A Path to Cognitive Breathing Space

by Steve Peters

The Away Day at CELFS this year, at its heart, was an exploration of how each of us can enhance well-being for ourselves, our colleagues and our students. This included a look at creating opportunities for Cognitive Breathing Space (CBS). The fact that this phrase could represent a variety of practices and meanings for individuals is apparent in the conversation maps and recordings created and collected during the event. On the Ashton Court Estate it took the form of a walk and talk activity with subsequent reflective conversation mapping. Thanks to Donna MacLean who suggested the focus for the away day and introduced the away day planning team to the concept of CBS for the day.

Presentations from participants based on the mapping and reflection of conversations highlighted the range and depth of insights taken as a result of creating those spaces. Insights shared by colleagues that have stayed with me include how breathing space for some draws on collaboration and conversation; the role of visual cues and the environment in sparking ideas and providing an energy boost; and how, in walking, a sense of recharging and memory combine beneficially. Something as simple as choosing to change the topic was also cited as having benefits to those sharing a walk and talk.

What had started as a rather nebulous term had become, through giving time and making space for it, a wide variety of specific insights. These were also related to the classroom context with teaching and learning in mind. Providing thinking or silent time, warming up to deep thinking and allowing for code-switching, finding alternative working spaces or uses for these, achieving a sense of ‘being in control in one’s head’, and using outdoor spaces are some of the ideas that participants felt might allow students to access the benefits gained from the day’s activity for themselves.

Participants have reported how they valued the chance to give time to talking to a colleague or how the natural environment enhanced their experience of the day. As the conversations continue over the academic year, it would be good to collect and share examples of what happens in practice and on a daily basis to get to the specifics of how Cognitive Breathing Space can be applied to benefit ourselves and those with whom we work. There is a plan to establish a space to post notelets to share what has happened in our practice as a result of these reflections. In the meantime, this blog can act as a ‘Germination Box’ (as it has tentatively become known), so feel free to add a ‘seedling’ or several as a comment.

Two further blogs on the Away Day will consider the 3MTs on evidencing value as an EAP tutor and the Pecha Kucha on Working Smarter not Harder. If you would like to ask colleagues for more detail about some of the ideas included in these blogs or share your own insights, feel free to comment here and continue the conversations.