The Connected Teacher: Practical tools for self-compassion and trauma-informed teaching

Have you ever reached the end of the day and felt like you have absolutely nothing left to give? Not just tired—but depleted. In this episode, we’re talking about the difference between being tired, stressed, burned out, and truly depleted. As teachers, we spend our days giving our attention, patience, energy, creativity, emotional presence, and so much more. And sometimes we respond to having not...

Have you ever had a moment when your mind knew you were okay, but your body seemed to have a completely different plan? In this episode, I’m talking about why our bodies sometimes move slower than our minds—and why that isn’t a sign that we’re failing at healing. I share a personal story from my softball days, when I struck out four times in a row and could feel the urge to self-sabotage creeping...

Sometimes we worry so much about missing out on stuff that we make ourselves super busy. This is great and all, until we realize being busy is actually taking us away from what is most important. You'll leave this episode feeling calm and inspired to slow down to live more often in the timeline of our lives that is the most important; the present. Also, I'm happy to release my new website!...

Liz Moyer Benferhat has spent nearly two decades in sustainable development, where she kept witnessing the same thing: burnout, grief, and an inner toll nobody talks about. What she found wasn't a problem unique to activists or policymakers. It was a human problem. In 2018, she launched We Heal For All to address what she saw as the missing piece in social change work: the emotional lives of t...

So, lets talk about PMS. I used to hate it. I used to think it meant something was wrong with me. I used to think it was this dumb thing and if I couldn't manage my emotions well enough during the hormonal imbalance, I deserved all the teasing. After going through trauma and gaining a deeper understanding of the role of emotions, I've learned that our hormonal imbalances can become a gift...

Our brains and nervous systems are brilliant. So brilliant that they can keep us safe even when threats we were once protected from are no longer in our lives. This kinda sums up an adaptation our bodies make to try to protect us from danger. Gaining awareness of what adaptations our body has made and why, can help us change the pattern of our nervous system reactions. With that said, beware of ju...

Do you know who you are? Like, really know who you are? Well, neither does anyone else. But, the closer you get to understanding your authentic self, the better you get at effortlessly lifting those around you. If your strength is depleated, your ability to teach decreases drastically, as does your awareness of how well you are teaching. Crazy right?!?! This episode talks about the cost of not bei...

Healing from trauma, and evidence based tools to develop self-compassion aren't actually that different. You'll take away tools to help yourself heal psychologically, somatically, and biologically from this episode. Kristin Neff's Self Compassion book: Stay tuned for my new website that will be launching soon: connectedteacher.org

Something I heard on one of Dr Aimie Apigian's podcast episode really stood out to me. Healing requires this three legged stool of finding emotional ealing, psychological healing and emotional healing. I wasn't really sure what that meant for me so I decided to explore it in this episode. Understanding how these things are connected can mean the difference between a teacher in burnout or a...

You're excited yet, calm, tired, yet proud, exhausted beyond words, yet able to keep showing up. These are examples of nervous system states that aren't quite so black and white. Knowing these mixed states can provide the clarity we need to know where to put our energy. You'll leave with greater awareness around what is going on INSIDE of you, so you can better control and decide what...

Lisa Baylis wrote the book Self-Compassion for Educators because of life lessons and her passion for supporting teachers. She wanted a book teachers could find useful even with their busy schedules and overflowing plates. This episode is full of golden nuggets you can implement in your life RIGHT NOW! I'd love to hear your thoughts! camillescow17@gmail.com Want to connect with Lisa? Check out her...

You will hear a section of Kristin Neff's book: Self-Compassion The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself. You will likely be surprised at how damaging your inner critic can be to your overall wellbeing. It starts with your nervous system because when you're hard on yourself, it activates the threat system of your body. THIS is why being hard on yourself isn't actually getting you whe...

I so badly wanted my students to achieve mastery and learn everything and do well on their end of year tests. This is a strength of mine, and I'm sure is one of yours too. Unfortunately, I overused this strenght on occasion, and tried moving my students a little faster than they were ready. Plowing through is what felt safer. Was I a bad teacher. No. Could there have been a different, and mayb...

The beginning of the year starts out so great. New students, fresh eyes, new problems, stronger because of the year before, then it's the end of the year and the rock you've been carrying now seems so heavy! It wasn't this hard before!!! The reason? You haven't given yourself the proper rest, if any. Sure, you've taken a personal day in the last 10 years Sure, you got 8 hours o...

You ready for a VERY significant mind shift? Was "Do your best" a phrase that seemed like it should have helped you more than it did? Or is it a phrase that you wish meant more to your students than it does? This episode incorporates the Common Humanity component of self-compassion in that it can release all the pressure that comes from the phrase "Do your best". Ironically, on...

You've heard the ol' adage 'drinking from a firehose'. Well, as humorous as we try to make it, it could actually be the source of trauma. If we don't have time to rest and reset when provided new information and are given more information before we've even had a chance to process the first, it could be creating too much too fast. This isn't saying slow everything down s...

Did you know that having healthy emotional boundaries can prevent burnout? Probably, but do you know what else can? Listen to this episode to find out. Wisdom from Kristin Neff's book Fierce Self Compassion: How Women can Harness Kindness to Speak Up, Claim their power and Thrive, has so much power and I'm so excited for you to implement it in your classroom! Talk soon! camillescow17@gmail...

This episode is inspired by an idea from Tara Brach. She says that Self-compassion is embracing reality with kindness. This episode has words from Kristin Neff that describes Equanimity, which is basically gaining the understanding of what is in our control and what isn't. Its finding that balance. This episode provides some examples to clarify what it can look like for you as a teacher to emb...

What do you think of first when you see or hear IEP. Well, this episode will provide you with something new and even more exciting. We talk about teacher burnout, real-life teacher struggles, and small steps a teacher can take to feel more connected to themselves and to their classroom. Take the quiz mentioned in the podcast and get connected with Brittany Blackwell! https://www.teachingmindbodyan...

When someone told me about self-compassion, I thought I had it made because I was soooooo good at telling myself the things I wished I believed about myself. Turns out it was the NOT helpful way to use Positive Affirmations. This episode provides clarity around the differences between self-compassion,positive affirmations as well as toxic positivity. Hopefully you can learn this lesson quicker tha...

This episode contains three real-life teaching scenarios with two types of self-talk examples following each scenario. As yoursel; do you relate more to the inner critic self-talk, or the compassionate self-talk. Which type of self=talk feels better? Which type of self-talk will help you accomplish your goals? Which type of self-talk will help you show up as the teacher you want to show up as more...

I finally learned that self-compassion is what I needed to achieve my goals. Before that I was convinced my inner critic was gonna take me to new heights. Thank goodness THAT changed. But then what? What did that actually look like? This episode provides clarity around what the elements of self-compassion can actually look like in your daily life. Then, wait for it, a game!!! Thats also a little q...

It's VERY likely that your inner critic is negatively impacting you more than you know. This episode has some of Kristin Neff's findings and thoughts on the inner critic and how self-compassion can reverse those negative affects. I also provide an easy example that can help you better apply the tool of self compassion to yourself and to your teaching so you can stop spending your energy on...

This isn't your typical set SMART goals episode, for one thing. For another, this will SIMPLIFY your life rather than add more things to your list that you "should" be remembering. This episode contains one goal that if you embrace will change EVERYTHING for you FOR GOOD! Your weight loss goals won't seem so daunting, your decluttering goals won't end up stuffed in a box, you...

January is a fresh start for a lot of people. I encourage you to intentionally create a fresh start each day. Clean your slate of negative and potentially unintentional "positive" thoughts about your students, your co-workers, your spouse, your kids, and most importantly yourself. Give yourself the gift of letting every day be a fresh start. Lets connect! camillescow17@gmail.com