Slowness, stillness and Brain Reset
Humans live a contradiction: most of us crave constancy and stability and yet we live in an ever-changing world, a world in which we are also constantly changing, along with the technology that surrounds us. So, until we can come to understand the full implications of changing technology, I think we need to remind ourselves, and embed in young people, what it means to be human and how to live a good life. The irony is that so many of us are so busy, being distracted by technology that we do not pause to explore this critical question and how we should approach our "one wild and precious life", as poet Mary Oliver put it.
I believe that young people need a certain level of stability in their lives; this varies from individual to individual of course, but having a web of strong, healthy, and supportive real- life, face-to-face connections enables them to feel a sense of psychological safety. This, in turn, enables them to take risks, to fail, and to grow, rather than shrink and disengage from the world, stay within a very small comfort zone, and achieve only stunted growth at best. This provision of psychological safety is the central aim of our pastoral care systems and our wellbeing programmes.
The great danger of our time, aside from AI and war and pandemics and climate change, is how busy we have convinced ourselves we need to be; that we must be doing something with every moment to be worth something as a human. This tendency towards busyness is exacerbated by technology and the other things; they create in us a sense of urgency. And yet, it is the opposite of this. It is silence and stillness, or slowing down that often provides the doorway to far deeper understandings of our world.
One of the blockbuster movies of last year was "Oppenheimer", which dealt with another critical period in human evolution, when technology seemed to outstrip our humanity. In setting time aside to talk about our relationships, and resilience and respect, we enable young people to live more consciously and more ethically.
One critical element of our Wellbeing programmes is designed to give students experience at slowing down, being still and benefitting from silence. In Junior School, we run a Yoga programme with Paula Flugge and, in Senior School, we have expanded our Brain Reset sessions, so that students get to work with mindfulness expert Helen Heppingstone in Year 9 and 10 Wellbeing and Year 11 Cognitive Curriculum.
Brain Reset is a custom-designed physical and cognitive practice founded in neuroscience principals, employing techniques from the technology of Yoga, specifically Hatha Yoga and Yoga Nidra (which is a sleep state with awareness, known as the hypnogogic state). The sessions are set up so that they are completely accessible for everyone, providing an opportunity to experience a glimpse of the body, nervous system, and mind in a state of rest (quiet, still), something that is quite alien in our fast-paced world.
The benefits of Brain Reset are manifold: it supports the boys to get out of their busy minds for a moment, reconnect with their bodies, calm their nervous system for deep restorative rest and create some space between their thoughts. It also enhances working memory, attentional control, strengthens the ability to be aware of where attention may be, thereby strengthening the 'muscle' of bringing the mind back on task. It also aids in stress reduction and emotional regulation.
There is significant challenge for many boys and young men to slow down and be still, but investing our time and energy into such a practice helps us to function with greater purpose and effectiveness. As one of our regular attendees puts it:
It is amazing and you feel great afterwards. It erases current thoughts, and puts you in a state of the present where there is nothing you are thinking about, you are just absorbed in a state of calm and peace... The main reason I do it now is to calm my mind from all the physical and academic strain I face on a daily basis, with a lot of early morning starts. It gives me a chance to stop, rest and reset for the second half of the week whilst decompressing from all of the events of the first half.
Mr James Hindle
Director of Pastoral Care, Humanities Teacher
