Working in the Mode of Goodness

“Whatever action a great man performs, common men follow. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.”

-Krishna to Arjuna in The Bhagavad Gita ch. 3 verse 21

This small, two sentence verse packs a large, powerful punch. It hits me so deep into my spiritual and mental core that I sometimes feel defeated. And maybe I feel defeated because of the current political climate we are in— where it does not appear that we have “great men [or people…] setting standards of exemplary acts.” Or maybe it is also because it shines a light on my personal darkness that can be difficult to own up to. Swami Prabhupada discusses in his translation of this verse how, “The king or executive head of a state, the father, and the schoolteacher are all considered to be natural leaders of the innocent people in general. All such natural leaders have a great responsibility to their dependents; therefore they must be conversant with standard books of moral and spiritual codes.”

My “day job” is a Montessori primary teacher of 2.5 to 6 year olds in New York City. It is such a beautiful and rewarding job to be a part of each child’s learning, growth, and self discovery. Much like a yoga teacher, a Montessori teacher guides the child to his or her own self-discoveries. That is why we are called Montessori guides and not teachers. A huge part of our training as Montessori guides is about how WE are the link between the child and the lesson, but that we should be neutral as to not influence a child. The child learns through the material. We are not depositing information into the child’s mind, much like a traditional model of schooling.

The Montessori guide connects the child to a material or lesson by observation of the child’s interests and developmental skills. Connecting the child to a material sounds simple, right? Children of this age love new, enticing materials most of the time. As it turns out, in my training it was not just about what lesson you show a child or how interested they are, but more about HOW you show the child the lesson. I used to joke with my assistant guide that being a Montessori guide is like performing a walking meditation all day. Your movements are precise, but fluid. Your words are few, but deliberate and clear. Your mind is aware, but non-judgmental. Your mindset is taking notes of any mistakes you have made, but modeling friendliness with error. When I first came to teach it was hard for me to remember to model all of these positive, life-affirming attributes in my behavior as a guide at every single moment in the classroom. You don’t break character the entire 6 hours of the school day. You embody compassion, forgiveness, problem-solving, handling anger appropriately, kindness, thoughtfulness, working for the good of others within the classroom, curiosity, excitement, manners, and poise. You embody all of these characteristics so that the children will begin to model their own behavior after yours. They see how calm, collected, patient— yet full of wonder and awe you are for learning within the classroom. The children are attracted to these positive attributes they see you modeling because they often do not see adults acting in such a way. Adults do not typically model these behaviors, and often times adults do not even come to the child’s level to speak with them giving them full eye contact and attention.

Sometimes the pressure of the children looking to me for my behavior builds and I ask myself, “Am I giving these children all that I can today? Can I show up better for them? Be more present for them? Lend them more of my attention? Back off when they are exploring a lesson? Allow them to problem solve? Am I being too hard on myself in front of them today? Do they feel it today? How can I better serve this child?”

Yoga allows me to connect to my eternal spirit and to serve the children and those in my life out of love and devotion. When I become too anxious (WHAT IF THEY AREN’T LEARNING?! AM I A TERRIBLE TEACHER FOR BEING FIRM WITH THAT CHILD AND SETTING BOUNDARIES?!) I always come back to my physical yoga practice and the readings of the sacred text of The Bhagavad Gita. I set standards through exemplary acts of behavior within my classroom the best that I can and with what I have been given. I try to let go of my attachment to the results of my work within the classroom because ultimately that is my ego shining through. If I am attached to how the children appear to be functioning, I am ultimately attaching their “success” or “failure” to my own “success” or “failure” as a guide. That is not fair to me or to them. They are on their own paths just as I am on my own path. I am here to guide their educational journey, not to force it. Children learn through the gentleness of a guiding hand, not the iron fist. And adults do too! We always have a choice.

Peace in our city, our state, our country, and our world begins with children. Maria Montessori knew this and that’s why she created this peace education model that is the Montessori Method. But the children become peaceful when they have examples of living, breathing, peaceful, and thoughtful people in their lives that set standards by “exemplary acts.” It is a great responsibility to be a person in a position of great power or leadership of others. It can feel like a heavy burden sometimes. Compassion and empathy towards others can only take form if we have compassion and empathy for ourselves. Showing up and being present for others can only take form if we show up and are present for ourselves. The physical asanas of yoga, the chanting meditations, and the breath work or pranayama all rejuvenate not only my body and mind but my soul. My body, mind, and soul have to be ready and rejuvenated consistently so that I can better perform my life duty and serve the children properly. We cannot forget to take care of ourselves even when our duties are to care for others.

Our world is focusing on those people right now who are not setting exemplary acts for the masses. Let’s try to do good, even serving on the small scale in the mode of goodness, for others so that we can counter some of the negativity coming from leaders today. Even a little bit of light will conquer the darkness.

photographer: @chrisabney