Virtual Mindfulness Retreat with Khan Academy and Headspace

And the intention for today's hour is really just to relax, um, just to unwind. Not a lot of information coming at you, just embodied practices. And I know that a lot of you probably have commitments at home right now, maybe kids coming in. And so really just do what you can and take those breaks as needed. And really there's no pressure to do this in any certain way.

So we're just going to start with something that helps us relax, and that's stretching and a little bit of massage. It might be nighttime or evening where you are, so it might be cooler. So just take a moment to notice the temperature and the environment around you. And then just take a moment to notice the feeling of your body on the chair or the surface that you're on and notice where your hands are resting. Maybe notice if you're leaning forward or leaning back, or if there's any adjustment that you'd like to make so there's more ease in your body.

And we're just going to set the intention of letting go of time. So that sounds like a giant task, but we'll see if we can touch into this sense of timelessness, as if we had all the time in the world to let go and unwind. And just take a moment to connect with your breath, breathing in through your nose and then breathing out a little slower through your nose or mouth, just letting our nervous system start to unwind.

And then just let your breath find its own natural easy rhythm, letting go of any effort. And then just notice any sensations in your body. So you might be hungry; you might be full. You might notice your eyes are fluttering. And just as we notice these sensations, we don't have to try and change them or make them different, but we can just kind of greet them with curiosity and acceptance. This is how things are right now. That's okay.

If you happen to notice pain, it might be difficult to stay with that sensation, so you can just touch into any sensation of pain and then find a place in your body where there's ease. Sometimes we really have to search for ease. Maybe it's at the tip of our big toe or one of our thumbs, but somewhere in the body usually there's a contact with ease. So just allowing us to be as we are in this moment, less than perfect, just as we are.

And we're just going to add in a little bit of movement here just to stretch our body gently. And if any of these movements don't work for you, you can just stay resting in whatever position is comfortable. So if you'd like to open your eyes to see these stretches, you can, or you can keep your eyes closed and just follow my verbal instructions.

So go ahead and anchor your hand to a spot next to you. Maybe you're holding onto a chair or your fingertips are resting on a couch or a desk. And then we're going to lift our left arm up, lift our left fingertips toward the sky, and just feel that length all the way down from your fingertips to your hip. And then we're just going to slowly reach over to our right. You can look down if that is nice on your neck, or you can look up. And I'm just keeping my eyes closed just to stay embodied, just to stay with the pleasant sensations of stretch and loosening up the muscles.

And take a deep breath here, feeling your lungs expand, and a deep breath out. And then reaching back up to the center and then just letting that left arm float down. And just pause to notice the different sensations between the side we stretched and the one we haven't stretched yet. Subtle tingling or heat, maybe more space in your diaphragm to breathe.

And then we'll go to the other side. So just lifting that right arm up toward the sky, reaching the fingertips up, anchoring your left hand, and then reach up and over toward your left, feeling that stretch from your right hip all the way through to your right fingertips. And again, you can look down, you can look up, and just take a few deep breaths, feeling your lungs expand.

And then on your next in-breath, just reaching back up and, as you exhale, slowly letting that right arm drift down. And again, just pausing here, noticing if you feel a little different than when we started. Maybe you can feel the nervous system start to unwind, and if not, that's okay too. Sometimes our nervous system kind of holds on tight to what's going on or what kind of day we had, right? So that's okay too.

And then you can open your eyes and just follow along. We're just going to do a few movements to give ourselves some love, give our muscles some love. So just go ahead, if it's comfortable for you and you don't have any injuries, just go ahead and squeeze. Gentle squeeze here right where your shoulder blades. This is where we hold a lot of tension. And then down the arm, all the way down to your forearm, and give a little squeeze to your hand and your fingers.

And let's just do that one more time, going back up, squeezing. And then again, pause just to notice the difference between the side we squeezed and the side we haven't yet. And it's all about awareness, right? We're just bringing awareness to ease so we can identify it, right? And then let's go to the other side. So just giving a nice squeeze to that shoulder blade. Anywhere you feel tight, you can stay in that area if you'd like.

And then you can just work your way down the arm, giving a squeeze to the shoulder and the forearm, all the way down to your hand. Maybe just look down at your hand and your fingers, thinking about all the things that they do, right? They type, and they hug, cook dinner, wash dishes. Just giving love. And then again, just pausing and seeing if you can really feel into the sensations. Maybe tingling, maybe lightness, maybe some ease emerged.

And we're going to do one last movement. So we're going to make fists with our hands like this. You can tuck the thumbs under your fingers and just hold the squeeze for a few moments, noticing what happens in the mind as we tense up. This is kind of representative of how we sometimes hold on to things or resist what's happening. And then take a deep breath into your nose, and as you breathe out, just release the hands, opening the palms.

This hand gesture kind of represents letting go or accepting or being open and curious. Notice how different that is. And then the last movement we'll do, if you want to open your eyes to look, is just imagine you're kind of hugging a tree, right? And relax the shoulders down. We don't want them to be up toward your ears. Imagine this gesture, this posture, is like we're holding whatever we encounter in this next 40 minutes together with kindness.

Whether someone interrupts our session or we don’t feel what we think we’re supposed to be feeling, see if we can hold all of that with kindness and compassion. And then we can rest our hands back down, opening our eyes. So hopefully the nervous system has started to enter what we call the rest and digest mode of operating, right? Our parasympathetic nervous system.

The next few activities we're going to do are all about that, all about activating our parasympathetic nervous system, which is the opposite of our sympathetic nervous system, uh, which is our what we call fight-or-flight, right? When we're stressed or we're trying to get things done or we're rushed, right? We want to move into the other way, the opposite of that.

So I have a little exercise which is about thinking about teachers that you've had in your life. And these don't have to be teachers you've had at school, but any kind of teacher that's left an impression on you. Someone that has taught you something or connected with you, someone with whom you felt really seen. And I want you just to reflect on that. And maybe a few people could share what comes up when you think about that.

And as you're thinking, as you're processing, I'll just share who a person I thought of. She was my 11th grade science teacher, and I was really disenchanted with school at the time. I felt like I wasn't able to really focus on what I wanted to focus on, which was neuroscience and psychology. And she happened to go to UCLA, which at the time was my dream school. And she gave me a textbook from one of her neuroscience classes that she still had.

And she told me that at any time I could go sit in at classes, sit in on classes at UCLA. And it just—I was so appreciative of that because, first of all, she took my interest seriously. She gave me a book that was special to her. And she let me know that I could pursue my interests and I didn't have to wait for it. I could go sit in on a lecture and be part of it, even though I hadn't graduated high school yet. So that was a teacher that really, um, left that I'll never forget. I'll remember her for the rest of my life.

So is there anyone who'd like to share just a story of a teacher? You can share verbally; I would love to hear your voices. And I totally understand too if you're not able to share verbally because of what's going on at home. But yeah, who's a teacher in your life that you've had? Maybe it's even a teacher who inspired you to go into this profession.

And yeah, we're getting a number of great, um, responses in the question section, which is awesome. Um, Carrie says, um, her 9th to 12th-grade music teacher was totally present and authentic, such an encouragement to all students. And Katie says, "Fifth-grade teacher that I worked with when I was a para, I still think about him and my classroom plans."

And then just to get a couple of folks to share live, I see some folks have raised their hand. So I'm going to actually unmute Crystal Davis here. Okay, um, so Crystal, if you like, you are now live with Sam.

Hi Crystal. Sometimes it can take a little while for the audio to kick. Um, Crystal, feel free to share. I'm also going to go over to Teresa here. Teresa, if you're there, feel free to share.

Okay, it said I was muted. Can you hear me now?

Yeah, we can hear you.

Yeah, okay, awesome. So, uh, for me, it's my fifth-grade teacher. Her name was Gail Lady. I remember her like it was yesterday. I had a very challenging childhood; I'll just leave it at that to make it comfortable for everyone. But she showed me that she loved me even though I felt so uncomfortable.

And the biggest thing of all is that I was actually able to meet her after I finally got my degree six years ago, and I did my student teaching, and she told me how proud of me that she was. And so I got a chance to have that last conversation with her before she passed away. So just very super precious. That's my share.

That's amazing. Thank you for sharing that. And I heard that the word love really resonated with me. Like you know when you're loved, you know when you're cherished by someone, even if it is a teacher. You know that kind of connection can translate or transcend to love, and that's why we're here. I always say that's why we're here on Earth, you know? We're here to connect; we're here to love.

So it's an amazing connection you had. And so great that you were able to meet with her and let her know what impact she had on you because when we're kids—and my husband just told me this too. He's like, "We never get thank-yous." You know, the only thank-yous that come are when maybe when the students are older and they realize, you know, how important and how what sacrifices teachers made and what effort they brought forth to the classroom. So yeah, I'm sure it meant a lot to her. Thank you so much, Crystal, for that amazing share.

Um, let's go over to Teresa. Teresa, I'm going to unmute your line. You're still there?

Yes. Yes. So I had a college professor in algebra that was a very difficult class. It was my third algebra class trying to take just to get through so I could even take a college algebra course. I was feeling very overwhelmed and, quite frankly, very stupid when it came to algebra.

And he told me that even if you don't get it one way and showed me that if you don't get it one way, there's always another way to solve a problem, which is something that I've taken not just when it comes to math but I've taken it in life as well, that there's multiple ways to solve our problems. Um, and don't just stick with that one method. That's something that I brought into my teaching as well because I do the same thing with my students now. If they can't get it one way, then let's look at it a different way. And it's been very successful and has been a good thing for me to learn. So I'm very thankful to Mr. Cherry, who's an algebra teacher in college.

Wow, that's a beautiful story. And the fact that he was able to connect it, or you were connecting it to life, just that there's always when we hit a roadblock, we have this capacity to come up with creative solutions or ways of looking at problems differently. And not just by ourselves, but even asking for help and being able to, you know, ask our teachers to help us look at something a new way. That's beautiful. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

So I would love for us to—I want to—you might not know this practice, but it's called loving-kindness meditation. And for the skeptics out there, it can sound kind of woo-woo because we're sending kind wishes to someone else. And it's not that we're in any kind of, um, delusional state that we think we can send wishes and they'll somehow be received, right? We're doing it for ourselves.

There's been a lot of research on this form of meditation, and the research has shown that it connects us to—well, it has a lot of health benefits, right? Reduces inflammation, increases and boosts our immune system. But it also puts us in touch with the neural circuitry that makes us want to connect, that helps us attune to each other and helps us to be present for another human being and to be present for ourselves. So it's really a selfish exercise even though we're doing something that sounds really benevolent for others, but it also makes you want—sometimes it stimulates this desire to reach out to the person, or to write a letter of thank you, or to really just be with them in a deeper way.

So we don't know exactly what it's going to do, but we go into it knowing it will be in some way beneficial. So I would love for us to send some kind wishes to the teachers that you thought of, the teacher that came to mind. And I'll lead you through; it's a very brief practice. I'll lead you through it. And just keep this person in mind and keep the feeling alive in you, the feeling of connection, of being seen, of that kind of freedom that you had from your algebra teacher when you learned that you could look at something a different way or that there were multiple ways of solving it, how that kind of opened it—unlike untied the knot that you may have felt when you didn't get something.

So just keeping that feeling alive, and we can close our eyes if we're comfortable. You can always rest your eyes on a spot in front of you if you don’t like to close your eyes. And let's just bring that teacher to mind. You can imagine that they're in front of you or next to you. Maybe recall what they look like, their demeanor. And just recall the moment of connection that you had with this teacher.

And if no teacher came to mind, you can just think of someone you like or love, someone in your life. And if you'd like, you can put a hand on your heart, but you definitely don't have to. And I'm just going to say some words of kindness out loud, and just imagine that you're sending this kindness, you're genuinely wishing for this person to feel this way.

May you be happy; may you know you're appreciated. May you be free from pain; may you be healthy. I'm just taking a breath to reconnect to that feeling of appreciation you have for this person. May you be happy; may you be safe; may you be healthy and at ease. And while we're here, just bringing to mind your own efforts. You can place your hand down if it's getting tired, but bringing to mind your efforts to show up when you don't feel like it. Sometimes, your efforts to be on time, to be present, your genuine desire to show care and concern for your students, for your family—all that effort and goodness that you show to the world.

And if exceptions come up, if you start thinking about, "Well, I'm not always like that," right? That's okay too. Just notice what the mind does, what the mind shows you. Greet it with—remember that holding with compassion and kindness. And we're just going to send some kind wishes to ourselves. We're going to use the word "you" just so we have that little bit of space where our loving kind self wishes it to our vulnerable, maybe sometimes hesitant self.

So may you be happy; may you be safe; may you be free from pain; and may you have ease. Taking a deep breath in and out just to reconnect with your efforts and your goodness. May you be happy; may you be safe; may you know you're appreciated; and may you feel at ease. I'm just staying with the feeling of ease that maybe has bubbled up from this exercise or holding whatever's here—skepticism, maybe a feeling of difficulty or hesitation—holding that with kindness, not resisting it.

And when you feel ready, you can open your eyes. And I just want to open it up again to the group to see if anyone would like to share what that was like for you. Often when we do this loving-kindness practice for the first time, it can be—we have what we call the inner heckler, right? We have this inner voice kind of heckling us and saying, "What are you doing? What is this?"

But maybe you've tried it before, or maybe it just felt really natural to you. So yeah, just feel free to jump in and share what that experience was like for you. And again, we can do it verbally or in chat. I love hearing your voices, so that's my preference, but whatever you can do.

So Christy says, "I'm always surprised that this exercise can bring me to tears." Yeah, and Abby said, "It made me want to call my guiding teacher and say thanks." And then, um, I know there are a couple of folks who would want to share online. So I'm going to go ahead with Carol first. So Carol, I've gone ahead and opened up your line. If you want to unmute yourself, feel free to say hi to Sam.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yeah, hi Carol.

Hi. I—for me, you know, I tell my students to do these things, and I don't always tell myself to. And so to hear you as the teacher telling me as the student to send myself love, you know, it's that kind of switch that I think teachers need more often.

Yeah, so thank you.

You're welcome. It's so true, right? We get in the habit of wanting to give advice, give tools, and then we forget to do it for ourselves, right?

Yeah, and we need teachers, right? Just like we never stop meeting teachers and helpers as we get older. And let's go next to Elizabeth. Elizabeth, feel free to share your story with Sam.

Sure, hi. Um, I always think it's awesome because I have so many people I want to thank and I'm grateful for and appreciate. But, um, I can't remember your name, but you said it brings you to tears, and that's what it always surprises me when I do stuff like this. You come in and it like, it happens, you know? When mine is, my brother passed away at age 48 a couple years ago, and we had a teacher we both had in sixth grade. And she ended up moving across the street from my mom.

And 15 years later, she had a picture that my brother had given her, like a school picture, he said, you know? And she told the story. She said he asked, "Well, do you want a school picture of me?" And she said, "Well, of course I do." And so the next day he came in with an eight by ten. And this is like in the mid—early eighties.

So she kept it and had it when she moved in across the street from my mom, like 15 years later. And so it just was a pretty amazing story that she was able to tell us, you know, at my brother's funeral. And like she made a difference then and continued to, you know?

Wow, wow, what a special woman.

Yeah. Thank you for sharing that.

And Sam, do we have time for one more share?

Yes, we do. Let's go over to, um, to Jamie Coates, actually. So Jamie, I'm gonna unmute your line. Feel free to open it up yourself.

Hi Jamie. Oh, looks like you might have a little trouble with Jamie. Oh, okay, let me try with, um, Jennifer here. Hold on one second. Jennifer, are you there?

Oh yeah, hi Jennifer. How are you?

Hi, I'm good, how are you?

Great, thank you so much for joining.

Yeah, I just—I again, like everyone, I'm echoing just the sentiments of tears. And, um, I was surprised with how my other senses really connected to when I was thinking about my fourth-grade teacher. Going back to that, I could—it was like it was in the classroom and I could hear his laugh and see his smile and just felt so good.

Um, and I made the connection that what made him so special—he was always a hundred percent present with us as his students. And that gift of being present is not forgotten.

Yeah, wow, it's incredible. Yeah, the presence is love, you know? It's the ultimate show of care when you're present and it's hard. It gets harder to develop in these times, so it's, you know, when we kind of need this time to stop and just reflect.

And I think we need people to bring us into it. We need all the tools we can get to pull us into this time to connect with each other, to commune, to share stories. So it's so precious, and when we do it, I don't know, it sounds like a lot of you are expressing this too, but when we do it we remember how good it is, how good it feels, and we want to do it again and again and again.

So yeah, it's just rediscovering the importance of community and connection. Lovely.

So I want to take us into our next exercise, which is all about awe. I feel like we don't use that word very often because these moments of awe, um, for most of us, happen infrequently, right? A moment of awe to me, and how it's been defined by the research, is these moments that leave you or inspire this feeling of surprise.

And, um, you know, you kind of feel small because the thing feels so big in a good way—it feels—you feel expansive, you feel inspired. You feel you're completely absorbed in that moment; you're not thinking about anything else because the thing you're witnessing is so beautiful or so touching or so magnificent, right? So these are moments of awe.

And, um, reflecting, there's a lot of research, and I can share with you the research literature, the authors. There's a woman actually in Canada who does some amazing workshops on awe, but um, she's found in the research that awe is really good for our mental health. It stimulates our vagal vagus nerve, which again activates our parasympathetic nervous system and helps us to actually feel like we're suspended in time, right? We lose track of time; we're in this flow state, so it's really good for us.

So I want to introduce you to this activity so that you can put yourself in that state of awe and then hopefully find a lot of extraordinary moments in your—or in the ordinariness of life, of day-to-day life. So what I'm going to have you do is—and you can do this again with your eyes open or closed. I like to shut my eyes just to close out all the visual stimuli, but we're going to think of a moment of awe that we've had.

So think of a moment when you were surprised and suspended for a moment in this feeling of amazement, this feeling of connection. Maybe it was a connection with a person or a moment of witnessing a child being born, or seeing a wedding, or some experience where you felt really present and in awe of the beauty. I'll give you a few moments in silence just to allow this memory to bubble up without pushing it or rushing it.

And as a moment comes to mind, see if you can expand it by noticing the details, the sensory details. So if there were people involved, remembering what people were there. Maybe even as you take a deep breath, you can remember the smell, the scents in the air. Maybe you can remember the sounds. Maybe you remember the temperature, if it was a hot day or cold day, neutral.

And then remember what you saw, the colors, the shapes, the facial expressions, the movements. Then we're going to connect with a movement that represents this moment of awe. So maybe it's your arms open, or if you were holding something, you might put your arms in that position.

So just find a movement in your body right now or a gesture that represents this moment of awe and just hold that movement or posture for a few breaths, helping you connect to that feeling, to let it soak in. Maybe you notice the thoughts that you had at the time or the emotions. And you can place your hands back down and just let that feeling simmer for just a few more moments.

And then when you're ready, you can—if your eyes are closed, you can open your eyes, coming back to the space that we have together. And I wanted to share, um, when I did this exercise for the first time what moment of awe came to mind. And I think Jeremy has a photograph to pull up to show you.

Um, it was when I was in—I went, when I was 15, I went to Europe for the first time and I saw the Coliseum. Oh, that's a beautiful picture! Yeah, and I looked at it and I heard the tour guides starting to talk about the history and some—some major points they were making stuck out, like how old it was and the events that used to take place inside.

But what got me was how old it was, just how—it withstood all this time passing and all these different events in history and it just stood there and it remained. And my gesture was this—you can't see my hands in the shot, but like—wow, kind of pushed back by it, by how huge it was and how beautiful.

And I also just felt so lucky to be there. I felt so lucky to witness this living piece of history that I had learned about in a textbook and now I got to see it. So that was my moment of awe and I just—I really did lose track of time. I think I was there for hours, but it felt like only minutes went by.

So I would love to hear from you again just what was your moment of awe, what came up for you, what sensory details did you recall, and what did it feel like to just stay in that feeling of awe? There's a lot of research showing that it takes 30 seconds to a minute for a positive emotion to really register in our system, for us to kind of—what they say or what they call hardwiring happiness—so that our default state becomes more likely to look for the good, to look for what we're grateful for, to recall these moments of awe.

It becomes more of a habit over time if we really let it simmer and stay with us for longer periods of time. So yeah, so even talking about it and listening to each other is helping us to really develop that hard wiring for the good, looking for the good, so we can be fully present with each other as we're listening to these stories of awe.

And if you'd like, you can share your gesture and I can try to replicate it, and we can all do it together so that we're mirroring each other and really maybe even touching deeply into empathizing with your experience. So who would like to share?

So we heard a number of great ones in the question section, Sam.

Yeah, we used to talk about sunset on the rim of the Grand Canyon. Um, Jacqueline talked about the first time I was out on the ocean without being able to see the shore. Jeanette said the moment of awe that really struck her when she was presented with her daughter for the first time, and she looked into her daughter's eyes and had a connection with her that's lasted all the way into adulthood.

Wow, that's an incredible moment. I’m not a parent yet, but I imagine that moment of, I mean, overwhelming awe when your child is placed in your arms. And sometimes we'll do these exercises with parents and kids and have them look into each other's eyes and talk about the color of their eyes, like I notice you have a little ring around your eye and it's light brown or whatever it is.

But for me, witnessing those moments of connection and seeing parents just—their whole face light up as their children are looking into their eyes is, for me, that's a moment of awe that I happily get to relive a lot of the time. So yeah, just thank you for sharing that.

Let's invite some folks to join live. Um, let's start with Michelle. So Michelle, I'm gonna unmute your line. Feel free to do the same on your side. Michelle, are you there?

Yes, I am. Hi, Michelle.

Hi, this is amazing. Um, the first time I held each of my children, and it washed over me the enormity of how my life would change after that. Life as I had known it would never be the same in ways I couldn't even at that time imagine.

Um, so that—that was awesome.

It's beautiful! I got chills all through my head and back as you were describing that; that took my breath away.

Yeah, it's beautiful. Was there a movement that came to mind? Was it like holding or—?

Yeah, it was as I cradled them in my arms and looked down at their little faces. And that was so many years ago; they're adults now, but I can cherish that moment once again, so I appreciate this. I hadn't thought about that in many, many years, so thank you for that.

Yeah, you're so welcome! Thank you for sharing. Sometimes I look into—I work with children quite a bit and I look into their eyes as if I was their parent, like I try to connect with them with that kind of love and unconditional positive regard, if you want to use therapy terms. But that feeling of connection—and we can kind of do that with other people, even strangers.

We can look at them through the eyes of a mother or sister or friend and really connect to each other on this level. You know, we have that capacity. It reminds me of the algebra teacher, you know, kind of asking us to look at the problem of disconnection or loneliness and maybe one solution is to recall that feeling of love that we have for people in our lives and to maybe look at each other through that lens.

Yeah, let's go over to Lindsay. Um, Lindsay, I'm gonna unmute your line. Feel free to connect with Sam.

Hi there! Can you guys hear me?

Yeah, hi Lindsay.

Um, thank you so much, Sam! Um, appreciate this; this is awesome. Um, so for me, it was also when I was traveling. And I think there were a few of us that said we were somewhere far, far away from home. So I was in Bagan, Myanmar, a couple years ago, and I was watching the sunrise over hundreds of thousands of pagodas, and it literally just seemed like time stopped.

Um, and the sun took forever to come up, the transformation of the sky. And, um, so that was really nice to kind of go back and revisit that. I haven't looked at those photos in forever, but I was sitting on the pagoda looking at the sunrise. I was right there back in that moment.

Um, and I'm—I try not to focus too much on the past, try to focus on the present and, you know, maybe the next day or the next week. But this was a nice reminder that it is okay to kind of go back to the past and think of those moments of awe. So thank you for that so much!

Thank you! Again, I got chills through my whole body. I could see them as these pagodas as you were describing them in my mind. It was, you know when we listen to stories, each other's stories, we're giving gifts—that's how I see stories—we're really gifting each other with these pleasant experiences because our brain doesn't really know the difference between living it, you know, like being there again and being here now.

The only difference is our motor cortex, which is activated when we're actually physically moving, but our brain, you know, going back to the past and really reliving some of these moments is so good. I kind of—the researcher who I love and have done these workshops with, she talks about it like a multivitamin. You know, the benefits you're giving yourself by recalling the past and sharing stories and listening to stories is medicinal in so many ways.

So yeah, I encourage you all to really go there often, and every time we go there, we're reinforcing it. So it's easier to drop in, right? You know, if you—before bed, if you're having a hard time falling asleep, you know, go to the pagodas, go to your child, you know, looking into their eyes, go to the Coliseum, wherever it is. But touch into it because it's this pool of nourishment.

And it really, you know, changes—you can—I think hopefully you all feel a shift, right? Their nervous system has settled down. And, um, you know, if I was just listening to these stories after a busy day and didn't ground myself, I wouldn't have gotten all these wonderful sensations of tingling and warmth and the visions of your stories. So we need that rest. We need that stillness and rejuvenation to then access each other more intimately and have empathy—this deep, deep embodied empathy.

So that's what I would love you to take away. The time has flown by, um, but that, you know, to take away looking for the good, it's a practice, right? Looking around and even just the space you're in right now and appreciating, um, I have photos of my family up here and all these wonderful memories. But just looking for the good and finding extraordinariness in the ordinary, um, especially in your students.

And maybe even try looking at them through the eyes of a parent, you know, or that feeling of unconditional positive regard, even—especially, I should say, the most difficult students who challenge us in so many ways.

But yeah, also teach us some really beautiful lessons. So it has just been such a pleasure to be with you. I really hope that you feel refreshed, rejuvenated, that the tank is a little bit more full.

And we can just close our eyes for one last moment and just connect—there are how many people in this call? Over 400, 600, 650 people that we can't see. We heard some voices, but we know they're there—all of us educators, teaching, learning from our students, giving of ourselves. We're part of this community, even though we can't see each other— we're here.

So just taking a moment to send these kind wishes to our whole community. You can think of these beams of light going out from our home all the way around the world, and at least the country, right? But we can include the world community of teachers. May we all find joy; may we all have as many moments of awe as possible in our lives.

May we all know we're not alone. May we all feel connected and safe and healthy. And you've sent that out, and now just take a few breaths receiving from these 650 people that have sent it to you. Just breathing in all the good that's been sent your way and letting it land in your body, your mind, your heart.

Letting this feeling of connection and ease linger and just taking it in to the rest of your evening. Maybe the next person you make eye contact with, just sending them kindness through your eyes.

And can open our eyes. And for all the timekeepers, it's exactly five o'clock. So I wanna honor and respect your time and just say thank you so much to our whole team, to Jeremy and Alice and Lino for putting this all together, and all of you for coming. It's been a pleasure, and I hope we can do this again soon. Really, genuinely, thank you so much, Sam.

I just wanted to end on this note from Michelle, which I thought was so perfect. Michelle says, "Thank you for this brief respite from the rigors of the day-to-day." We all know that teaching has those rigors. "It was a precious gift. May you also find joy and time that you can share with others in this wonderful practice." So thank you all for joining today. Thank you, Sam, for sharing your gifts with us, and we wish you all a wonderful spring. Thank you. Bye, everybody!