“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you”.
Anne Lamott
Have you ever felt the need to take some time for yourself, your growth and wellness, “unplugging” from the daily routine?
Last week something not so common happened in Jump Training Academy. We are used to receive and warmly host teacher coming from all around Europe to attend our courses, but participants from Norway are quite rare so far, so we welcomed them with the curiosity to exchange experiences and insights related to this fascinating country, so well know for its breath-taking nature and unique landscapes.
The course they came for was
STRESS MANAGEMENT To Improve Teaching Performance And Personal Life Of Teachers.
After introducing each other and exploring participants’ needs and expectations, we started our sessions outdoors with some exercises to practice body-mind connection, facilitate grounding, release the stress accumulated in our bodies, and activate positive vital energies.
These exercises represent a good habit to improve wellness in our daily life and an opportunity to shift our attention from the usual cognitive and rational level, in order to experiment with a wider awareness about ourselves, noticing sensations, feelings, and emotions arising.
They are also useful to be applied with students at school as a way to take a short break from normal lessons, to improve concentration and self regulation skills, in order to positively manage their own thoughts, feelings, and actions.
During the last sessions of the training course we developed several activities focused on gaining a common understanding of the main definitions and causes of stress, especially in the school environment, improving the ability to recognize the effects on us and activate the right strategies and resources to cope with demanding situations. Indeed creative adaptation to challenges and stressful situations is something that we practiced, exploring the importance of creativity to cope with stress, for example by expressing our emotions, exploring new ideas, and finding meaning in our work.
We even exchanged successful practices that had inspired us to try some creative activities that are not necessarily related to school work, such as painting, dancing, gardening, or cooking, to relax and recharge our energy.
Coming from Norway, participating teachers shared their love for nature and outdoor activities, that they are fortunately used to practice almost daily. At the same time, they deeply appreciated the opportunity to enjoy such a different variety of landscapes in Soverato and its surroundings, with its infinite promenade of pure white beaches, breathing fresh air, looking at and swimming in the turquise see, delighted by the benefits on body, mind and soul.
Immersing ourselves into this journey on stress management we faced the awareness that the thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up the habit and need to be perfect, and in every situation! Whereas, practicing the path of personal development can make us in contact with our inner resources and potential, opening the road to wisdom and self-compassion, truly becoming ourself, to live in authenticity, joy and peace.
We all have the tendency to believe self-doubt and self-criticism, but listening to this voice never gets us closer to our goals. That’s why we practiced becoming aware of the most common irrational beliefs we all have, taking some time to reflect on disfunctional common thoughts to be able to transform them into an inner dialogue that can be a positive drive in our daily life, bringing us to successfully live our life and work.
We are looking forward to share more awareness, useful tips and wellbeing journeys with all of you, facilitated by the magic resources of nature and beautiful spots that nurture every soul traveling to Soverato.
Author: Alessia Simonetti, JUMP trainer
