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If we could put this afternoon in a bottle . . .
January is summer in Argentina. It is very hot with temperatures that range from 25ºC to 40ºC, at least in Buenos Aires, where we live. Our country is very big and has different climates in all its regions.
Behind my house there is a beautiful leafy garden. It has a mixture of smells: pine, lemon, rose, jasmin....intensified now by the heat of the season. The sun shines among the branches of the trees, bushes and plants highlighting the different shades of green and making all the aromas of the herb garden stronger. The humming birds visit us with their characteristic air-dance. They love the red hibiscus flowers and drink their nectar.
Last week Jamie and I were there, working on our teaching projects for the next semester, re-stating our beliefs and mission to check that we were still attuned to begin work together after our holidays. It was late afternoon and the birds were starting to get ready for the end of the day and were singing their most wonderful farewell songs. The butterflies, silent and elegant, were floating in the air playing among some very small orange flowers. At one point, Jamie breathed deeply, looked around, closed his eyes very slightly and said in an exhilarated tone of voice,"If we could put this afternoon in a bottle and open it when we need it on a cold rainy wintry day.....it would be wonderful!!!!" And I gave him a knowing smile. We knew that that was going to be our sanctuary for the rest of the year. A place and moment where we could go back and feel "flow".
"Your state is the total neurophysiological pattern you have at a particular moment".
R. Bolstad and Margot Hamblett
We all know that as teachers we need to be in a positive resourceful state all the time (or at least most of the time). We exercise a strong influence on our students so we must be very careful to lead them positively into good learning states. If one day we don't wake up in a "flow" mood, it is a good idea to use the tools that NLP offers us to switch to a more appropriate one.
What are the causes of our state and how can we change it?
According to Bolstad and Hamlett in their book Transforming Communication there are three causes:
internal representations
physiology
anchoring
There are different ways to represent reality internally:
Visual representation (what we see in our minds and how: the colours, brightness, light or darkness, etc. The way we represent things internally affects our perception of reality and our reaction to it enormously),
Auditory representation (sounds, voices, noises, and their pitch and loudness),
Body sensations and feelings, smells and tastes.
The quality of our connection with reality is deeply affected by the way we re-present that reality internally. We can't expect to live a life metaphorically "full of light" if our internal images are dark and dull. Some people have internal voices that tell them positive, encouraging things, while others have a constant critic in one of their ears. Some people feel "butterflies in their stomach", a knot in their shoulders, whereas others feel a warm white light bathing and soothing their bodies when they are undergoing a difficult situation.
The kind of representation we create consciously or unconsciously determines our state. The good news is that we have the choice and the power to modify these representations at will.
Physiology
The way we sit, we stand and move is very closely connected with our state, too. It is a great idea to adopt a posture of resourcefulness. Just remember your body position at a moment when you felt you could achieve anything you desired because you had the internal tools to do it, and you were sufficiently creative to open new doors to possibilities and opportunities. Very slowly allow your body to recall that state and adopt that position. Now that you've experienced it again and can recognise it, it will surely help you to go back to that state whenever you need it.
Anchors
"He knew he absorbed everything. That every event was imprinted in his memory but that sometimes months or years passed before he realized how deeply an episode had marked him. It was as if memory congealed somewhere, and then suddenly, through some mechanism of association, appeared before his eyes with blinding intensity."
From Eva Luna by Isabel Allende
Anchoring is the process by which an external stimulus is paired with an internal state. When the external stimulus is presented, the internal state is triggered. For example, when you hear a song that you used to listen to when you were a teenager, it will probably bring back a whole array of sensations from that time. There are visual, auditory and kinaesthetic anchors.
As teachers we can use anchors:
To structure an environment for learning. We can anchor ourselves and our students to states of calm, relaxation, productivity, confidence, raised self-esteem, etc.
To make knowledge and information more permanent (tap into long-term memory).
Our students will associate what they are learning with something special , or different, or (more) meaningful that happened at the moment of learning. That's why field trips, changing the classroom arrangement every now and then, or having the students swap places help a lot. Guest speakers, rituals or bringing in a delicious chocolate cake to learn fractions are very powerful as anchoring devices because students will remember the new topic with their minds and bodies.
To create, stimulate and improve the relationship among students. The feeling of "belonging" or group cohesion can be boosted considerably when we anchor good moments together, when the group has a name they have chosen or a logo, a slogan or a song. Anything that is shared and is meaningful to all of them can be used to bring a positive and functional sensation of togetherness to the here and now.
While we cannot control the many anchors that are set by themselves, our role as good leaders is to be able to produce as many positive anchors as possible to make the learning a rich and stimulating experience. In this way, and with some help by changing the physical posture, we can create a good environment and memorable moments for learning and we can neutralise many of the less helpful anchors that occur in the classroom.
It was a good idea to put that warm afternoon in a bottle. When we need it we will open it and be surrounded by the smells, colours and sounds of a moment when we felt we had a lot of energy, loads of creativity, clear goals and a great desire to learn, expand and teach. And we know the great empowering feeling will be there for us.
Laura Szmuch and Jamie Duncan
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Suggested reading:
Mega-Teaching and Learning by. Van Nagel C., Reese Edward J., Reese Maryann, Siudzinski Robert, Metamorphous Press, 1985
Transforming Communication by Bolstad Richard and Hamblett Margot, Longman, 1997
