One of the themes we return to on this show time and again is the human need for connection, and the ways that education structures can either hinder or enhance connection in the lives of learners. Lifelong learning is, by definition, a process of participation in an ever-expanding complex of ideas, but we’re not just talking about connection with the academic subjects being taught in the classroom; we mean connection of all kinds: with the body, with our evolving concepts of self, with other people, with the learning environment, with nature, with creative expression, and with the rhythmic energy that flows in and around our interconnected beings. This complex, interdependent web of connection is our basis for meaning, giving our efforts and lives a sense of shared purpose that can be felt in powerful, even physical ways.

Holistic connectedness does not come about automatically or easily in our increasingly isolating world. We sit in bedrooms, cars, busses, offices and classrooms, plugged into earphones and screens, bounded by walls and schedules, hounded by duties and to-do lists, and we lose contact with the world and our embodied beings in it. Students, educators and parents alike are challenged daily to cultivate the space and patience for real connections to emerge in lives that often feel too chaotic, competitive and desperate. But we CAN recenter, and return to the foundations of our being, where we find the curiosity, creativity, and togetherness that are the stuff of learning and personal growth.

In this episode, Honour Stahl teaches us about how a return to the body, to movement and to nature can connect us with our selves, with each other, with the world around us, and with the values that matter most in our changing and endangered world. She shows us how learning to move your body can help you learn so much more, and can, indeed, move you to places of meaningful growth and change. If you’re feeling a need for more grounding, more sharing, more moving, and more purpose in your life, Honour’s words and wisdom may be the starting point you’ve been looking for.

• 
  
• 
  
  • 
    
  • 
    
    • 
      
    • Honour Stahl
      
    • Charb Arts Studios
      
    • Women’s Healthy Environments Network (WHEN)
      
    • Synchrony
      
      • 
        
      • “Being in a crowd bonds people through physiological synchrony” (2022, Nature)
        
      • “The joys of physical synchrony” (2015, The Guardian)
        
      • “The Mental Health Benefits of Dance” (2023, Psychology Today)
        
      
      
      
    • Grounding
      
      • 
        
      • “Grounding, the Universal Anti-Inflammatory Remedy” (2023, Biomedical Journal)
        
      
      
      
    • Mirella Stroink and Teresa DeCicco: Metapersonal Self-Construal
      
      • 
        
      • “Embodied Ecologies”
        
      
      
      
    • Nicole Spiegelaar:
      
      • 
        
      • Sustainability Pedagogy
        
      
      
      
    • Tich Nhat Hanh and Plum Village:
      
      • 
        
      • Interbeing
        
      • “Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet”
        
      
      
      
    • James Bridle’s Ways of Being
      
    
    
    
  
  
  

If you haven’t listened to our last episode click here