In the stillness of teaching, I found the language of the soul — where empathy breathes and silence becomes understanding. — Hoa Rompasaari
✨ Four Weeks of Presence
The first day of November marks the completion of my fourth week at erityiskoulu (special school) — four weeks that have quietly reshaped the way I perceive learning, teaching, and connection.
The golden leaves outside have begun to fall, and with them, the noise within me has softened too. In these four weeks, I have moved from observation to integration, from release to deep listening. Each day now feels like an unfolding meditation — one where I learn not through instruction, but through resonance.
To truly listen beyond words is to step into a higher dimension of empathy — to let go of the need to respond, and instead, to receive what the soul of another is whispering.
Silence is a source of great strength. – Lao Tzu
🌱 Learning Presence in Soundless Communication
At erityiskoulu, communication flows through glances, gestures, rhythms, and pauses. Words are often secondary; energy speaks first. Some children use pictures or signs; others express through movement or sound.
At first, I found myself trying to interpret everything — to understand. But as the weeks unfolded, I realised understanding does not arise from decoding behavior; it arises from entering into attunement. When I attune my breath, my posture, and my energy to the present moment, communication opens naturally.
This is where mindfulness becomes practical — not as a concept, but as co-regulation. The calmer I am, the more the environment harmonises. It is no longer about me teaching them, but us balancing together.
Research in interpersonal neurobiology (Siegel, 2012) calls this process resonance circuitry: the neural pathways that allow two nervous systems to communicate safety and empathy without words.
When you listen generously to people, they can hear the truth in themselves. – Rachel Naomi Remen
🕯️ Empathy as the Silent Bridge
Empathy is not about mirroring emotion; it is about anchoring presence. Dr. Daniel Goleman (1995) describes empathy as the heart of emotional intelligence — the capacity to feel with another without losing the self’s center.
During one morning circle, a child began to hum softly, a melody without words. The tone wavered, fragile but deliberate. No one interrupted. For a moment, the whole class existed in that shared frequency. When the humming stopped, stillness filled the room — not silence, but communion.
That is empathy in motion: the invisible thread between hearts that understand each other through vibration. It is how compassion teaches without explanation.
The quieter you become, the more you can hear. – Ram Dass
🌙 The Neuroscience of Silence
Silence in education is often misunderstood as absence, when in truth, it is integration in progress. According to mindfulness research, moments of stillness activate the default mode network — allowing the brain to consolidate memory, emotion, and meaning (Kabat-Zinn, 1994). In this natural rhythm of pause and processing, both teachers and students find equilibrium.
At special school, silence often happens between transitions — after lunch, before going outdoors, during art sessions. It is not forced. It arises like breath. When I lean into that collective stillness, I sense that learning is not only happening in the mind — it is happening through the nervous system.
The body listens, even when the ears do not.
And in that listening, healing begins
— for both child and teacher.
In the stillness, we find our true direction. – Louise Hay
🌼 From Observation to Response
Four weeks in, I am beginning to respond differently. I used to fill silences with reassurance, to explain or guide immediately. Now I wait — I breathe, I sense, and I trust the intelligence of the moment.
This pause between stimulus and response, as Viktor Frankl (1946) reminds us, is where our power lies. It is where intuition speaks before intellect intervenes.
Often, when I pause, a child naturally finds their own way — without my words, without my instruction.
This is what teaching through awareness means: to become a mirror rather than a messenger. To let learning arise from within the learner, not from the authority of the teacher.
Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space lies our power to choose. – Viktor Frankl
🌻 Moments of Connection
There was one morning when a boy stood near the window, watching the first frost. He didn’t speak, but his eyes held something tender — curiosity, perhaps awe. When I approached quietly and stood beside him, he smiled without looking up. We simply watched together.
These are the sacred moments education rarely measures — the pauses that reveal our shared humanity. No task was completed, no lesson delivered, yet something invisible passed between us: trust.
Each connection like this reminds me that listening is not an act of effort but of surrender. It happens when both hearts relax into presence.
Love is the great miracle cure. Loving ourselves and others moves us from fear to miracles. – Louise Hay
🌕 Reflections: Listening as a Spiritual Practice
Listening beyond words is a spiritual discipline. It asks us to lower the volume of the mind so that the heart can perceive the finer frequencies of truth. It requires humility — the willingness to not know, to let silence lead.
In these four weeks, I’ve realised that the most profound teaching moments are not when I speak, but when I witness. When I become still enough, I feel the field of compassion expand — between me, the children, and something higher holding us all.
Perhaps this is what sacred education means: not transmitting information, but cultivating awareness. To listen deeply is to awaken the Divine Intelligence already present in every soul before us.
To listen is to lean in, softly, with a willingness to be changed by what we hear. – Mark Nepo
✨ Closing Affirmations
I listen with my heart, not only my ears.
Silence is my teacher, and presence is my language.
Through stillness, I understand what words cannot express.
Every moment of deep listening brings me closer to grace.— Hoa Rompasaari
Be still. The quieter you become, the more you can hear. – Ram Dass
📚 Book Suggestions
- Frankl, V. E. (1946). Man’s Search for Meaning. Beacon Press.
- Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional Intelligence. Bantam Books.
- Hay, L. (1984). You Can Heal Your Life. Hay House.
- Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994). Wherever You Go, There You Are. Hyperion.
- Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Prentice Hall.
- Nepo, M. (2012). Seven Thousand Ways to Listen. Atria Books.
- Siegel, D. J. (2012). The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are. Guilford Press.
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