The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.” Sydney J. Harris
When an educator opens a student up to a learning experience that is exciting and mysterious, it can encourage them to continue to explore it. An educator can do this by showing a student the window to their own education.
William (Billy) Rosenbeck’s class: Meditations in Literature, did this for our son in his senior year at Wilbrham & Monson Academy during a full blown pandemic. I know this for sure because for the past 15 years I’ve been trying to get Hayden to think meditation is “cool”. It took Billy’s passion as an educator and passion for his own meditation practice for Hayden to really understand why it was so vital to his success. For years I’ve been pleading with anyone that will listen that meditation needs to be integrated into our daily education system. A shift of the default mode of the brain from always thinking, thinking, thinking to one that teaches them to put down their phones and just re-learn how to BE. Getting out of their heads for a while and back into the body, really feeling – being. Full Embodied Awareness.
WMA is pioneering this movement with Billy’s course. His students meditate ever school day- 5 days a week for 20 minutes. I mean, look at some of these books from Hayden’s class! Who wouldn’t want to take this class?
Billy has a sincere, outgoing personality, which combined with his teaching background, allows him to really connect with these students and confidently guide them through their daily meditations. Billy is guiding these students on their own path back to wholeness with just the right amount of guidance and relatability, and by fully listening to them and holding space for them.
I can say with certainty, in the six years I have offered the Meditation For Everyone Teacher Training program, Billy really took advantage of the training like few others. He fully engaged with the material and it shows in his results. Billy was already meditating daily since 2017 so he had a solid foundation. He had also been practicing yoga and taking an independent study on meditation and has worked hard at keeping his “beginners mind” fresh all throughout these years. Billy’s willingness to always keep learning, growing, and practicing in new ways is refreshing to witness as a teacher… and a parent of one of his students. In fact, right after the MFE training in 2019, Billy traveled halfway around the world to practice and continue his study of mediation in Nepal. This attempt at jumping right in to something that seems so daunting and unfamiliar to most of us, is what makes Billy so special.
My son is away at Lynn University, running XC and trying to figure out life on his own freshman year. Just knowing he has all these meditation techniques to pull from when he needs to is incredibly comforting. Is he still meditating? I’m not sure – but he did text me the other day and said, “Meditation is a flex, Dad.” I’m not sure what that means but I think that’s a good sign. =)
Thank you, Billy.