In a first-of-its-kind training session for swim teachers, Swimming Matters hosted “You Matter”, a special session focused on swim teachers’ well-being, to celebrate Teachers’ Day on Sept 8 at Group Therapy Studio in Bangalore.
Maya Menon, one of India’s leading teacher trainers and founder-director of The Teacher Foundation, conducted the session.
Here’s what happened…
The highly interactive session was interspersed with elements from ‘Quality Circle Time’ concept followed in mainstream schools, including icebreakers, exercises, meditation, self-reflection and learning.
Participating swim teachers dwelt upon issues that they struggled with, what they needed help with and how they could help others. In groups, they made fun listicles on what made them happy, what made them laugh and what made them feel good about themselves.
In an introspective exercise, Maya helped them identify the ‘golden moments’ in their daily lives – moments that stimulate their senses of touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing, and also suggested tools to deliberately create such moments in their day. With Maya’s guidance, the swim teachers also visited their five ‘Wells’, and assessed their own strengths and weaknesses in it. The five ‘Wells’ that they explored were: ‘Cognitive Well’ that creates resourcefulness, Emotional Well that builds resilience, Physical Well that improves readiness, Creative Well that triggers imagination and Spiritual Well that makes one more reflective.
In an afternoon marked with trust, equality and mutual respect, over 16 swim teachers ‘binned’ their frustration and prejudice, ‘bagged’ their distractions (and mobile phones) and brought in their open mind and camaraderie – making the Teachers Day celebration a memorable one indeed!