inspiring!
What an amazing reflection for your school and all of us – thank you. We all know that everything we do effects everyone else, now we just have to take full responsibility for everything we do, say and think.
Spot on Carmin.
Hi Johanna, this a powerful and pointed skit. From my experience skits are the way to go with kids as not only do they get/feel what you are delivering instantly, they are more than willing to openly discuss what they have felt, as you have so beautifully expressed here. This approach is a far cry from presenting in a way that forces kids to grapple with concepts of how they should and shouldn’t be.
Totally inspiring how you offered this reflection to your whole school, Johanna. Simply glorious. Thank you!
The children’s response says it all Johanna – you can’t fake that. Children respond to what they feel is true, as do we all but children have not shut down their capacity to express it. What you have done is very simple and very powerful, by way of example you have demonstrated how the quality we move with affects the quality of the space we move within and therefore the quality of the others sharing that space also. If we take this microcosmic snapshot to a wider scale, we have the macrocosmic picture of world harmony IF people choose to be aware and take responsibility for the simple truth that everything we do and how we do it, affects us all.
I love this Liane – if as you say, the way we are and how we act affects everyone around us – family, friends, business colleagues, people we meet on the street etc., then surely it’s affecting the people in their relationships too.. If we act irresponsibly and just, for example, abuse someone, they may end up feeling bad which will then affect everyone in their life. This could have a chain affect and as you can imagine more and more people could get involved.
I love this sharing Liane, absolutely everything we do and how we do it, affects all of us, so as you say, ‘the quality we move with affects the quality of the space we move within and therefore the quality of the others sharing that space also’, so how important is our quality.
Thank you Joanna for this beautiful reflection and reminder of how we are affects the all.
What a cool presentation and an awesome opportunity to show instead of telling your students how to make a difference in their day and others. Love it.
Yes I agree, showing is so much more powerful and what a lovely way to do it, too.
Gosh Johanna such simplicity and such power bringing a level of awareness to everyone.
When you read this blog, it just shows the amount of responsibility we all have for how are in the world with every choice that we make. Everything we do has an impact, whether you like it or not…
That is so true Mariette, like it or not, it all impacts on everyone and everything around us, in big and small ways. It reminds me of the game hide and seek…when a child calls out “ready or not here I come”!
It definitely does Mariette, everything we do ‘shows the amount of responsibility we all have for how are in the world with every choice that we make. Everything we do has an impact, whether you like it or not…’ This is huge and needs to be understood by all.
This is so so obvious but never spoken about, especially in school. Thank you for sharing this with the children, and all of the other amazingness you bring to that school, just for being you!
Such a great way to show the students about energy and reflection Johanna, an absolute winner, and one that will stay with them into their own lives and choices. I’m sure. I would have loved to have this shown to me when I went to school.
I know what you mean Julie… Johanna is an absolute winner. This would have been so cool, if we all were shown this too, when we were at school.
Johanna, what a wonderful experience you brought to the children, and how you held their attention.
If only there were more people like you, children would think twice about being disruptive and enjoy the learning experience for now and later in life.
Absolutely love what you shared with the whole of school Johanna, truly inspiring and yet so simple. I could feel how present the children were with you just as much as I was in your blog. Love in action, so tangible and practical. Beautiful.
I loved this Johanna and I’m sure the children did too! So beautiful to demonstrate this to them and allow them to feel was is true for themselves.
Love Johanna, such a simple exercise and way to open up a conversation.
Wow Johanna. Your simple demonstration has far reaching ripples for the children. We all have had one or two teachers that we will always remember them for something inspiring they have shone us. You have just gone to the head of class for the most important lesson learned.
Thank you, Johanna, another amazing moment of proof that each and every one of us feels everything all of the time – there is no denying it!
Johanna, what a great reflection you gave to the kids. When I read it, It felt like I was in that room. I could just feel your footsteps with each round. You have offered the kids a lifetime marker. For me it shows again how important it is to take responsibility for my ‘walking’ in life, every moment. Taking it from here, how I type to when I have breakfast in a moment.
This is true ‘First Class’ teaching. I wish all the kids in the world could have the opportunity to become lessons in being more aware of the energetic imprints one leaves behind. It is so important to understand what we leave behind in what we do and how we move. Wow you are an amazing teacher for truth and love!
Yes Monika it is! If children had this opportunity from young, to see and understand their imprints life would unfold beautifully for all of humanity.
Johanna what a joy to read – thank you for sharing as I can feel the impact, the great reflection that this will have on all the students lives from hereon out. It shows that rather than talk at, tell people how to live or what to do – by simply reflecting truth, care and love and being able to have open conversations where needed is all that matters. For me I can take this reflection into the way I am at work and know that everything will naturally take care of it self if I am first and foremost in my true quality.
Very true David. For me is was a huge lesson. Something I continuously need to remind myself of and appreciate is that I am reflecting this truth all the time when I am walking in my power and gentleness, and the big one is that people are always getting inspired or clocking it and being reflected to that this way is possible. Life does not need to be racy, stressed, aggressive etc and everything, in fact even more can get achieved when we work in harmony with ourselves and each other.
So the ripple effect is actually happening all the time whether or not we know how it has changed another’s life.
Super inspiring blog to read Johanna. It goes to show how much we truly feel and yet rarely acknowledge in every day life.
How truly awesome, I really enjoyed reading your article. This is so inspiring and expressed in such a practical and fun way that the children couldn’t help but get it. Thank you Johanna, I feel this is just the beginning of big changes that will eventually come into our schools, inspired by truly loving and caring teachers like yourself.
I loved reading about your experience Johanna, that would have been so inspiring for the students.
I have done something similar in sessions using opening a door and sitting down as an example of noticing and feeling energy. It was an interesting experience and at the time I found it really helped couples become more aware of the communication they engaged in with each other. Again thank you Serge for the awesome ways you share love with us so we can take it out into the world.
Wow, Johanna, this is such an inspiring blog. What an amazing, but so apt way to be demonstrating the effects on others that we have in the way that we do things. No words had to be used or these youngsters to get the message so easily. What a tremendous learning they all had. Good on you!
Thank you Johanna for sharing this amazing moment truly inspiring, what a great truth to pass on and confirm what the young children had already felt through the love and support you offered them.
Absolutely Paul- the children already know it but it seems like there is a big game being played to keep us at bay and blind to the fact that we all do know and feel this.
To True Johanna that is the all encompassing love you have offered as every one present that day has now that truth as a marker and confirmation of what is already known that has been icily hidden by a way of doing at the expense of our being and its quality of energy.
That was a truly amazing and most gorgeous sharing Johanna, and an absolutely divine experience and reflection for the children at that school. Even reading of your three different examples I could feel my body reacting. Totally precious and an absolute blessing that each child (and I presume the teachers too!) was able to experience this reflection… Thank you for sharing this here, it is inspiring and am left feeling deeply humbled.
Thank you Janene.
The three examples were a few selected ways in which we can actually choose to ‘be’ in life. They each did cause a different reaction/response in the bodies of others- and a small snippet of what we actually do feel, absorb, reflect and how we can impact others in life in general. Presenting this was really interesting for me, as I had to act in these ways. It felt uncomfortable and quite harming in my body for example to walk in the anger after I had spent quite a few years learning to move and live from and with gentleness. It felt very foreign.
Johanna you are a powerhouse! Your students lives have been forever changed by your example and discussion with them. They all now know the true power of reflection and the responsibility that comes with it. They may not choose this responsibility every time but they will forever know the truth of it and that there is always a choice.
Yes indeed, Penny. We only need to be shown once about the power of reflection and how we affect each other, because each and every one of us knows it inside, and so we are simply offering each other a reminder – whether we choose to live it is another matter and something only we can determine for ourselves.
I can absolutely feel the ‘powerhouse’ and the ‘authority’ of who I am and who we all are in truth when I bring presence and gentleness to my every move. I love that I take responsibility for this daily and am in fact, as many who now are making the same choice, reflecting this truth daily – as I walk on duty or move around my class or chat with people.
Awesome how you presented the power of our choices, so practically and simply Johanna. The feedback you received illustrates how we are all reading and seeing energy constantly. As we are responding to it and feeling it, why not take responsibility and choose a loving way to be? This presentation makes perfect sense to me.
Powerful example of true teaching in action here Johanna, with the school subject of ‘reflection’. The ripple effect that then occurred is truly wonderful.
This is really, really awesome Johanna. I’d love to see this done in more schools; even at college I could almost guarantee the results would be similar. As much as teenagers like to pretend they ‘don’t feel’ or care about anything, they too are very sensitive to the behaviours of those around them.
They sure are and they love to talk about feelings and life. I used to substitute as a teacher and I can attest to that.
well Said Susie. Teenagers are still very aware and can feel anything. Just for an example, if anyone was to be different in a class, move differently or speak differently it would catch everyones attention immediately. It just shows that we are always aware of energy. maybe what is needed is for people to truly take responsibility for how they move and express, and this will inspire others who are seeing the difference.
So much power from a super simple demonstration, awesome Johanna this blew me away.
Love this reflection exercise. Johanna, you are teaching kids all they need to know in that one demonstration! It’s very powerful! You’re definitely one they won’t forget!
Johanna the reflection you have shared and living is certainly having a ripple affect. This is so beautifully simple yet so deeply profound, the tears are rolling as I type. Thank you this demonstration has brought so much awareness to humanity, which I am very grateful for.
Now that’s what I call real education. Very inspiring Johanna.
And the fact that the kids remembered the next day and took responsibility for their energy is pure gold. What a wonderful bridging way to teach kids (& adults) that ‘everything is energy’.
Thank you for sharing Johanna, the simplicity of it moves me to tears.
This is a great way to show children responsibility for our actions. Great blog Johanna.
Johanna you are a breath of fresh air. Your students and anyone you come into contact with is so fortunate to have you in their life. Your writing touched me very deeply here and has left me feeling very humble and tender. Thank you. I love what you share.
Awesome blog, Johanna!, So powerful you offered them the topic reflection by reflecting! These students have this experience now in their own body and will never forget it. It is sometimes the most simple things that ‘grab’ people. Yesterday I had an evening workshop and I wasn’t eating the sandwiches they offered, but my own delicious home made salad. A man who just passed saw me eating and commented: wow that is great you are eating healthy. He reminded me we are reflecting non stop. Also now, sitting in the train typing this comment gently.
This is very true Monika, ‘He reminded me we are reflecting non stop’, there is a responsibility in this, I can feel that if i am not being my gentle self and if I am grumpy the effect this has on my family and all of those that I come into contact with is huge, instead of the open, friendly me that reflects love that inspires them, they get the grumpy me that can bring them down.
This is so true, we just never know who is watching us, I had an experience at work whereby a lady had recently got married and she had brought all these cakes, chocolates and things in that had been left over. It was all laid out on a table near some other women. I had to go for a meeting, got up and walked straight passed all the food, one lady close by called out to me…..I stopped and came back. She looked at me incredulously and said, ‘Raegan, how did you just walk past all of that food? You didn’t even look at it?!!!’ I was able to reply that I didn’t eat gluten, dairy or sugar, so it was really easy to walk past it. From here a wonderful conversation ensued, she asked me a lot more questions, I expressed a lot more about the benefits of my choices, then I went on my merry way. But it felt truly amazing the exchange and reflected to me, you just never know when someone is watching ‘your choices’.
“They really got it and participated fully, feeling the power of what I shared. Another awesome confirmation happened the next day in my year 6 class – the first girl who walked in said ‘I am going to do what Ms did yesterday with my chair’ and six others followed her doing the same. The ripple effect!”- This is amazing, Johanna, “the ripple effect!”.
Totally awesome Johanna. I loved reading this. What a great living lesson to offer and presented so practically and playfully. The best show and tell I’ve ever heard of!
Great Jenny, I had forgotten about show and tell. Actions have always spoken louder than words and remembered forever.
Now this is true education. Who wouldn’t want to listen and learn in a class that taught us about responsibility and the power that comes with that.
Yes Vicky, reading the blog inspired me to learn more about the power of reflection and the ripple effect. Johanna, I would seriously love to hear more about presentations like this one, I feel you should take this demonstration around a few schools, what a blessing those children have had and how confirming for them in the process. Awesome.
I would have loved to be brought up with this as at school and home.
Great sharing, very inspirational and should be part of every school curriculum!!!
I agree, Rachel, it should be a demonstration that should be enacted maybe a couple of times a year, to remind them of their responsibility. And maybe then a lesson where they have a good discussion in class.
This was a short and simple demonstration and yet so incredibly powerful. The fact that some of the children in your class wanted to be like you. shows how much your demonstration resonated with them. If only we could have more teaching like this in our schools.
I know I would have loved this teaching in my schooling.
Me too. such a valuable and yet simple presentation.
Beautiful to read how everyone knows and can feel what is good for us, it is great that you presented this to those children and inspired them to be more discerning of what they’ choose
Gorgeously powerful Johanna – no words required. The impact that you’ve had on these little ones will no doubt be felt far and wide. I can imagine them each going home and educating their parents with what you’ve shown them.
This to me is true education because you knew that all the kids in that room could feel what you feel and thus you held them as equals who just needed to be confirmed in what they already knew. This is very beautiful.
Yes Elizabeth, indeed what Johanna shared was true education that inspires all to make that choice they know to be true for themselves.
I agree Ariana, this is a skit that could be shown everywhere – it’s reflection is mighty.
Agree Sally, it should be a skit that is shown everywhere, its reflection is massive and needs to be shared. So simple but profound.
I also agree, It felt powerful just reading it. This would be great for all to experience.
Johanna you nailed it! I could feel the whole school unable to take their eyes off you and I didn’t want to be anywhere else but waiting to hear the responses from the audience. Perfectly executed as an amazing reflection for the teachers as well as the students.
I agree, Sally, this was an amazing reflection for all the audience.
Thanks Sally. I felt exactly that at the time.
Also I could feel how proud my class at that time felt that I was their teacher.
A teacher in the truest sense Johanna.
There is something truly masterful in retuning into a way of communication that instantly grasps attention without being at all imposing. It makes me ask why I would ever believe that talking at someone would cause them to listen when I myself do not like this. Your reflection is wonderful Johanna
That’s a beautiful story of reflection Johanna. How we move and how we think effects the other people around us, it influences others to act in a similar way. Thanks for sharing this with us. What a massive responsibility we have to move how we would want others to feel and hence be inspired to move.
Absolutely Harrison! We do have a huge responsibility to move, act and behave in a way that supports and inspires others. We influence everyone around us, in whatever way we choose, and this power should not be abused.
A very original and well executed exercise that everybody present would of benefited from, well done Johanna
That is truth in education and delivered in and with love, Johanna.
I agree.
Perhaps the truth of education, as it was in ancient times when teachers were seen as guides and those we go to as a resource- will one day be a reality for all.
Awesome and such power-full reflection Johanna . Loved the ripple effect. Very inspiring.
Reminds me how if we all were to choose conscious presence and gentleness how beautiful would that feel and be.
Magic can happen- blessings of love can be felt, and healing occur.
I love this Johanna, so simple and something that everyone feels we just don’t talk about, such a great practical way of showing that how we are effects us and everyone around us, truly inspiring!
Such simple practical examples Johanna. The world is crying out for these clear gentle reflections from us.
Let’s all join the “ripple effect”.
That would be Amazing!
Oh, goosebumbs when I read that the girl did the chair gentle herself then and then a couple after her. That is what life is about, to reimprint ill behaviour that is not true and not serving anyone.
Johanna, this is amazing!! You brought so much truth not only to these children but all the other teachers/adults, parents and the countless families these children went home to and shared about what they learned. The power of our reflection is huge, so we really do have to ask – what is it we want to magnify today?
This sharing is so inspiring because it shows us how powerful it is to simply communicate universal truths.
WOW
What an opportunity you had! Even reading this made me resist the angry and shut down behaviours you used – but it is simply reflecting to me how I have chosen to walk in the past – and what has not felt great but I have ignored it all the same.
The second example, though it is just simply walking, putting a chair down and writing – shows me the responsibility and opportunity we have in every moment. And to hear that these students were then inspired by your gentleness speaks volumes.
Thank you Hannah – absolutely. I am continually learning and feeling in my body, the opportunity and responsibility that each moment actually provides us all with.
It can! If we continue to present in our Livingness in our own homes, schools and workplaces the ripple effect will magnify out and be felt by all, even if they’re not consciously aware of it at the moment. Energetic responsibility is huge, when you think that “someone will be walking in your footsteps….”
Every word spot on Sandra, this really highlights our responsibility to reflect the gentle. loving harmony in our lives
This is awesome Michelle thankyou for sharing. It is so true what you have shared. The ripple effect is huge and I too have experienced this. It’s the loving connection we share with people that makes the world of difference and people do feel that immensely.
Yes and there is no better reflection for me in this than with my students at school. If I am gentle and loving and receptive so are my students. If I am off, they are ratty and distracted and wobbly also. It never ceases to amaze me.
And it doesn’t matter Michelle if you know or not. I still remember an English teacher who came to my school when I was 14 or 15. She was with us for a brief while, pregnant and after leaving to have her baby, didn’t return. But her way of being and impact remains with me until today. And it is exactly as you have described it here: ‘it is often as simple as a feeling that you leave with someone – that they are held in love and have been met for who they are’ In her presence we all came alive, touched by her warmth and equal acceptance of everyne of us. A lesson with her was like a blessing.
It’s great to read some positive experiences from school teachers, most of what comes out of education is quite negative yet everyday there is this opportunity to connect with the amazing quality that children have and really engage them in learning and life. From the teachers and teaching assistants I see it is clear they need support on how to engage children and create boundaries that make learning fun while also creating respect and discipline without that word needing to be harsh or controlling.
So true Stephen, ‘make learning fun while also creating respect and discipline without that word needing to be harsh or controlling.’ I can feel that there is such a big difference here, I have observed how teachers can go into being harsh and controlling, not knowing another way, when i was at school there were teachers whose methods were to scare the students into doing what they were told, the children were really scared, this was not an enjoyable experience and did not support me with learning. There were also teachers who did make learning fun and that I felt respected by and it was the subjects taught by them that I enjoyed and really committed to.
Beautifully shared Michelle. ‘it is often as simple as a feeling that you leave with someone – that they are held in love and have been met for who they are.’ I sometimes forget how huge it is to be met in this way and that each meeting we have is an opportunity to hold another in love.
Wow this is so inspirational real and I felt I was in the room too feeling it all and appreciating what you were sharing. This will be amazing to be presented at all schools starting from young to all ages and shows how simply it is to make a difference and how powerful a learning how we move effects everyone.Thank you Joanne for sharing this so beautifully,I love it.
You are bringing real truth to education. Your presentation should be done in all schools. Thanks you for showing how simple it and important what we reflect to others and its affects.
Yes, I agree, Johanna is bringing ‘real truth’ to education and this is only the beginning of bringing truth and change to a system that has long lost its way.
I love this. What a blessing for the whole school, to have you there. I was touched by the way you took the opportunity given to you to share this profound, yet practical lesson on personal responsibility and reflection to the whole school in a memorable way. I feel the learning from this exercise will stay with children and staff for a long time. What you write brings it back to me: how each day I’m presented daily with endless opportunities to be tender and loving in everything I do, and the impact I have on others, when I am and when I’m not. Thank you.
Reflections from others- positive or negative do stay with us, because we all feel. As adults we remember and carry around hurts from school or at home just as we also have fabulous moments we remember feeling where that one teacher or family member made an effort to truly connect and care.
The point is we are all always reflecting and it is being felt. But the question is- what are we reflecting and what is the impact of our reflection?
Only true reflection that harmoniously considers everybody inspires others.
Brilliant Johanna. This is the best education. For the kids to see and feel for themselves. What a great learning and reflection for all. A marker they will now always have. Very inspiring.
Amazing Johanna. What a brilliant lesson for the children and other teachers to see and feel first hand the differences you demonstrated by simply walking, moving a chair and writing in 3 very different ways, and how that left them feeling. Now that’s education.
Love it!!! This is such a simple and at the same time profound example of how we affect others by the way we walk and even by the way we put something down. To consider others in every action we do is taking responsibility for the energetic imprints we leave behind wherever we go.
I agree Carmel, there was a lot of learning packed into this one simple experiment, and reinforced in a super practical, lived and shared way.
I agree Carmel, this puts all our interactions with others under the microscope. The effectiveness of this simple experiment is very heartwarming.
This is awesome Johanna. I love the simplicity in which you have presented this subject. Simplicity is a great way to teach things as with complication the true message often gets hidden.
Simply awesome Johanna! That presentation will stay with every child their whole life long and they will forever have a tangible marker for their own expression as they go through life. The ripple effect will be enormous. I am inspired. Thanks for sharing.
I agree, that this presentation would stay with every child their whole life long.
I want to go to school again!
A powerful reminder and reflection just how absoutley everything counts, and of the responsiblity we each have to ourselves and to all others.
I totally agree Jacqueline. When I am surrounded by a group of children and colleagues I easily get overwhelmed and forget how the smallest thing can have a huge effect.
This would be such a good practical thing to introduce to all schools on a regular basis so every child has the opportunity to learn the impact, all actions can have and that all is energy. Amazing exercise Johanna!
I agree Kevin, imagine how fun school would be and so interactive, and sure every child could contribute from their own feelings, when they are invited to their inner known, where no repeating and heavy thinking is necessary,
Yes, I agree. I started out doing a similar exercise with classes when I was doing relief work. The classes I went to ranged in behaviour and socioeconomic levels. But all the children responded the same.
Wow, Johanna, thank you for sharing your experience about your livingness with your class here. It is very supportive and gave my heart a joyful jump when I read how the children responded. I felt in reading this: we are Sons of God, no doubt.
Kerstin the experience with the class made me consider, if there is an issue with abuse, violence, sexting, lack of attention etc.. in schools yet at the same time the children can feel everything then perhaps its time that we look at the way we are running the schools? For the honesty and changes in the students responding and wanting to sit on and have their own ‘gentle’ chairs then does that not say it all? Perhaps the problems we face don’t come from the children but as a result of the way we don’t honour the amazing abilities we all have naturally – the ability to feel and choose what is true.
Sometimes I see the students as employees and if they are not content in their work environment then the bosses have something to look at.
That is a way to look at it in a funny way.
That is awesome Matts. Your sharing reminds me of a T-shirt I once saw a toddler wear – it said
‘Mum, Dad . . . You’re fired. ‘
It definitely brings in responsibility and accountability.
I agree. I feel the whole staff actually has something to look at together.
Going back to being responsible and appreciating what is being reflected is a great step forward .
I agree- We All Are Divine Sons of God- equal yet the result of life choices that makes us seem different.
Awesome, Awesome, Awesome Johanna. I’m not surprised that the kids got it and then talked about it all so openly. I wonder if you did the same thing with just a group of adults what the response would be. This is very inspiring and I can feel you have seeded the potential for much change in your school.
Great thing to wonder Michelle. I actually did a similar exercise at a professional development day with staff but the activity was more related around adults and the staff room. They watched and got it – had a laugh and were super open afterwards to discuss an array of things that they notice in the workplace. Very powerful.
I echo what you share here Michelle, awesome, awesome, awesome. What a powerful way to present to children with the benefits being manifold. I love how Johanna demonstrates so simply and powerfully how we impact on our world. This is a lesson the children will fondly remember.
Most of the time we don’t consider the impact of how we are or choose to be but it not only is felt by everyone, everyone feels the impact of such a choice on a much deeper level. Wow! This is the power and true responsibility not just teachers or even students but every single one of us have each moment of the day!
Absolutely Joshua. Every single one of us!
Wow, Johanna. This is brilliant. What a fantastic way to learn. It’s amazing you came up with this when you were actually asked to present ‘good’ behaviour. It’s so powerful to learn through feeling, instead of being told how we should be.
Kids want to know this stuff, they are open to knowing a different way. Great sharing with your school Johanna, and I’m feeling the blessing you are bringing the pupils and teachers to know the impact of their energy and actions.
I am speechless from reading and feeling what you have written here Johanna! How elegantly simple and profound. This is something those children will never forget. Neither will I now. It is huge the responsibility that we each have for the way we are and how we choose to live. Our impact is far greater than we can imagine.
Yes Jeanette. It is huge and something I am discovering as I allow myself to feel more- is just how tender and gentle we innately are and how disturbed we actually do get continuously from the day to day actions done in a rush, disregard, without presence, without consideration etc. It is all a reflection all of the time that is sending us constant messages.
Some of these messages we feel held, supported and loved by if we are honoured from others movements around us and some of these messages do exactly the opposite.
What an amazing and very real and bodily felt experience for the children, learning from reflection and wholeheartedly engaged rather than just getting a talk about ‘good behaviour’ that goes in one ear and out the other.
Yes, true Gabriele. This is the type of lesson that remains with you for life, and shapes your responsibility within it.
Yes Gabriele, Johanna’s very clear living example is an inspiration to connect with people to truly understand what is there to be communicated. Being talked “at” doesn’t work except if you want people to “turn off”. Everyone knows giving a talking to doesn’t work, history knows this, it isn’t a secret. Yet the same form of ill communication gets repeated over and over again. From time to time people share their experiences with teachers that change their lives, with the opening up of a universe of understanding and awareness that they hadn’t awakened to yet. Whether the topic was believing in themselves or rocket science it doesn’t matter, it is that someone connected to an essence inside us and reflect this back. Johanna brought this magic to many hundreds of people at one moment. Wow, humanity thanks you Johanna because the ripple effect will magnify back to the universe.
There is no denying that when it comes down to it we all know what is true, and what is love. We all clearly understand the communication we are receiving from each other on a daily basis – with no words required!
YUM -how awesome is this!
Yes definitely Kylie – the communications we make through our bodies in how we walk, talk and behave speak loud and clear, in some cases even more so than words!
I would say definitely so. And maybe this is what confuses us at times when what is coming out of someone’s mouth doesn’t correspond with what we feel is communicated from their bodies.
Hi Johanne, how often we are told what to do, spoken “to” and directed verbally in some way, but there was no better way for you to communicate so much than to do so as you did – without words. This is a good learning for me too, of the effects of my every move and choice on others. This skit would be great for adults also.
Hi Johanna – thank you for your beautifully expressed blog of your experience presenting ‘reflection’ to your class. I was truly held as the story unfolded and could feel fully the effect each example would have had on the pupils. How absolutely beautiful to be provided with the opportunity to share in this way. Awesome.
Yes Ariana, imagine if we did present this everywhere we went!
It would reflect the state of our relationships with ourselves and with each other.
We would get to see how we treat our colleagues, partners, neighbours, service providers and the list goes on.
The discussions that followed could change the state of many classrooms, staff rooms and offices across the globe.
What an opportunity for school children in Johanna’s school to now talk about what gentleness and reflection means on a daily basis in the class room.
The word reflection has just expanded in it’s meaning and possibility for me.
Great blog!
In itself it is a great perspective to present this everywhere we go like Johanna did at her school. It means that everywhere I go, whoever I meet, whatever I do, whoever I talk to, whatever I get reflected back is a reflection of me. That is big.
I agree Caroline, especially as all the kids pointed to the right chair. Clearly we are aware of a lot more than we normally would say. The concept of not wanting to sit on a chair where an angry or contracted person sat is quite advanced.
Hear hear, Bernadette, ‘This should be presented in every school, home and workplace across the globe.’ This was and is a powerful lesson for life and how we live it.
WOW Johanna – so inspiring. I am absolutely feeling the power of what you have shared. Moved to tears in fact feeling the glory of your might and the light you shine. What a blessing you are where you work, and all that you share with. Thank you for reflecting so powerfully that there is another way. That we all can feel energy and with this have a responsibility of the energy we choose, and that we all can recognise what true love feels like.
Thank you Carola. The beauty about sharing a skit was that it allowed others to express and claim that we do know and we do feel everything.
Great stuff Johanna. Such practical examples are a-plenty. Kids get-it and so too the adults when it’s made accessible. I’d definitely rather sit in the middle chair!
Thank you Oliver. The middle chair is my preference also!
I was so touched by this blog, especially the part where the children were so keen to say the middle chair. A shining example of what is possible with responsibility in life.
Johanna I loved reading this blog – the power of reflection and the ripple effect it has. What an inspiration you are to the kids at school and many others around you.
Johanna, you have shown how simple it is to truly connect to children and how responsive they are to love and expression of love and how they love it too by your own reflection, thank you.
Exactly – The simplicity of this skit is such an inspiration how easy truth can be felt from everyone.
Johanna what a powerful experience you offered the students and the ripple effect you created with your reflection. This is true education in action. May there be many more teachers like you to populate our schools.
Absolutely Patricia ‘true education in action’ and an awesome reflection for humanity whether they were actually present at the assembly or not.
Johanna what a great way to share the impact of the way we are with ourselves with your school community. I love that you choose to demonstrate this with your own body not just share it verbally as from what the children expressed it was a truly powerful message!
I find that when I speak and act from my body that it is really felt because it is coming from my lived way but when I only speak from my head then it’s just words, so no truth is felt.
Wow, Johanna I am deeply inspired with the simplicity of this practical example that you presented to the children. Thank you 🙂
absolutely gorgeous Johanna no words could have conveyed this message as strongly and what a blessing for these young kids to be reminded of this power of reflection and the power of choice in how we do things at this young age!
Beautiful Johanna, the simple and yet profound example you showed the school!
I often forget how powerful these actions are and will surely remember this if I ever have to show kids the differnce between hardness and gentleness.
Children are so very wise and so are you Johanna. I imagined how I would have felt if I experienced a teacher present this at school – I feel it would have been life changing.
Thank you Leone. I appreciate your gorgeous expression.
Johanna, that is true inspiration, I can only imagine how incredible it would be for all the teachers as well as the children to experience that little play. It seems like it could be life changing for many, an experience not to be forgotten and taken on for the rest of their lives. Even when we fall away from gentleness and tender care into hardness or giving up, the opportunity is always there to return. I look forward to hearing more of your teaching stories, they are immense and quite lovely.
Stephen G that is beautifully said – indeed this experience can be life changing for many, most people have the
ability to recognize the gentleness we once came from.
Johanna, this is so powerful and I could really feel it. If we taught our children about the power of reflection and awareness of our bodies at a young age our world would be a different place to live in. Thank you.
I know! I can also imagine how amazing it would be if this was taught to children as part of their education from their parents and teachers. It should actually be the priority.
Definitely Anne – its super important to teach young kids about the power of reflection and awareness! It would give them the ability to observe the world rather than react to it.
Wow Johanna thank you for sharing this. It just goes to show how perceptive we are to the seeming everyday movements we and others carry out. We can pick up on and sense when others are walking angrily or slam doors shut for example. Until reading this I hadn’t really given much thought to other people reading my movements but it does happen. What we do can be picked up by everyone, the vastness of such a consideration is huge when I think about everyone I come into contact with on a daily basis. As I am starting to feel the quality of my movements that then means that everyone can pick up on what I am feeling, there are no personal bubbles when it comes to energy.
I love the way you have phrased this – that there are no personal bubbles when it comes to energy.
I know that I watch people a lot- I see and feel their walk, their expression, their movements etc I know when there is a flow and when there is not.
People watch all the time and they pick up on everything – especially someone who is being true and consistent.
This is true, people watching all the time. Sometimes I catch a look when they think I can’t see them watching me. I am aware of my responsibility and the energetic imprint I leave behind.
That is a great phrase, and perfectly captures the way we can be when we are in our “stuff”, mind whirring away, and not paying attention to what we are doing and how we are moving. Not only does this have an affect on our own bodies, but the others who live with us or work with us are also picking up on that. It is as if we don’t see outside of our own bubbles but everyone else is able to see into everybody else’s!
So true Leigh, ‘We can pick up on and sense when others are walking angrily or slam doors shut for example’, I always feel this and so does my son, we often comment to each other when someone slams a door or throws something down in a hard way, kids really feel this, it is great for this to be talked about in schools so children will not doubt what they are feeling.
Fantastic sharing Johanna what an amazing school assembly! Love the ripple effect – so awesome.
Fabulous, if actions speak louder than words, then how much more powerful is the communication from the energy behind those actions. Thank you Johanna.
Everything we do, say, think or feel has an impact. After reading your blog at work I even realized more what kind of impact I have. Not only towards my direct colleagues but actually the entire building with 700 people.
It’s huge when we allow ourselves to feel how much of a part we each have to play in life and what the divine impact can be if we choose to take responsibility for our quality.
“Everything we do, say, think or feel has an impact.” This is huge, to be able to fully understand that we have to be willing to take full responsibility of our actions – even our thoughts!
Wow the power of reflection and the responsibility we all have to be aware of the energy of every single movement we make awesomely demonstrated. Thank you for sharing Johanna and the ripple effect the next day in your classroom and doubtless many others.
I can feel The more we take responsibility to be aware of everything including our movements, the more powerfully we reflect who we truly are. And this automatically, with no words needed allows others to be and feel who they truly are.
Dear Johanna this is stunning, revolutionary, simple and absolutely amazing. This is such a great exemple of reflection. So simpel…so practical and so wise. Thank You for sharing this with the world. With love Nadine
That assembly is embedded in every one of those children, forever. What you presented to the children has the potential to save lives, what I mean is that true life lessons like that never leave and help them when they are decision making adults. As the influences of life pull many down, there is an influence firmly inside them that can remind them all that there is another way and can pull them up. Absolutely fantastic Johanna.
I agree Matthew…the inspiration would have touched many hearts that day and for many years to come. Everyone had confirmed that day that what one feels is important and true…it was a great 101 lesson on energy all wrapped up in a very simple demonstration that delivered so many messages of gold. Simply brilliant Johanna.
It was definitely a true life lesson. Imagine if these lessons were presented to us from young- perhaps we would not end up with the ‘cut throat’ interactions and way of acting that the business industry is known for, the control and manipulation in other systems or the general disregard and inconsideration that can happen between people in work places or in families.
That is so true and really lovely to feel.
Johanna, wow this is simply beautiful. What a gift for those children to experience what you shared with them and more importantly, the reflection and ripple effect with the year 6 students. What you shared with them was just so simple, yet profoundly impactful. How blessed are they to have you there teaching them and bringing your grace and love to their hearts.
This is such a brilliant way to show children the effect of energy, Johanna, instead of talking at them or explaining to them, to demonstrate it for them. They then will naturally experiment with it themselves. I love the ripple affect it had that will go on spreading. What a great opportunity you had to help these children understand how their moods and behaviour affects everyone. Every school could benefit from the way you presented it.
Johanna, what a great idea for a presentation, so simple and communicative – and lovely to hear how the children responded. To me it demonstrates the fact that we all know the truth, we just need reflections and inspired teachers like yourself to remind us of what is true. A blessing for your school to have you there.
Absolutely – we do All know truth. We can all feel it in our bodies.
We do know truth, and you, Johanna were helping to confirm what the children were feeling.
What a simple but powerful example that everyone can relate to. I love that this was a practical example, so you don’t need to convince anyone or explain anything. We all get it! We all know what feels right to be around but sometimes forget what our reflection is giving off to others. The response of your class wanting to be like Ms shows just how important reflection can be.
Totally Fiona.
Absolutely Fiona, a simple and powerful presentation on how we have an impact on all. Bring on more presentations like this, very beautiful.
Johanna that’s amazing ! What an awesome gift you have given to everyone that was there.
What an awesome reflection you are Johanna, these children have felt it clearly in their bodies and will have this marker forever to go back to. Very very inspiring to read.
Johanna that is awesome. For all of those students to truly feel the difference between your three examples and to express how they felt shows true reflection at its best. I love it thank you for sharing.
Thank you Kelly. Yes the children what they felt was the best bit for me. It was truly delicious to hear them voice out loud that which they are already feeling and seeing.
And how amazing ist this – you have shown them how to go there, into their inner knowing, this is true teaching on its highest!
This is brilliant Johanna, your example was so simple and so readily understood by the children. By truly feeling , we truly learn.
So true, by truly feeling we truly learn – I love this.
You certainly made the most of the opportunity presented. This is a great sharing and one that I am sure lots of us can echo in one way or another.
That’s the beauty of reflection – absolutely everyone has the opportunity and choice to reflect.
Beautiful. I like this type of education.
This is education that everyone can relate to, as it is felt so clearly. I taught a child yesterday and asked him his news, he had none, I asked him how his teacher felt at school today and he said not as angry as usual. I did wonder how much more there was to share there but it is a skill I am still developing and didn’t push it. I wonder how many children are similarly affected, children respond to gentleness so it makes sense to practice being gentle in our lives.
Just being asked that question gives children the opportunity they don’t get anywhere else to be very real.
So many children when asked about how they are or their day say “good”. That is what they have been taught to say. Their faces may be sad when they say it, or even angry. I am learning how to give them the opportunity to say what is going on, without intruding or prying; just being willing to listen in a way I would have loved at the same age.
This is true Rachel. Children are rarely given the opportunity to express what they have felt any given situation to be, how they have read the energy before them.
Many of us, me included have been brought up in away that did not allow us to truly feel and to express what we feel. In fact most of the way the world is, is designed to shut down our innate awareness and the expression of that awareness.
It’s so true Stephen, children respond to gentleness strongly. They also respond brilliantly to truth when it is offered and often amaze me at what honesty comes back as a result.
Me too – because it is based on truth and resonates with every fibre of our beings – as demonstrated by the children ‘up on their knees’ in response to what they had seen, heard and felt for themselves without being dictated to. Truly gorgeous in every sense.
I agree Concetta, this is the way I wish I had been taught in school. Someone willing to honour the fact that I felt as much, if not more than I could remember. It creates such an open conversation and space for real learning.
That was really awesome Johanna , I could fully imagine them all watching the show , a very powerful way of teaching kids and adults as well about our responsibility for the energy we do things in.
I reckon they were spellbound, at last something real and tangible they could feel and relate too! Well done Johanna.
Powerful and tangible. What Johanna presented to the children was something so simple and that they could relate to but it also gave them the opportunity to feel, discuss and reflect. How often or how many of us teach in a way children and young people can at first feel and then discern or confirm what they felt from that feeling? The normal way is to just regurgitate information instead of allowing it to come from them. I feel this is incredible what Johanna has presented and that she has paved a new way for others in this field.
Absolutely, Vicky! This is education for life not for test scores.
What a powerful and practical example of how everything we do or say can be felt by others! And what a beautiful reflection of the power of gentleness and self care in our expression. Love the blog!
Powerfully is definitely the word to use here and absolutely NO holding back. This is awesome and inspiring and I do not think these two words even do what you have presented here justice .. I will have to dig deeper in my vocabulary. ‘the effect of what I presented to the students was astounding.’ it sure was. What are you going to do next? : )
Johanna, I had goosebumps reading this. You showed enormous courage exposing yourself like this and respecting them so much that they would get what you are presenting. This is beautiful.
Thank you Christoph. It was also lovely for the other teachers to hear and feel the children’s responses.
And they received the lesson too Johanna. That teaching went far further than the children….rippling out through everyone in the room and now through us with the blog.
The kids would have taken what they learned home too, to parents, siblings, friends and relatives. It’s probably being re-presented by one of the kids as we write.
Yes, and wonder if because they experienced and felt the choice of the middle chair, it will be expressed differently from the ‘teacher says’ comments that get brought home from school
Absolutely that assembly is not embedded in those children, forever. I can only imagine the impact as I thought about how I would feel if I’d experienced that as a child and I can only imagine that it would have been emblazened in my psyche. Along with, as you say Matthew, it will no doubt be with them when they get older and make adult decisions. Was so amazing to read.
Wow, I wish I had seen that demonstration when I was very young. It is something that I would have never forgotten. And then I would not have gone on to sometimes become frustrated and bang doors etc. I never realised in the past the effect that I was having on others. Of course now, when others do it in my hearing, I absolutely cringe as if I have been hit.
So true Christoph. There was great respect in what Johanna did and I loved this blog for so many reasons. It was real and practical and up to people to decide and feel for themselves. So often we stand up to ‘tell people off’ for their behaviour or tell them to be another way. Johanna what you did was so so so so awesome because you trusted yourself, became a living example and was courageous to address a situation in a completely different manner and look at the response. Inspirational.
Yes indeed. Show not tell. That should be the new world motto – I am officially declaring it as of today!
Awesome Johanna! You had my full attention during the sharing of your presentation and could easily see why the children “got it”, and without you speaking a word! What a wonderful opportunity you gave them to feel the different energy you were in during each example, and then be able to identify how it felt to them and to be able to express it so clearly. And then of course, there was the magic of the ripple effect! An important lesson that I am sure they will remember for a very long time. I know that I will!
Thank you Ingrid. Yes it was a very powerful experience.
It was lovely to hear the kids expressing so clearly- it makes me realise that they are already seeing and feeling everything but are not always supported to express it so honestly.
Yes, Johanna, it is so simple but we have to experience it ourselves. I got goosebumps reading your description but 10 years ago I would probably have considered it interesting but no more – unless I was there. A description would not have been enough.
And you where not talking “at” them. I so clearly remember being told what to do by teachers but there was no meaning in it – they were just saying words that they had to say to a group of kids they had not connected to. Nothing conveyed, and nothing learned. I used to just switch off, and I know other kids did too.
Your lesson is something that will stay with those children forever.
What I can feel too is the teachers that really want to connect with children and those that are waiting for the day or the week to end. Teaching can be a joy but perhaps more of the importance of connection and understanding needs to be taught to trainee teachers. There is such an emphasis on results now, we need to get back to the element where the person it taught first, not a statistic or a potential exam result. And of course getting the teachers to value and care for themselves makes all of this much more possible, which I guess is where a project like ‘Teachers Are Gold’ really comes into its own.
Great points Stephen. It is so important for the trainee teachers to relearn how to make connection the priority, for themselves and with the kids. No one likes being talked at and we all have experienced how different it feels when someone actually talks with us. The current system is a challenge for teachers and takes them away from their passion from teaching. This is why supporting trainee teachers to learn to care for themselves is vital. Then they will have the vitality and care to be great role models for our kids.
Yes, teaching teachers to take care of and value themselves and build their connection is vital. From there teachers will more naturally connect with children. The education system also has to stop making it only about academic results, and incorporate making it about the person.
I agree Stephen the importance of self care for teachers is really important. I work in a clinic for people with burn out and depression and there are many teachers among the patients.
And no doubt with the adults who also saw and felt it. I can imagine the ripple effect of that through the school.
Yes Stephen the focus is so much on results, that connection is not given much importance. There is an expectation that its there, but its not taught at teacher training college. Unfortunately self care for teachers is also not high on the priority list, but the drop out rates and high sickness levels indicated that the system is not working.
I wonder Stephen how many of those teachers who are counting down the minutes until the last bell on Friday, deep inside really do care about the children, do care about their education, but have just become overwhelmed by a system that they feel helpless within.
“Teachers are Gold” is a vitally important project. It changes the game forever by offering teachers all that is possible when they value themselves. What a light they then shine for their students and what world changer that is.
What you write is so true. There is nothing more powerful than giving the example in who you are by your movements and actions. I remember from when I was a kid, the teacher who had the biggest impact on me was one who was congruent – her words matched her deeds / actions towards me e.g. the way she treated me as equal. I will never forget that – her reflection.
Yes thanks for the reminder Caroline, it was the teaches that really connected with me and treated us as equals and was consistent that I remember.
Yes, great reminder Caroline. I remember a teacher at primary school and I’ll never remember exactly what was taught but I remember feeling really accepted and celebrated for who I was. That’s gold!
With another teacher I still remember the fear of learning my tables. To this day I still don’t know them. This tells me fear based learning shows me all that is learnt is the fear of not knowing the answer.
Yes Caroline my favourite teachers inspired me through their respect and wisdom shared with us equally. These are tools we can all take into our day to day lives wherever we go. The true beauty is in the connections we hold.
Absolutely Rachel, talking at them or to them hurts to see, feel and do. Talking with them supports the connection.
And Heidi, it carries on into adulthood, the office and our relationships…and it all starts back here when we are so young. Talking with children as we want to be spoken to (its no different) allows them to flourish from who they truly are.
Agree Heidi and also Rachel too the point you make about carrying this into adulthood — and would add in here how we as employees are managed, promoted or lead teams/companies. One of the common reasons why people leave jobs, or feel compelled to join a company is directly because of this element of support that’s either there, or missing. Connection, and feeling connected with who we work with being so vital in the workplace.
Hear, hear Rachel. An indelible imprint on the lives of these children. Awesome stuff.
Isn’t this example a powerful demonstration for simplicity and truth. I love what every child has said. What an awesome opportunity for the children to have this reflection of Johanna.
Kids are such a radar for equality and connection. When they are being talked at they switch off, trying not to feel the emptiness of the words and the lack of engagement the teacher has with them. I see the same thing though at work with adults. In work meetings there can be lots of glazed eyes and hiding behind laptops. We really need to look at the way we move and speak, so that people feel included and safe and engaged.
What you are bringing to the kids is their real reflection, that is beauty and amazingness and naturally knowing their love. What a blessing for them to have a teacher like you.
I agree, Ingrid, I also could easily see why the children “got it” as you say. I also got it, and felt the different energies in each example that Johanna gave them. This is something that should be demonstrated in every school. But it would need the person doing the presentation to be able to demonstrate the differences in energy that Johanna so ably did.
Yes I could too see why the children ‘ got it’- and I love how you gained their attention so simply right at the start, no need for yelling or demanding their attention. They naturally wanted to connect with you and obviously learned so much from what you shared with them in that example. Wow Johanna, I want to come back to school if that’s what it can be like!
The kids got to see an adult reflecting what they already knew. This is rare for an adult to admit and confirm to kids the fact of energy and how much that affects us. This is very empowering for kids to trust what they feel and not get caught in the game we all play of pretending energy isn’t affecting us.
Agreed Ingrid, me too
Yes Ingrid and it is because Johanna shared with her students in full connection with herself. The students could feel her connection in full and then mirrored that reflection of connection back. A grand mirror that supports all. I love that.