Contemplative Pedagogy for Health and Well-Being in a Trauma-Filled World

Oct 15, 2026

Contemplative Pedagogy for Health and Well-Being in a Trauma-Filled World examines how widespread trauma disrupts students and teachers and makes “business as usual” ineffective. It argues for integrating contemplative practices—sometimes including writing—to cultivate awareness and kind attention while supporting regulation of feeling bodies. The essay connects trauma-informed pedagogy to classroom moments, exercises, and assignments that balance support with rigorous engagement. It reframes writing rigor and success through compassion and health-focused readiness.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Trauma and classroom disengagement

Compassionate support with rigor

Contemplative practices and writing

Grounded, compassionate relationship to feeling bodies

Trauma-informed pedagogy and classroom boundaries

Contemplative Pedagogy for Health and Well-Being in a Trauma-Filled World Angela Muir and Paula Mathieu This article argues that we are living in a climate where trauma is taxing students and teachers alike. In order to teach and learn in this moment, we recommend and explore a variety of contemplative practices to help teach awareness and kind attention. Some of these practices involve writing and others don’t, as writing itself can be a source of anxiety and stress. We outline practices and share personal anecdotes regarding an approach toward teaching writing that redefines terms such as rigor and success in more compassionate and health-focused ways. Introduction Buffalo, Uvalde, Tulsa. A hundred days of civil wars in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and war in Ukraine, not to mention Yemen, and culture wars in the US. Year three of a global pandemic, and over 6 million deaths worldwide. People whose skin is black or brown are targeted, attacked, and disproportionately killed, often by the institutions purported to protect them. Civil and reproductive rights are diminishing, while hate crimes are on the rise. This is all so traumatic to live through, let alone stand in front ofa classroom and be OK, or to look to our students and expect them to be OK. It is exhausting. We are exhausted. As college teachers of writing, we struggle to align our core values of engagement and curiosity with the multiple needs ofour students and ourselves in a traumatic climate that can overwhelm us all and breed disengagement (Field) . In “A‘Stunning’ Level of Student Disconnection,” Beth McMurtrie writes,“The Chronicle recently asked faculty members to share their experiences with student disengagement this academic year. More than 100 people wrote in to describe a disconcerting level of disconnection among students, using words like ‘defeated,’ exhausted,’ and ‘overwhelmed.’” When our students and ourselves are struggling, how can we be both compassionate and effective teachers? How can we find ways to be both supportive and rigorous–for our students and ourselves? Composition Studies 50.2 (2022): 154–169 Angela: In my own First Year Writing Seminar, I saw full attendance only once all semester, most classes had at least two out of fifteen students missing. The emails I received from students all explained the same reason, “I’m sorry professor, I just needed some extra sleep this morning, I am exhausted.”How could I blame them? Most mornings I felt the same way. Paula: This year I have accompanied students as they faced the death of loved ones, endured illnesses and injuries, faced racial aggressions on campus, witnessed a roommate’s overdose, quarantined, and struggled with depression, anxiety, hopelessness, fear. I am facing my own devastating loss and personal challenges. How do I purposefully teach and learn ina state of overwhelm? The latest Healthy Minds survey shows that mental health problems such as anxiety and depression are at a record high of 47% among students, and an outstanding number of those students are reaching out to their professors for support (Eisenberg, et al.). For many of us, business as usual is not an option. We can no longer succeed by sticking to the syllabus and try to tough it out. Yet, we teach because we care deeply about writing and teaching and the students with whom we work. But many of us feel unprepared to weigh into “heartpounding” conversations about mental health and well-being with students (Field) . How can we find a proper balance between support for our students and setting expectations for meaningful engagement and rigorous learning? There are many possible answers to this question, as this special issue of Composition Studies demonstrates. Our answer in this essay focuses on incorporating contemplative practices, which can include writing activities and exercises to help one feel ready to write, into our classrooms. Our approach begins with a grounded, compassionate relationship

FAQs

How do the authors define trauma-informed pedagogy, and what do they say it is not?

They cite definitions that frame it as addressing dysregulation in overstimulated nervous systems to create resiliency and connection. They emphasize it is not asking professors to act as therapists, especially for those not trained as clinicians.

Oct 15, 2026

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