Embody your Intention: Using Somatic Practices to Enhance Student and Teachers’ Creativity and Engagement

Abstract

In contemporary higher education, there is a critical need to reimagine pedagogical practices through holistic mind-body approaches. The author explores the transformative potential of integrating mindfulness, yogic principles, and somatic practices into academic teaching methodologies. By focusing on lecturers' intentional reconnection with both their pedagogical purpose and their own personal intention, this work examines how targeted physiological interventions—including vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) stimulation, proprioceptive exercises, and coherent breathing techniques—can serve as powerful intro to a vast array of creative classes.

Somatic practices, such as visual detoxification and mindful breathing, and embodied learning strategies can be proposed in the classroom through a series of practical exercises and act as a resource to help improving educators' cognitive presence and students' engagement. The author proposes a comprehensive approach to turning traditional lecture formats into meaningful, transformative learning experiences, promoting a paradigm shift in curriculum design that prioritizes holistic well-being and intentional teaching.