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EMBODIED, SPIRITUAL, AND NARRATIVE LEARNING in NEWER APPROACHES TO ADULT LEARNING

from Learning in Adulthood: A Comprehensive Guide

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T he whole pe rson is made up of mind, body, and spirit. Rare ly, howe ve r, are the body and spirit take n

into account whe n we talk about le arning. Our We ste rn he ritage has de fine d le arning as a me ntal

proce ss that take s place in the mind—ne ve r mind that we cannot locate the “mind.” T he brain, which we

can locate , be come s the place of le arning, se ve re d from some thing as concre te as the body and as

e phe me ral as the spirit. T his focus on the mind is partly due to We ste rn scie nce 's inve stigation of

le arning as a me chanistic proce ss—one de signe d to produce re sponse s to stimuli, or to proce ss

information, or more re ce ntly, to construct knowle dge large ly through re fle ction on e xpe rie nce (se e

Chapte r Ele ve n for a re vie w of the se traditional le arning the orie s).

T his e mphasis on the mind goe s back e ve n be fore twe ntie th-ce ntury le arning the ory to De scarte s, a

se ve nte e nth-ce ntury Fre nch philosophe r who de clare d that “I [that is, my mind, by which I am what I am]

is e ntire ly and truly distinct from my body” and that “body, figure , e xte nsion, motion, and place are

me re ly fictions of my mind” (De scarte s, 1637/1960, pp. 165, 118, cite d in Miche lson, 1998, p. 218). T his

se paration of the mind and body was re inforce d by e ighte e nth-ce ntury Enlighte nme nt philosophe rs who

be lie ve d that knowle dge could be obtaine d through re ason alone ; othe r source s of knowle dge at that

time , such as faith, tradition, and authority, we re re je cte d by many.

As a re sult of Carte sian and Enlighte nme nt thinking, le arning has come to be e quate d with me ntal

proce sse s, with knowing through thinking or cognition. Not until the last fe w de cade s of the twe ntie th

ce ntury has the role of the body and the spirit in adult le arning the ory be e n conside re d. Fe minist

the orists and multicultural the orists in particular have significantly shape d this discussion, along with a

numbe r of adult e ducators.

T his chapte r will first discuss the nature of what is be ing labe le d somatic or embodied le arning—that is,

le arning through the body. An e ve n large r se t of writing and some re se arch is on spirituality and its role

in le arning. T his will be re vie we d in the se cond se ction of the chapte r. Finally, whe the r our le arning is

locate d in the mind, the body, or the spirit, or some combination of the se , we ofte n make se nse of this

le arning through storyte lling. How we le arn through narrative is e xplore d in the last se ction of the

chapte r.

EMBODIED OR SOMAT IC LEARNING

Eve ryone can name time s whe n the body communicate s to us, whe the r it be a panic attack brought on

by stre ss, a “gut” re action to a racist comme nt, an upse t stomach as we conte mplate complaining to a

te ache r or boss, or be ing draine d and e xhauste d from an inte nse e ncounte r. So why have we te nde d

to ignore the body as a site for le arning? T he main re ason se e ms to be the We ste rn privile ging of mind

ove r body. T he focus of le arning and e ducation is “a change in a me ntal state , from one of ignorance ,

to one of knowle dge …. In We ste rn e ducation, the highe st status is re se rve d for the most abstract and

immate rial le arning, irre spe ctive of its utility, and the lowe st status is accorde d to concre te , mate rial

le arning, much of which we le arn in daily e mbodie d action” (Be cke tt & Morris, 2001, p. 36). Miche lson

(1996) obse rve s how absurd this se paration can be whe n an institution of highe r e ducation e ngage s in

awarding cre dit for prior e xpe rie ntial le arning: “T o be accre dite d, knowle dge must be de tache d from the

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site of its production…. Knowle dge is cre dite d only to the de gre e that e xpe rie nce has be e n

transce nde d, so that both the site of its production and the particularitie s of the se lf have be e n e xcise d”

(p. 190).

R E J E CT IO N O F T H E B O D YR E J E CT IO N O F T H E B O D Y

But the re je ction of the body may be e ve n more basic than privile ging cognitive knowle dge .

Golde nbe rg, Pyszczynski, Gre e nbe rg, and Solomon (2000) advance an inte re sting hypothe sis that the

body is proble matic be cause it is a pe rpe tual re minde r of the ine vitability of de ath. T he dile mma is that,

on the one hand, “we are animals with a de e ply roote d instinct for se lf-pre se rvation; on the othe r, we

are inte llige nt be ings with sophisticate d cognitive abilitie s that are imme nse ly adaptive but also re nde r

us aware of the ine vitability of our own de ath” (p. 201). T o de al with this dile mma, we e ngage in cognitive

distancing, “strip[ping] the body of its cre ature line ss” and re placing it with cultural symbols and standards

of be auty, se x, and so on. T he y conclude that “our flight from our physical nature cause s us to lose a bit

of what it me ans to be human” (p. 215).

Fle e ing from the “cre ature line ss” of the body e xte nds to ignoring, cove ring up, or satirizing our physical

characte ristics, bodily functions, and se xuality. But we live in our bodie s, and we le arn about ourse lve s,

about who we are , through what our bodie s can and cannot do and how we e xpe rie nce se xuality and

othe r bodily functions. Chapman (2002) for e xample , analyze s the inte rre lationship of powe r and he r

ide ntity through e xamination of bodily functions. In atte nding an English boarding school, e ating

constructe d he r ide ntity: “We ate at school, e ve ry day, the food of Empire … se ate d in the dining room

unde r the gaze of John Smith, our famous ‘old boy,’ ste rnly subduing the fe male colonial body of waif-

like Pocahontas. We le arne d/ate to be future wive s of the Empire . In food and e ating, we position

bodie s in re lation to othe rs in te rms of class and e thnicity, as we ll as morally, as in good food and bad

food” (pp. 75-76).

Popular culture re fle cts a growing inte re st in re conne cting the mind and body. Both Time (January 17,

2005) and Newsweek (Se pte mbe r 27, 2004 ) de vote d e ntire issue s to this topic. As the le ad story in the

Newsweek issue title d “T he Ne w Scie nce of Mind & Body” state s:

So why is Newsweek devoting this Health for Life report to the mind-body connection? Because the

relationship between emotion and health is turning out to be more interesting, and more important, than

most of us could have imagined. Viewed through the lens of 21st-century science, anxiety, alienation and

hopelessness are not just feelings. Neither are love, serenity and optimism. All are physiological states that

affect our health just as clearly as obesity or physical fitness. And the brain, as the source of such states,

offers a potential gateway to countless other tissues and organs—from the heart and blood vessels to the gut

and the immune system. The challenge is to map the pathways linking mental states to medical ones, and

learn how to travel them at will. [Benson, Corliss, & Cowley, 2004, p. 46]

T he mind-body conne ction is not only made in te rms of he alth and me dicine . T ake , for e xample , the

Acade my Award-winning movie Ray, de picting the life and music of Ray Charle s. Cle arly, this blind

musician navigate d the world through his body just as the ge nius of his music flowe d through his body.

But while we can find that atte ntion is be ing paid to uniting the mind and the body in popular culture , and

we can e ve n come up with pe rsonal e xample s of time s whe n we have le arne d through our bodie s,

e mbodie d or somatic knowing and le arning are only now be ing sporadically re se arche d and the orize d

about in e ducation and othe r social scie nce s (Ke rka, 2002). We now turn to de finitions, e xample s, and

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the orizing re late d to e mbodie d le arning.

R E CLAIMIN G T H E B O D Y IN LE AR N IN GR E CLAIMIN G T H E B O D Y IN LE AR N IN G

Embodie d le arning is most ofte n linke d to e xpe rie ntial le arning in the se nse that we le arn in an

e xpe rie nce . Somatic knowing, as is also true of spiritual and narrative knowing, is conne cte d to adult

le arning through me aning-making. Atte nding to the se noncognitive dime nsions of knowing can bring

gre ate r unde rstanding to our live s; the y e nable us to make me aning of our e ve ryday e xpe rie nce s.

Le arning in the e xpe rie nce is imme diate , physical, e motional. It is, as Sie ge smund (2004 , p. 80) write s, “a

fe lt re action of rightne ss within an e xpe rie nce .” T his is not to de ny that the body has a social and

mate rial location; as Miche lson (1998) points out, “[L]e arning is an active , world-cre ating proce ss

inscribe d on the body and at the same time subje ct to particular mate rial and discursive conditions that

constrain the body within culture and in history” (p. 225). For e xample , a woman who physically re giste rs

a se xist comme nt may in the mome nt unde rstand some thing about se xism or patriarchy. At the same

time , howe ve r, this le arning would be “a function of a ge nde re d subje ctivity, or a social e xiste nce live d

within a woman's body in which the trace s of past ange rs and hurt fe e lings, of pe rsonal and colle ctive

me morie s re side ” (p. 226). T he body, in fact, has long be e n a ce ntral point of analysis in fe minist

re se arch and the ory (Some rville , 2004 ).

Othe r e xample s of e mbodie d le arning are offe re d by Matthe ws (1998) and Crowde s (2000). Matthe ws

re calls his e arly schooling days whe re by and large he had to sit still and e ndure , rathe r than be active ly

e ngage d in le arning. One e xce ption was a fifth-grade te ache r who unde rstood “the powe r of e mbodie d

action e ve n at the le ve l of ritual, [whe n] she provide d white lab coats for us to we ar, which we ke pt in

the cloak room. She e xplaine d that whe n we put on the se coats we would become scie ntists” (p. 238).

Crowde s (2000) notice d the irony of critical social analysis course s taught at he r unive rsity in which

stude nts be came quite sophisticate d in analyzing issue s of powe r and social ine quity but we re

“de tache d from the ir bodie s and age ncy in matte rs of conflict re solution and change ” (p. 25). She

re de signe d the course and calle d it “Powe r, Conflict, and Change in Social Inte raction: What's a Body to

Do?” Incorporate d into the course are e mbodie d e xe rcise s to conve y what is re ally me ant by the se

te rms and how the body can be e mploye d, along with the inte lle ct, to ne gotiate change . In one e xe rcise

calle d bowing, partne rs in dyads are assigne d role s, with one be ing supe rior and all-powe rful to whom

the othe r must bow. T he role s are re ve rse d in the se cond ste p. Afte r e ach phase stude nts are aske d

to re fle ct on how the y felt in e ithe r role . T he third ste p was for e ach partne r to bow to the othe r in a

mutually loving and re spe ctful way. T he thre e phase s of the e xe rcise allow stude nts to e xpe rie nce the

multiface te d nature of powe r and powe r re lations. It is in the e xpe rie nce that powe r re lations be come

meaningful.

It is, of course , e asie r to se e how e mbodie d le arning take s place in a physical activity such baske tball or

dance . But e ve n in the re alm of dance , “dance e ducators ofte n se e m e mbarrasse d to spe ak too much

about the body, thinking that to note the physical labor of dance de me ans it in the e ye s of inte lle ctuals,

and to call atte ntion to the se nsory, bodily ple asure of dancing make s us se e m me re he donists”

(Stinson, 1995, p. 4 6). Stinson goe s on to say that for he r to re ally know some thing involve s “thought as

some thing that occurs throughout my body, not just above my ne ck” (p. 4 6). Dance chore ography is that

e ffort to conve y live d e xpe rie nce through artistic form.

In the same way, conducting re se arch is an e mbodie d proce ss be ginning with a passionate conne ction

to the topic one is going to re se arch. Data gathe ring, Stinson (1995) points out, is ve ry e mbodie d,

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whe the r inte rvie wing or obse rving. Sorting through the data gathe re d is also an e mbodie d activity “in

[an] e ffort to find the form and conte nt of the work” be ing constructe d (p. 4 9). So too, insights with

re gard to important the ore tical conside rations and the final form of the proje ct “could not have arise n

without atte ntion to e mbodie d knowle dge …. We can think only with what we know ‘in our bone s,’ and …

atte nding to the se nsory, followe d by re fle ction, is e sse ntial in re se arch” (p. 52).

In ye t anothe r e xample of e mbodie d knowing, Yoshida (2005) de scribe s how writing Japane se

calligraphy, at first cognitive , be came an e mbodie d e xpe rie nce . He re counts writing the Japane se

characte r for rive r (Kawa), which re quire s thre e stroke s:

When I finished the third stroke, I recognized a strong feeling that remained in my body. I stopped and put the

brush down, and went into that feeling. It was similar to a feeling in my palm which I remembered from

canoeing in the wildness…. The beautiful scene came back. I closed my eyes with this image. And again I

wrote Kawa with a brush as if I was paddling with the flow of the river. In the left sidestroke the water flows

with a paddle (brush). In the middle stroke, I hold the water and stop the brush. For the third, I sink the paddle

deep down, holding the heavy water for the longest stroke. I push it all the way down.

I felt the Kawa character written in this way came alive, as if flowing in front of me. I encountered the vital life

of the Kawa character in this way…. The character is no longer an object outside myself, it is something living

within. [p. 133]

Although the afore me ntione d e xample s of e mbodie d le arning involve the body in le arning, the re are

also subtle diffe re nce s. Amann (2003) te ase s out the se diffe re nce s in he r four-part mode l of somatic

knowing. She fe e ls the re are four dime nsions to this type of knowing—kine sthe tic, se nsory, affe ctive ,

and spiritual. Athle te s, artists, dance rs are all conce rne d with the move me nt of the body, or kinesthetic

learning. T his “move me nt and action … ofte n yie lds le ssons about discipline , dilige nce , de aling with

stre ss, or solving proble ms” (p. 28). Sensory learning, she maintains, is “inhe re ntly somatic” be cause by

de finition it is how we acce ss information through our se nse s; we the n “re late that information to our

e xpe rie nce and e xtrapolate me anings significant to our live s” (p. 28).

Embodie d le arning has a strong e motional or fe e ling dime nsion, which Amman labe ls affective learning.

Dirkx (2001b), for e xample , spe aks to the powe r of e motions whe re in “me aningful le arning is

fundame ntally grounde d in and is de rive d from the adult's e motional, imaginative conne ction with the

se lf and with the broade r social world” (p. 64 ). Actually, scie nce has known for some time that ne rve

e ndings e xte nd throughout the body through which we re ce ive impulse s from outside the body (se e

Chapte r Fifte e n). Furthe r, “e motions are e nme she d in ne ural ne tworks involving re ason…. Emotions

incre ase the stre ngth of me morie s and he lp to re call the conte xt of an e xpe rie nce , re nde ring it

me aningful” (Hill, 2001, p. 76). Mulvihill (2003, p. 322) is e ve n more e xplicit about the ne urological

dime nsion of le arning:

There is no such thing as a behaviour or thought, which is not impacted in some way by emotions. There are

no neurotransmitters for “objectivity”; rather even the simplest responses to information signals are linked

with possibly several “emotional neurotransmitters” (Haberlandt, 1998). Because the neurotransmitters,

which carry messages of emotion, are integrally linked with the information, during both the initial processing

and the linking with information from the different senses, it becomes clear that there is no thought, memory,

or knowledge which is “objective,” or “detached” from the personal experience of knowing.

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In making the case for including dance and the arts in e ducation, Ross (2000) unde rscore s the

inte rconne cte dne ss of e motions with somatic knowing: “T he arts are firmly roote d in the se e xchange s

be twe e n the psyche (mind) and soma (body), and the se nse s and e motions are the conduits of the se

e xpe rie nce s” (p. 31). Emotions are e mbodie d and thus are an inte gral compone nt of this type of

le arning.

T he fourth compone nt of Amann's somatic le arning mode l is spiritual. T he spiritual aspe ct of somatic

le arning is me aning-making through music, art, image ry, symbols, and rituals and ove rlaps or inte rse cts

with the othe r thre e dime nsions (se e Chapte r Nine ). Inte re stingly, Yoshida pre se nts his e xample of

somatic knowing in writing the Japane se word for rive r as re lating to his “spiritual” roots: “As soon as

the characte rs unfold the ir life , the y unfold the soul, not only in me , but also in all the souls of the

pe ople who live d and wrote this characte r throughout Japane se history” (2005, p. 133). Götz (2001) links

the e mbodie d with the spiritual in a numbe r of ways, citing, for e xample , nume rous athle te s who through

inte nse physical activity have e xpe rie nce d spiritual mome nts.

Othe r write rs have conce ptualize d e mbodie d or somatic le arning as embodied cognition (Che ville ,

2005), as ontological performance(Be cke tt & Morris, 2001), or as a somatic epistemology for education

(Brockman, 2001). Che ville propose s “a the ore tical frame that locate s the human body at the

inte rse ction of culture and cognition”; that is, “the human body is at once an obje ct of culture and a

subje ct of cognition” (p. 86). T o illustrate how the body is at the inte rse ction of culture and cognition,

Che ville conducte d an e thnographic study of the athle tic and acade mic le arning of a wome n's

baske tball te am. Cultural e xpe ctations manife ste d the mse lve s in the playe rs having to asse rt the ir

fe mininity off the court to counte r the ir physicality (associate d with male s) on the court. Furthe r, the

African-Ame rican playe rs fought against be ing se e n sole ly as athle te s, which, along with e nte rtaine rs,

we re among the common culturally pre scribe d role s for Blacks. Court le arning was a matte r of

ne gotiating one 's body both spatially and te mporally; this le arning was ove rlaid with asymme trical powe r

re lations be twe e n coach and playe rs and more e xpe rie nce d and le ss e xpe rie nce d playe rs. Che ville

summarize s: “Only by ‘be ing the re ’ toge the r in body did playe rs e nte r into re fle xive consciousne ss. For

Je nny [one of the playe rs] and he r te ammate s, the orche stration of bodily activity was the me ans to a

colle ctive mindse t. Le arning was ne ce ssarily a political proce ss, de manding that coache s and playe rs

ne gotiate the ir unde rstanding through social and bodily e ngage me nt” (p. 98).

T he re lationship be twe e n ide ntity, le arning, and the body is e xplore d in Be cke tt and Morris's (2001)

article . T o illustrate the ir the sis that ide ntity is constructe d through e mbodie d actions in conte xt, the y

studie d two work se ttings, one an age d-care facility (ACF) and the othe r an English as a Se cond

Language (ESL) classroom. In the ACF, most of the staff we re fe male with little formal training or

e ducation. Howe ve r, the ir physical e xpe rie nce in the facility, re ading e ach situation as it occurre d and

finding “what works,” cre ate d a community of practice whe re the ir ide ntitie s as he alth practitione rs we re

se cure . T he authors characte rize this workplace as a “site of powe rful adult le arning for the staff,” a

place whe re “practical logic, aime d at what will work by drawing late rally on e mbodie d e xpe rie nce s,

pre vails” (p. 4 1).

Be cke tt and Morris (2001) go on to cite two e xample s from the ESL classroom of what the y call

ontological pe rformance . T he first had to do with a Muslim woman who at first wore the he adscarf but

late r in the course came cove re d in a full ve il and glove s. T he te ache r could not unde rstand the

change , which was e xplaine d by stude nt as, “We ll, I'm close r now to my re ligion. I'm more … I'm a be tte r

pe rson now be cause I do this” (p. 4 2). T he authors point out that while the te ache r saw the body as a

cultural re pre se ntation, “the le arne r pre se nts a ve ry diffe re nt ve rsion of culture , one that is live d, whe re

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knowle dge , be lie fs, and e xpe rie nce s are locate d in the body, whe re the body is the me dium for having

a world” (p. 4 2). In the se cond e xample from the ESL classroom, le arne rs we re pre paring for a two-

we e k work e xpe rie nce place me nt. T he te ache r's ve rsion of the “good worke r” was one who stays in

his or he r place , acts polite ly, and doe s not challe nge the boss. T he stude nts, se ve ral of whom had

many ye ars of work e xpe rie nce in the ir home countrie s, continually que stione d and re siste d the

te ache r's construction of the m as docile worke rs. T he se le arne rs we re “‘active bodie s’ constructing and

re constructing the ir se nse of se lf and occasionally re sisting othe rs’ construction of the m” (p. 4 3).

Brockman's (2001) somatic e piste mology for e ducation is the final conce ption of somatic knowing. In

today's world of dive rsity, postmode rnism, and multicultural e ducation, he asks the important que stion of

how we are to asse ss and de al with cultural “e vils.” All culture s pe rpe tuate ce rtain be lie fs, value s,

customs, practice s, and ide ologie s that are oppre ssive and e ve n physically abusive (sanctione d

viole nce against wome n, for e xample ). Ye t cultural re lativism mitigate s against our making a moral

judgme nt of the se be haviors. As an e xample , he asks what a U.S. schoolte ache r should do if the

te ache r obse rve s a T urkish boy be ating his siste r who has flirte d with boys at school. “In T urkish culture ,

a strong value is place d on a girl's honor, so he r brothe r is me re ly putting into e ffe ct the norms of the ir

culture ” (p. 328). Re lying on cultural-linguistic knowle dge doe s not provide a satisfactory basis for

de aling with this moral dile mma.

What is ne e de d, Brockman (2001) maintains, is an e piste mology base d on somatic knowing. Knowing

through the body is more fundame ntal than what we know through culture . “In short, ne ithe r culture nor

language are the source of somatic knowle dge . Somatic knowle dge is re ce ive d from within the human

be ing; cultural knowle dge is re ce ive d from without the human be ing” (p. 331). With re gard to the T urkish

schoolgirl, while she may cognitive ly know that he r brothe r's actions are culturally appropriate , she

“knows somatically the abusive and harmful nature of he r brothe r's be havior; it is a cultural e vil” (p. 331).

T he te ache r should “stop the be ating, in the name of the body—he r body” (p. 333). For those who worry

that an outside standard of moral be havior is be ing place d on a particular cultural conte xt, Brockman

re sponds, “T he body is a crite rion of knowing inclusive within e ve ry cultural conte xt, though not

inde pe nde nt of conte xt. T he re fore , somatic knowing offe rs gre at promise in answe ring the proble m of

re lativism, be cause it re cognize s dime nsions of knowing (and re ality) common within all cultural

conte xts” (p. 332). A somatic e piste mology also holds gre ate r promise for “a broade r the ory of le arning

than would a strictly multicultural the ory” (p. 332).

In summary, re claiming the body in le arning contribute s to a broade r the ory of le arning, one that

re cognize s the body as a source of knowle dge . T his re cognition alone challe nge s the dominant

culture 's claims to knowle dge base d pre dominate ly on re ason. Le gitimizing somatic knowing can also

le ad to de ve loping e mpathy, as Crowde s (2000) atte mpte d to do with he r course on critical social

the ory. It is also, as Matthe ws (1998, p. 237) points out, “a political argume nt for gre ate r e ducational

e quity.” Finally, e mbodie d knowing is linke d to adult le arning through its powe r to contribute to making

se nse of, or making me aning of, our live s.

SPIRIT UALIT Y AND LEARNING

One of us (Me rriam) offe rs this insight:

As is true of most decade birthdays I was not looking forward to turning sixty. I basically ignored it and

managed to schedule some workshops in South Korea at that time. On the exact date of my birth I and a

Korean colleague were high in the mountains in the southeast part of the country engaging in an overnight

Buddhist temple stay. We attended prayers, ate in silence with the monks, and spent an evening in seminar

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with a monk who explained the life of the monastery and basic Buddhist beliefs. During the visit I felt a sense

of peace and of being “present” that I had not experienced before; the fact that I had just turned sixty seemed

not to matter and my angst about it evaporated.

For the author, this was a spiritual le arning e xpe rie nce in that the “flow” or “life force ” that she fe lt in

that mountain re tre at e nable d he r to make me aning of he r own aging. Like somatic-e mbodie d knowing,

spiritual knowing or le arning is also about me aning-making, though pe rhaps more difficult to

accommodate than e mbodie d le arning, which doe s have a tie to physical se nsations. While most would

acknowle dge that human be ings are spiritual be ings as we ll as corporal and thinking be ings, our image

of the adult le arne r has be e n be re ft of anything re mote ly “spiritual.” Rathe r, the le arne r is “me re ly an

animal to be socialize d, a compute r to be programme d, a unit of production to be harne sse d and

utilize d, a consume r to be won” (Sloan, 2005, p. 27). Furthe r, the se nse of wonde r and awe

characte ristic of a spiritual stance has be e n “trivialize d” in “the conte mporary marke t-drive n world” to

the point that “we have e nde d up atte mpting to re inve nt it in Disne yland or through virtual re ality

(Mande r, 1991)” (O'Sullivan, 2005, p. 70).

T he se gloomy image s of le arne rs in a virtual world are be ing counte re d by an outburst of writing and

discussion on the place of spirituality in our live s ge ne rally, and in adult and highe r e ducation and

human re source de ve lopme nt spe cifically. Popular culture ve hicle s of movie s, books, te le vision shows,

and magazine article s are re fle cting this inte re st, pe rhaps, as some write rs have spe culate d, be cause of

the aging baby boom ge ne ration. De ve lopme ntal psychologists dating back to Carl Jung have asse rte d

that as adults move into midlife and be yond, the re is an inward turning to conte mplate the me aning of

life and spiritual aspe cts of one se lf. Inde e d, in a longitudinal study of spiritual de ve lopme nt in adulthood,

“all participants, irre spe ctive of ge nde r and cohort, incre ase d significantly in spirituality be twe e n late

middle (mid-50s/e arly 60s) and olde r adulthood” (Wink & Dillon, 2002, p. 79).

Inte re st in the topic is manife st in bookstore title s, continuing e ducation course s, and solidly

conse rvative age ncie s such as the National Institute s of He alth and the Ame rican Me dical Association,

both of which are inve stigating how spiritual practice s such as me ditation, yoga, and praye r can affe ct

physical he alth. Spirituality has be come a popular topic in e ve n as unlike ly a site as Ame rica's profit-

drive n corporate world. Doze ns of article s and books such as Mitroff and De nton's A Spiritual Audit of

Corporate America (1999), Bolman and De al's Leading with Soul: An Uncommon Journey of Spirit (1995),

and Briskin's The Stirring of Soul in the Workplace (1996) are calling for manage me nt to inte grate

spirituality into workplace practice s and allow for its e xpre ssion in the workplace . Coming from anothe r

pe rspe ctive , and pe rhaps influe nce d by Gole man's (1995) popular book on e motional inte llige nce (EQ),

Zohar and Marshall (2000) are proposing a spiritual inte llige nce (SQ) to go along with EQ and IQ. T his

kind of inte llige nce he lps us “solve proble ms of me aning and value ” (p. 4 ).

It is a similar picture in highe r and adult e ducation. Books, confe re nce pre se ntations, journal article s,

and stude nt the se s and disse rtations are grappling with the topic and making visible what has long be e n

ignore d—that the re is a spiritual side to our le arning de spite the domination of rationality in the

classroom. Pe rhaps be cause of the nature of this topic, with only a fe w e xce ptions, the gre at majority of

the writing has be e n philosophical in nature . Drawing from the se many source s, we first grapple with

de fining spirituality and its place in adult and highe r e ducation. Ne xt, we have distille d from the lite rature

a numbe r of practice s and strate gie s that can cultivate the spiritual dime nsion of our le arning.

D E F IN IN G SPIR IT U ALIT YD E F IN IN G SPIR IT U ALIT Y

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T he re are as many de finitions of spirituality as the re are pe ople writing about it. Some use othe r words,

such as grace , he art, flow, life force , and soul, pe rhaps partly to avoid the ine vitable confusion of

spirituality with re ligion. While for some pe ople spirituality and re ligion might be re late d, write rs on the

topic of spirituality are e mphatic about the diffe re nce be twe e n the two. As T isde ll (2003, p. 29) write s,

“Re ligion is an organize d community of faith that has writte n doctrine and code s of re gulatory be havior.

Spirituality, howe ve r, is more pe rsonal be lie f and e xpe rie nce of a divine spirit or highe r purpose , about

how we construct me aning, and what we individually and communally e xpe rie nce and atte nd to and

honor as the sacre d in our live s.”

T isde ll's (2003) de finition of spirituality is de rive d from a study of thirty-one highe r and adult e ducators

spe cifically e ngage d in anti-oppre ssion pe dagogy. She pre se nts se ve n assumptions about the nature of

spirituality, e spe cially as the y re late to an e ducational se tting. T he se assumptions are he lpful in grasping

what this dime nsion in le arning is all about:

1. Spirituality and re ligion are not the same ….

2. Spirituality is about an aware ne ss and honoring of whole ne ss and the inte rconne cte dne ss of all

things….

3. Spirituality is fundame ntally about me aning-making.

4 . Spirituality is always pre se nt (though ofte n unacknowle dge d) in the le arning e nvironme nt.

5. Spiritual de ve lopme nt constitute s moving toward gre ate r authe nticity or to a more authe ntic se lf.

6. Spirituality is about how pe ople construct knowle dge through large ly unconscious and symbolic

proce sse s, ofte n made more concre te in art forms such as music, art, image , symbol, and ritual

which are manife ste d culturally.

7. Spiritual e xpe rie nce s most ofte n happe n by surprise . [pp. 28-29]

Unlike most who write about spirituality from the individual's pe rspe ctive , T isde ll e mbe ds spirituality and

le arning in a cultural conte xt. T hat is, one 's spirituality is informe d by and manife ste d in culturally de fine d

e xpe rie nce s, symbols, myths, and rituals. While significant spiritual e xpe rie nce s are found in all culture s,

“the me aning of those e xpe rie nce s is not only value d diffe re ntly by diffe re nt cultural communitie s, it is

also manife ste d and give n furthe r e xpre ssion symbolically diffe re ntly in diffe re nt culture s—in art, music,

or ritual” (p. 86).

T isde ll's participants we re also se le cte d for the ir social justice orie ntation to practice . English (2005a)

ide ntifie s this form of spirituality as “se cular” or “public” in nature ve rsus spirituality as pure ly private and

individual in nature . English make s the case that this public form of spirituality goe s hand in hand with

adult e ducation's social change age nda and that “acce pting a strong twofold purpose —spirituality and

social change —will move adult e ducators close r to re conciling the pe rsonal and colle ctive divide in our

fie ld” (p. 1187).

In one of the fe w othe r e mpirical studie s of spirituality, Courte nay and Milton's (2004 ) sample of adult

e ducators and le arne rs ide ntifie d thre e compone nts of spirituality: a se nse of conne cte dne ss, a se arch

for me aning, and an aware ne ss of a transce nde nt force or e ne rgy be yond the se lf. And in an

inte re sting angle on spirituality, McDonald (2002) looke d at the role of spirituality in the life and work of

committe d e nvironme ntalists. T e n of the e ighte e n participants e xpre sse d a panthe ist vie w in which

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e ve rything is an e xpre ssion of the “vital force ” (p. 270). All e ighte e n we re e ngage d in “the making of

spirit”—that is, “the actions and e xpe rie nce s that bring spirit into be ing” (p. 269).

Although the y are not e mpirically base d, the re are some he lpful discussions in the lite rature about the

nature of spirituality. Le mkow (2005, p. 24 ) cite s David Bohm, a physicist-philosophe r: “What is spirit? T he

word is de rive d from a Latin word me aning ‘bre ath’ or ‘wind’—like re spiration or inspiration. It is

sugge ste d by the tre e s moving with the invisible force of the wind. We may thus think of spirit as an

invisible force —a life -giving e sse nce that move s us de e ply, or as a source that move s e ve rything from

within.”

A numbe r of write rs capture this notion of wind, e ne rgy, or move me nt as characte ristic of spirituality.

Foe hr (1997) spe aks of “spiritually empowering forces or energies… having to do with cre ativity,

imagination, inspiration, intuition, kine sthe tic knowle dge , fe lt se nse , passion for knowing, the aha

e xpe rie nce , arche typal e ne rgy, and the colle ctive unconscious” (pp. 4 6-4 7; italics in original).

Using the word grace inste ad of spirituality, and spe aking of its place in pe dagogy, Grave s (1997) note s

its transce nde nt nature as we ll as its more common unde rstanding as “harmony of move me nt,

coordination, poise unde r pre ssure ” (p. 15). Grave s's notion of grace is not tie d to a re ligious

pe rspe ctive ; rathe r, grace , he write s, “move s to its own rhythm, follows its own age nda, and it is always

be yond our powe r to control or manipulate ” (p. 16). Grace happe ns “in the ordinary e xpe rie nce s of daily

life … in e ve ryday routine s and habits … in the small joys and disappointme nts of life . More ove r, it shows

up in the most unlike ly place s. Grace lurks among the ve ge table s in the supe rmarke t. Grace sits on a

bar stool and smoke s a cigare tte . Grace roams the corridors of a big city hospital. Grace is always the re ,

e ve rywhe re ; we don't se e it, but it change s our live s whe n we e xpe rie nce it” (p. 16).

He re counts se ve ral storie s of how grace can transform human consciousne ss, such as one story of a

te ache r, widowe d with small childre n, fe e ling de pre sse d. Upon looking outside he r classroom window

she se e s a rabbit on the lawn be low: “Some how I re alize d that if that rabbit, who se e me d so full of

pe ace and so much a part of nature , would be all right the n I would be too” (p. 17). Grave s goe s on to

say that we do not find grace ; rathe r, “to be found by grace—we must live not only in the imme diate

mome nt but le t go of e go involve me nt in that mome nt, for grace come s in by the back door…. While the

atte ntion is e lse whe re , grace is at work in the unconscious” (p. 16).

T his notion of grace as se re ndipitous is e choe d in Dirkx's (2001b) unde rstanding of the soul be ing

acce sse d through image s. “Emotionally charge d image s,” he write s, “are not unde r the willful control of

the e go.” Rathe r, the y te nd to appe ar spontane ously during the le arning proce ss. “T he y arrive as the y

so choose , as acts of grace ” (p. 69). Drawing from Jungian psychology, the se image s re fle ct arche type s

from the colle ctive unconscious. “From an arche typal pe rspe ctive , to te ach in adult or highe r e ducation

se ttings is to participate in a time le ss story or myth” (Dirkx, Pratt, & T aylor, 2002, p. 95). Such conscious

participation “can he lp us conne ct in a more profound manne r with the animating force s of our live s” (p.

95).

In re lating grace to pe dagogy, Grave s (1997) de line ate s se ve ral characte ristics of grace . First, it is

transforming, as in the pre ce ding story of the te ache r. Se cond, it is healing; stre ss and ange r, grie f, the

most impove rishe d, can find he aling in mome nts of grace . T hird, grace transcends the ego. “Grace

provide s the pe rspe ctive to se e ourse lve s in the large r conte xt, not just as stude nts and te ache rs but

as individuals conne cte d with e ach othe r and with the world be yond ourse lve s” (p. 18). Opening the

possible is the fourth characte ristic. “Grace cuts through the boundarie s of culture , language , race ,

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social class, e conomic le ve l, age , handicaps, inte llige nce le ve l, ge ography, and birth. Grace inte rrupts

the e xpe cte d and cre ate s its own channe l” (p. 19). Pointing toward what is right is the fifth characte ristic.

T he moral and e thical tone of grace e choe s othe rs’ writings. English, Fe nwick, and Parsons (2003, p. 3)

for e xample , write that “the most straightforward way to promote a spiritual dime nsion in te aching and

le arning is to make a de libe rate atte mpt to think and act e thically,” simply be cause “e thical choice s

implicitly include a basic re cognition of the pe rson as spiritual” (p. 4 ). Grace is also about enhancing

creativity, Grave s's sixth characte ristic. Finally, grace is surprising, it—“shows up in une xpe cte d place s, in

coincide nce s that prove to be e xtraordinary, and in synchronistic e ve nts” (p. 19). It might be re calle d that

surprise is one of T isde ll's (2003) se ve n assumptions.

Give n the nature of spirituality as de line ate d by the se and othe r write rs and re se arche rs, it is not

surprising that strate gie s for e nhancing or foste ring spirituality, soul, or grace during the te aching-

le arning transaction are about making space for it to happe n.

F O ST E R IN G SPIR IT U ALIT Y IN AD U LT LE AR N IN GF O ST E R IN G SPIR IT U ALIT Y IN AD U LT LE AR N IN G

T o the e xte nt that spirituality is about me aning-making, it can be argue d that it has a place in adult

le arning. Unfortunate ly, formal programs of adult e ducation, like any othe r institutionalize d form of

le arning, suffe r from “orde r, hie rarchie s, grade s, te sts, a glorie d past, control, de privation, re mote ne ss

of various kinds, and we ighty se riousne ss” (Moore , 2005, p. 13). For spirituality or mome nts of grace to

happe n, “we ighty se riousne ss” must be re place d with playfulne ss, ope nne ss, cre ativity, and imagination.

If, as hooks (1994 ) write s, “we be lie ve that our work is not me re ly to share information but to share in

the inte lle ctual and spiritual growth of our stude nts,” the n we must “te ach in a manne r that re spe cts and

care s for the souls of our stude nts … [and] provide the ne ce ssary conditions whe re le arning can most

de e ply and intimate ly be gin” (p. 13).

One of the “ne ce ssary conditions” ide ntifie d by se ve ral write rs is that the instructor must e xamine he r

or his own biography, acknowle dging and “pe rhaps re concil[ing] the influe nce of our re ligious

upbringing on our curre nt spiritual pre fe re nce s and re sistance s” (Fe nwick, English, & Parsons, 2001, p.

6). T hat our own spiritual or re ligious biography has an impact is unde rscore d in T isde ll's study of thirty-

one e ducators. She found that while only six practice d in the ir childhood re ligious traditions, all

“continually spirale d back and re claime d image s, symbols, music that still had important me aning for

the m from the ir childhood re ligious traditions” and that the se “ofte n conne cte d to the ir cultural

backgrounds” (2005c, ¶ 12).

For mome nts of spiritual le arning to occur the re must be space in the le arning e nvironme nt. Such a

space is safe , supportive , ope n, “sacre d.” Ve lla (2000) outline s thre e aspe cts of a sacre d space —

dialogue , re spe ct, and accountability. A sacre d space allows for dialogue whe re one liste ns to othe rs’

e xpe rie nce s without judgme nt. T he te ache r is accountable for de signing a le arning e xpe rie nce that

both supports and challe nge s the le arne rs. We are accountable “to make the be st plans possible ,” but

at the same time we must “be re ady to abandon the m” (Grave s, 1997, p. 20). As Grave s obse rve s, “If

grace e ve r come s into pe dagogy, it will be the re not be cause it was planne d but be cause the

conditions we re right and be cause some se nsitive soul had the wisdom not to thwart it” (p. 20). T he

spontane ous and fluid nature of spirituality re quire s space whe re it can happe n. An ove rly programme d,

information disse mination-drive n classroom le ave s no space for significant, inde e d, spiritual, le arning to

occur.

A numbe r of write rs unde rscore the importance of allowing for dialogue . English (2000) de fine s

dialogue as “the inte rpe rsonal conne ctions and inte rchange s among pe ople that e ncourage and

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promote the ir spiritual de ve lopme nt…. Dialogue … re cognize [s] the othe r as an e xte nsion of one 's se lf”

(p. 34 ). It is also through dialogue that a se nse of community can be e ffe cte d. It might be re calle d that

“conne ction” is one of the compone nts of spirituality. A community of le arning is pe ople -ce nte re d, and

through dialogue , discussion, and sharing, le arne rs have the opportunity to conne ct with othe rs, with

the ir inne r, spiritual se lve s, and pe rhaps with a force or e ne rgy be yond the se lf. T his is not to ignore the

difficultie s in cre ating community in the classroom, e spe cially in one that is culturally dive rse (Hart &

Holton, 1993; T isde ll, 2003).

Me ntoring is an activity that can promote spiritual de ve lopme nt. Daloz's (1999) conce pt of the me ntor as

a guide to the holistic de ve lopme nt of the me nte e spe aks of the proce ss as a journe y. T he re lationship

is also re ciprocal and nurturing of both the me ntor and me nte e . English, Fe nwick, and Parsons (2003)

position me ntoring and coaching in adult e ducation and human re source de ve lopme nt se ttings. T he y

are care ful to point out that this activity “is not about incre asing the bottom line . It is about re lationship,

support, and incre asing the human spirit” (p. 93). T hat is not to say that the powe r dynamics of such a

re lationship be ignore d; rathe r, it is a stance or re ve re nce in which “the spirituality of the re lationship is

the re ciprocity that constitute s the re lationship” (p. 95).

In addition to e xamining one 's own stance , cre ating space , and me ntoring, one can foste r spirituality

through the use of cre ative and imaginative activitie s such as visualization, storyte lling, and the use of

lite rature , poe try, art, and music. T he se activitie s can assist us in looking for “conne ctions in unlike ly

place s, be twe e n appare ntly unconne cte d and disparate ide as and e xpe rie nce s” (MacKe rache r, 1996, p.

179). Dirkx (2001b) spe aks of the se te chnique s as the imaginal method:

Journal writing, literature, poetry, art, movies, story-telling, dance, and ritual are specific methods that can be

used to help foster the life of the image in our relationships with adult learners. By approaching emotionally

charged experiences imaginatively rather than merely conceptually, learners locate and construct, through

enduring mythological motifs, themes, and images, deep meaning, value, and quality in the relationship

between the text and their own life experiences. [p. 70]

Imagination, and more spe cifically cultural imagination, is the focus of T isde ll's (2005c) work in linking

spirituality with dive rsity and multicultural issue s in today's highe r e ducation classroom. Imagination is a

me aning-making activity in that we put toge the r insights, image s, symbols, and ide as in ne w ways so that

ne w me aning is re ve ale d. T isde ll maintains that this imaginative activity cannot be se parate d from the

pe rson's cultural conte xt and history. Whe n imagination, which “he lps pe ople to se e from multiple

pe rspe ctive s, to visualize ne w possibilitie s, and pote ntially to cre ate some thing ne w” involve s “cultural

storie s, historie s, and issue s, it e ngage s cultural imagination” (¶ 50). Using te aching strate gie s that cross

cultural borde rs such as “se rvice le arning opportunitie s, e ngage d dialogue about curre nt issue s, and

proble m-posing te chnique s” along with the cultural imagination (such as sharing pe rsonal cultural

symbols with othe rs) can bring about transformation. “Image , symbol, music, ritual, art, poe try, ofte n

touch off me mory in conscious and unconscious ways, which some time s conne cts to spirituality…. One

can combine the se ways of knowing that are part of cultural imagination, with the inte lle ctual and critical

analysis aspe cts of highe r e ducation to facilitate gre ate r stude nt le arning and gre ate r e quity in socie ty”

(abstract).

Any summary of the role of spirituality in le arning would be only a partial vie w give n the array of

unde rstandings, de finitions, and conce ptualizations of the phe nome non. Spirituality is, by its ve ry nature ,

difficult to capture in the rational prose of acade mia. Howe ve r, give n that this dime nsion of our

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e xpe rie nce de als with me aning-making, it is an appropriate topic to conside r be cause most significant

adult le arning is about me aning-making. Whate ve r labe l one pre fe rs, spirituality and the cre ative and

imaginative te chnique s for e liciting its pre se nce have a role to play in a more comple te unde rstanding

of adult le arning. Howe ve r, what e xactly that role is is ope n to que stion. While we have de finitions of

spirituality and conditions that might e licit it in an instructional se tting, what we do not ye t have is an

unde rstanding of or the ore tical mode ls of spiritual learning as we do, for e xample , with se lf-dire cte d

le arning or transformational le arning. Courte nay (pe rsonal communication, June 13, 2005) spe culate s

that if we assume spiritual le arning is about me aning-making, the n:

What does that mean? Am I able to make meaning better because I use spirituality in some way? Yes, OK,

then in what way? Notice I didn't ask “use spiritual learning” in some way, because I don't know what

spiritual learning means, nor have I seen an acceptable definition in the literature. Staying with meaning-

making further, would it be easier to explain the link between spirituality and meaning-making if we provided

the opportunity for instructors and learners to ask and discuss the fundamental questions that all of us have

about the meaning of life? Why are we here? What are we to do while we are here? Is this all there is and

what are the implications of my answer to this question? What do I value and why? What is non-negotiable in

my life and why? … Further issues—when meaning making is facilitated by spirituality, how is it manifested?

How might it occur in an adult education classroom?

T he se and othe r que stions will, we hope , shape future re se arch and the ory building in this are a.

NARRAT IVE LEARNING

At the close of 2004 , while pe ople we re vacationing in T hailand, fishing in a coastal village of India, or

just re laxing in that lull be twe e n Christmas and Ne w Ye ar's, an e arthquake -cause d tidal wave of de ath

and de struction e ngulfe d southe ast Asia. What was impossible to grasp was made human through the

stories of individuals—storie s of how the y face d the n ran from the tsunami, of a village le ve le d, of family

me mbe rs be ing se parate d, some ne ve r found, of filming the wall of wate r from a hote l rooftop. Only

through the se storie s could we make some se nse of what had happe ne d.

Narrative s are storie s, “the olde st and most natural form of se nse making” (Jonasse n & He rnande z-

Se rrano, 2002, p. 66), and the y have a place in adult le arning be cause storie s e nable us to make

me aning of our live s. T he vigne tte pre se nte d e arlie r in this chapte r on turning sixty during a stay at a

Buddhist te mple was a story use d to illustrate spiritual le arning. And like e mbodie d and spiritual le arning,

narrative le arning is firmly lodge d in what may be calle d the nonscie ntific. Drawing from Brune r (1986),

Rossite r (2005) sums up the diffe re nce be twe e n scie ntific and narrative knowing: “Narrative knowing …

is conce rne d more with human me aning than with discre te facts, more with cohe re nce than with logic,

more with se que nce s than with cate gorie s, and more with unde rstanding than with pre dictability and

control” (p. 4 19).

We not only vie w our own live s as narrative s but are surrounde d by and e mbe dde d in narrative s. We

watch ne ws storie s on te le vision, te ll storie s of our day at school or work, pe rhaps write the story of our

day in our diary. Rossite r and Clark (in pre ss) organize the se surrounding narrative s into four type s

—cultural, familial, individual (Ke e n & Valle y-Fox, 1989), and organizational (Ne uhause r, 1993).

Cultural narrative s or myths are those that de fine the socio-cultural milie u in which we live ; the y form the

take n-for-grante d assumptions on which we live our live s in the way that we do. T he cultural narrative “is

difficult to re cognize —to notice and re fle ct upon—be cause we 're imme rse d in it. It is as invisible to us as

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the air we bre athe ” (Rossite r & Clark, in pre ss, p. 24 of ms.). In the Unite d State s, the individual be ing

re sponsible for his or he r own succe ss, the right to mate rial we alth, the Unite d State s as supe rpowe r,

and so on, are parts of our cultural narrative but so e mbe dde d that we rare ly re cognize the m as such.

Some time s it take s a catastrophic e ve nt to e xpose the se narrative s. For e xample , the authoritie s’ lack

of pre pare dne ss and Hurricane Katrina's de vastation of the city of Ne w Orle ans challe nge d the cultural

narrative of the Unite d State s be ing all-powe rful and in control. Family narrative s e mbrace ce rtain value s

and be lie fs, customs, role s, and rituals. “Who are the he roe s of the family, whose storie s are told with

pride across the ye ars? And who are the villains, the black she e p, whose crime s … [are ] only sugge ste d

or whispe re d?” (p. 26 of ms.). Individual narrative s are how we story our own live s.

Finally, “just as culture s, familie s and individuals have narrative s, so do organizations, and organizational

narrative s e xpre ss and cre ate the lore of the organization as in culture s and familie s” (Rossite r & Clark,

in pre ss, p. 30 of ms.). In adult e ducation, the se narrative s can be e xamine d, re fle cte d upon, challe nge d,

and e ve n re vise d. Inte re stingly, the fie ld of adult e ducation itse lf is involve d in constructing a narrative of

its ide ntity: “Are we he roe s e ngage d in the e mancipation of the oppre sse d? … Are we tour guide s in the

busine ss of actualizing the human pote ntial of pe ople who have le isure time ? Are we e ntre pre ne urs

who se ll job training in a compe titive marke tplace ? Are we all of those characte rs?” (p. 33 of ms.).

LE AR N IN G T H R O U G H N AR R AT IVELE AR N IN G T H R O U G H N AR R AT IVE

T he use of narrative s is common in nume rous discipline s, such as psychology and lite rature , and fie lds

of practice , like me dicine , law, social work, and more re ce ntly, e ducation (Hopkins, 1994 ). Although it has

only be e n since the 1990s that narrative le arning has re ce ive d some atte ntion in adult e ducation, the

fie ld's historical re cognition of the importance of e xpe rie nce in le arning, as we ll as le arning as a

me aning-making activity, have made for the re ady acce ptance of narrative as le arning. Spe aking of

journals, a form of narrative , Ke rka (2002, p. 1) write s that “a journal is a crucible for proce ssing the raw

mate rial of e xpe rie nce in orde r to inte grate it with e xisting knowle dge and cre ate ne w me aning.”

Narrative s can take a numbe r of forms, e ach use ful as a ve hicle for le arning. Rossite r (2005) and

Rossite r and Clark (in pre ss) ide ntify thre e ways in which storie s appe ar in practice : “storying” the

curriculum, storyte lling, and autobiography. In the first, the curriculum or the te xt of a course is tre ate d as

a story and stude nts inte ract with the se te xts to come to some unde rstanding or inte rpre tation of the

subje ct matte r. For e xample , in a graduate re se arch se minar on the de ve lopme nt of the knowle dge

base of adult e ducation, Me rriam made use of re se arch journals dating back to the 1930s, pe riodic

re vie ws of re se arch, and historical lite rature on the founding of profe ssional associations and graduate

programs in adult e ducation. T he se mate rials we re re ad and e xamine d with the goal of te lling a story

(not ne ce ssarily the story) about how the knowle dge base of adult e ducation has come to be

constructe d as it has. Each stude nt was aske d to inte rpre t the se mate rials and to write a pape r (a story)

about the de ve lopme nt of the knowle dge base .

T his storying of the curriculum is in itse lf a le arning proce ss. Clark (pe rsonal communication, July 30,

2005) e xplains this le arning: “Whe n we are le arning some thing ne w, we 're trying to make se nse of it, to

figure out its inte rnal logic and how it's re late d to what we alre ady know. We do this by narrating it, or

trying to—that is, we work to story it, to make this ne w ide a cohe re nt to ourse lve s…. T he construction of

that narrative is how we se e our unde rstanding come toge the r and make se nse …. T he narrativizing of

our unde rstanding is how we make our le arning visible to ourse lve s, if only in our he ads.”

A se cond form of narrative , storyte lling, in various forms—such as fiction (Baumgartne r & Me rriam, 1999),

case studie s, e xe mplars from practice , role -playing, or critical incide nts—is a common me ans of

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e ngaging stude nts in unde rstanding conce pts, principle s, or the orie s. Jonasse n and He rnande z-Se rrano

(2002) argue that storie s in the form of case s are a good instructional te chnique to te ach proble m

solving. T he y cite a numbe r of studie s with practitione rs who unde rstood the ir practice not from a

te chnical or rational pe rspe ctive but rathe r through storie s and e xample s from e xpe rie nce . T he se

storie s of past e xpe rie nce we re what guide d future action. If practitione rs in re al-life situations solve ill-

structure d proble ms through narrative s, storie s, or case s, the n “storie s can function as a substitute for

dire ct e xpe rie nce , which novice proble m solve rs do not posse ss. Supporting le arning with storie s can

he lp stude nts to gain e xpe rie nce vicariously” (p. 69).

Using storie s to e ngage stude nts in ide as that are part of course conte nt may be the only way to allow

unde rstanding to occur. It is also a powe rful me ans of making conne ctions not only with ide as but with

othe r le arne rs, pe rhaps ultimate ly cre ating a le arning community. Whe the r the se storie s are ge ne rate d

by stude nts the mse lve s, are case studie s, or are fictional accounts, the y draw us in, the y allow us to se e

from anothe r's pe rspe ctive . In today's multi-cultural classrooms we cannot assume the re st of the world

se e s things the way we do. “T he authe nticity and imme diacy of a story of live d e xpe rie nce take s us into

the e xpe rie nce of anothe r. In that way it de e pe ns and e xpands our capacity for taking the pe rspe ctive

of anothe r. In short, life story sharing re duce s re sistance to ne w or diffe re nt points of vie w and se rve s

to broade n the pe rspe ctive s of all participants” (Rossite r & Clark, in pre ss, p. 107 of ms.).

T he third form of narrative , autobiographie s, are by the se lf and about the se lf and can include

journaling, dre am logs, the rapy, blogs, and what Dominice (2000) calls “e ducational biography.” Human

be ings have ke pt re cords of the ir live s for ce nturie s. Some of the se se lf-authore d storie s have be come

famous, such as St. Augustine 's Confessions, or The Diary of Anne Frank. Othe rs, though not by famous

pe ople , have prove d e normously he lpful to historians who want to te ll the story of some past time or

e ve nt. Slave narrative s, immigrant journals, and me moirs of prisone rs in Nazi conce ntration camps are

e xample s of such historical narrative s. Blogs are the most re ce nt form. A blog is a We b site whe re “you

write stuff on an ongoing basis.” A blog take s any numbe r of forms; it can be “a pe rsonal diary. A daily

pulpit. A collaborative space . A political soapbox. A bre aking-ne ws outle t. A colle ction of links. Your own

private thoughts” (http://www.blogge r.com/start).

An e arly approach to one form of autobiographical me thods—journaling—be gan in the we ll-known

inte nsive workshops of the 1970s by Progoff (1975). In the se workshops, which are still he ld today,

journaling is use d to foste r the participant's pote ntial for growth and de ve lopme nt. Inde e d, re se arch

sugge sts the re are a numbe r of be ne fits in writing to the se lf and about the se lf. Brady and Sky (2003)

studie d fifte e n olde r le arne rs who ke pt a journal curre ntly and had done so for at le ast thre e ye ars.

Inte re stingly, participants ke pt journals not as a life long activity but rathe r as a sporadic activity, which

would be re ignite d by some critical life e ve nt, such as illne ss, de ath, family proble ms, and so on. T he se

participants spoke of thre e be ne fits to journal writing. First, the y de scribe d it as a me ans of coping with

the ir day-to-day live s, including with de cisions, with re lationship issue s, and “as an antidote to failing

me mory” (p. 159). A se cond be ne fit the re se arche rs te rme d “the joy of discove ry,” me aning that journals

we re “a sort of mile stone for me asuring one 's own progre ss in the journe y of human de ve lopme nt” (p.

159). Finally, journaling allowe d for the nurturing of one 's voice and spirit; that is, journaling confirme d

that the y had “some thing me aningful to say” (p. 160), and it allowe d for conte mplation and some time s

the re alization of a ne w le ve l of spiritual consciousne ss.

Although the be ne fits of journaling for Brady and Sky's olde r adult le arne rs might be partially e xplaine d

by the ir life stage , the ir findings have similaritie s with those of othe r studie s. Wie ne r and Rose nwald

(1993) inte rvie we d twe lve pe ople be twe e n e ighte e n and fifty ye ars of age to ide ntify the subje ctive

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utility of ke e ping a diary, a more structure d form of journaling. One be ne fit was in e stablishing and

maintaining boundarie s among diffe re nt se nse s of the se lf, and diffe re nt e motions and e xpe rie nce s.

Like Brady and Sky, the re se arche rs in this study we re surprise d to le arn that most participants ke pt

multiple diarie s. Participants ke pt se parate journals for family matte rs, e motional writing, trave l, daily

e ve nts, and so on. While one be ne fit was maintaining boundarie s of the se lf, anothe r se e mingly

opposite be ne fit was dissolving boundarie s. Participants re porte d using diarie s “to allow re pre sse d

mate rial to surface ” (p. 4 2) and to bring to the fore varying aspe cts of the se lf.

T hre e othe r be ne fits uncove re d by Wie ne r and Rose nwald (1993) are that diarie s he lp manage

e motions, manage time (a diarist can pre se rve the past, or conde nse past and pre se nt), and function as

“the se lf in a mirror” (p. 4 3). By this last the authors me an that a diary can be like looking into a mirror

—“de fining the se lf by obje ctivating and the n obse rving it” (p. 4 5).

Journal writing, whe the r it is about the se lf or about one 's le arning, has be e n advocate d as a tool for

adult le arning, e spe cially if the le arne r is aske d to reflect on the day's (or class's) e ve nts and activitie s.

Ke rka (2000, p. 1) offe rs a se t of assumptions about how this le arning occurs:

Articulating conne ctions be twe e n ne w and e xisting knowle dge improve s le arning.

Writing about le arning is a way of de monstrating what has be e n le arne d.

Journal writing acce ntuate s favorable le arning conditions—it de mands time and space for

re fle ction, e ncourage s inde pe nde nt thought and owne rship, e nable s e xpre ssion of fe e lings, and

provide s a place to work with ill-structure d proble ms.

Re fle ction e ncourage s de e p rathe r than surface le arning.

Conne ctions and re fle ction are two aspe cts of le arning that are also pre se nt in the construction of

autobiographical storie s and e ducational biographie s. Autobiographical writing re quire s a bit more

distance from the se lf than doe s journal writing. “Be cause autobiography involve s not only re counting

me morie s and e xpre ssions but also finding the ir large r me aning, and to the e xte nt that the activity

e xpands the individual's knowle dge of se lf and the world, it constitute s le arning” (Karpiak, 2000, p. 34 ). It

is in autobiography that we can ide ntify “patte rns and me aning in our life , pe rhaps e ve n building a

the ory of our life , or of life in ge ne ral. Having ste ppe d back and re fle cte d, we know some thing now that

we did not know be fore ” (p. 34 ). Karpiak (2000) maintains that autobiographie s are a particularly pote nt

instructional activity, e spe cially for course s in adult le arning and adult de ve lopme nt. As one stude nt she

inte rvie we d said, “Autobiography he lps an individual find how the course mate rial fits into the ir life , as

oppose d to having the instructor do it for you” (p. 4 1). Anothe r stude nt said that in writing he r

autobiography, the conce pt of life long le arning, which had pre viously be e n just a “buzz word,” now had

me aning. She could “se e that in one 's life e ach mome nt is a le arning e xpe rie nce …. T hat actual living

was le arning” (p. 4 2).

Focusing on one 's e ducational history or how one has come to know what one knows is what Dominice

(2000) calls educational biography. He has de ve lope d this te chnique into a two-se me ste r stude nt

e xpe rie nce of oral and writte n narrative s involving individual and collaborative le arning. T hrough the se

biographie s stude nts se e how family, schooling, and the sociocultural e nvironme nt have he lpe d the m

construct the ir ide ntitie s as adult le arne rs. “Looking at the past, che cking roots, and giving name s to

e xpe rie ntial le arning he lp adults clarify the future the y want to build” (Dominice , 2000, p. 14 3).

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N AR R AT IVE LE AR N IN G , AD U LT D E VE LO PME N T , AN D T R AN SF O R MAT IO N AL LE AR N IN GN AR R AT IVE LE AR N IN G , AD U LT D E VE LO PME N T , AN D T R AN SF O R MAT IO N AL LE AR N IN G

As is e vide nt in the te chnique s alre ady re vie we d, narrative le arning has ve ry strong links to both adult

de ve lopme nt and transformational le arning. As a me ans of unde rstanding adult de ve lopme nt, a

narrative frame work se e s the life course as an unfolding story, one constructe d and inte rpre te d by the

individual. While the sociocultural-historical conte xt inte racts with and to some e xte nt shape s the life

course , the me aning of our life e xpe rie nce s constitute s our particular de ve lopme ntal traje ctory.

In contrast to stage and phase the orie s of adult de ve lopme nt, most of which have an e nd state (such as

Erikson's [1963] final stage of e go inte grity ve rsus de spair, for e xample ), life narrative s are

re trospe ctive , always in proce ss, unfolding. And as Rossite r and Clark (in pre ss) point out, de ve lopme nt

from a narrative pe rspe ctive can be “e mpowe ring. While we do not have control ove r many of the

e ve nts or circumstance s of our live s, we do have some choice as to how we inte rpre t the m. If

some thing unple asant happe ns it is not impe rative that we will se e it as the e nd of all happine ss fore ve r

and e ve r. T his re alization of choice in me aning-making is one of the most valuable aspe cts of the

narrative orie ntation” (pp. 38-39 of ms.)

Adult de ve lopme nt and transformational le arning are close ly inte rtwine d (se e Chapte r Six). T he chie f

archite ct of transformational le arning the ory, Jack Me zirow, une quivocally state s that the proce ss of

pe rspe ctive transformation is “the ce ntral proce ss of adult de ve lopme nt” (1991, p. 155). T he proce ss that

he de line ate s, howe ve r, is quite cognitive and de pe nds on the critical e xamination of assumptions,

re fle ction, and rational discourse . Randall (1996) make s a convincing case for how narrative can be

se e n as transformational le arning. Both me thods are primarily cognitive de aling with the le arne r's live d

e xpe rie nce through inte rpre tation, through cre ating ne w me aning. While Me zirow's proce ss most ofte n

be gins with a “disorie nting dile mma” that cause s us to e xamine our unde rlying assumptions and value s,

Randall sugge sts that whe n we e ncounte r a life e xpe rie nce that cannot be accommodate d by our old

story of ourse lve s and the world, we se e k to restory our live s: “We se e k re storying whe n our curre nt

life story (inside , at le ast) no longe r cohe re s within itse lf, whe n it be come s incohe re nt, whe n the many

are at war with the one . We se e k it whe n our ce ntral se lf-story has e ithe r too little conflict and so fails to

go anywhe re , or too much and so thre ate ns to fly apart…. We might se e k re storying, for e xample , whe n

a particular e pisode fails to fit with the dominant story we te ll ourse lve s about who we are , whe re we

have come from, and whe re we are going” (p. 238).

In Me zirow's frame work, transformational le arning re sults in a “more inclusive , discriminating, pe rme able ,

and inte grative pe rspe ctive ,” one that be tte r accommodate s the me aning one make s of one 's

e xpe rie nce (1990b, p. 14 ). Re storying one 's life is quite similar: “Spe cifically, it is the que stion as to how I

can compose a story big e nough, with a horizon broad e nough, to account for as much as possible of

my actual life and re nde r it available to me as a cohe re nt, re me mbe re d whole ” (Glove r, cite d in Randall,

1996, p. 24 0).

But adult de ve lopme nt and transformational le arning also involve e mbodie d and spiritual le arning. How

we story our live s include s not just cognitive but e motional, bodily, and spiritual dime nsions. In a study of

a culturally dive rse sample of midlife me n and the ir transformative spiritual de ve lopme nt, Davis (2004 )

found that the me n “cite d the ir e xpe rie nce s of spirit as a time of challe nge and opportunity to e xpre ss

e motion, conne ct with pe ople , re linquish control, and move be yond the rational” (p. 122).

Life transitions and crise s that trigge r de ve lopme nt, whe the r social, psychological, or spiritual, are ofte n

highly charge d, physical, and some time s spiritual (se e Chapte r T we lve ). T he birth of a child, a major

he alth proble m, the loss of a job, and so on are e xpe rie nce s that are holistic in nature . In a discussion

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of the role of somatic le arning in transformational le arning, Amann (2003) e xplore s how kine sthe tic,

se nsory, affe ctive , and spiritual aspe cts “ce ntraliz[e ] the body so that it is inte gral to the le arning

e xpe rie nce . Combine d with opportunitie s for re fle ction, somatic le arning contribute s a ne w pe rspe ctive

to the scope of transformative le arning” (p. 31). Brooks and Clark (2001) point out that narrative s of

transformative le arning are compe lling because of the ir affe ctive , somatic, and spiritual dime nsions.

T o summarize this se ction on narrative le arning, it is cle ar that adult e ducators have a me ans of

facilitating le arning that all adults can re late to—storie s that surround us, that de fine us, that we can

construct, analyze , re fle ct upon, and le arn from. Storie s can be use d to unde rstand conte nt, ourse lve s,

and the world in which we live . Narrative s are also windows into de ve lopme nt and transformational

le arning. T he y e nable us to make se nse of our e xpe rie nce , which is what adult le arning is all about.

SUMMARY

Embodie d, spiritual, and narrative le arning all have in common me aning-making that is e mbodie d,

constructe d, and inte rpre te d. T he se are not mode s of le arning that adhe re to a way of thinking that

e le vate s re ason, logic, and the ory ove r the body, the spirit, or the “story” of our e xpe rie nce .

Embodie d or somatic knowing is knowing through the body. It is dire ctly re late d to our physical be ing,

our se nse s, and the e xpe rie nce s of the body. Example s of e mbodie d le arning we re pre se nte d and

discusse d; the se e xample s re fle ct Amann's (2003) mode l of somatic knowing, which consists of the four

ove rlapping dime nsions of kine sthe tic, se nsory, affe ctive , and spiritual. T his se ction of the chapte r

conclude d with a re vie w of thre e conce ptualizations of e mbodie d le arning: e mbodie d cognition,

ontological pe rformance , and a somatic e piste mology for e ducation.

In the se cond se ction of the chapte r on spirituality and le arning, we first grapple d with de fining

spirituality as some thing diffe re nt from but pe rhaps re late d to re ligion. Most of the authors we re vie we d

link spirituality to me aning-making in our live s, and on that basis it is an appropriate topic for e xploration

in adult le arning. A numbe r of instructional te chnique s we re re vie we d that foste r spirituality in adult

le arning, including se lf-e xamination by the instructor of he r or his vie ws and assumptions, cre ating a safe

space for this kind of le arning to occur, me ntoring le arne rs, and e ngaging in cre ative and imaginative

instructional activitie s.

T he final se ction of the chapte r de alt with narrative le arning. Narrative le arning is the use of storie s in

the construction of me aning, whe the r the me aning-making has to do with the se lf, with the conte nt of

instruction, or with the world around us. Using Rossite r and Clark's (in pre ss) mode l, thre e use s of

narrative in practice we re re vie we d: narrative as storying the curriculum, narrative as storyte lling, and

narrative as autobiography. A final se ction focuse d on a narrative pe rspe ctive of adult de ve lopme nt and

transformational le arning.

2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

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APA Embodie d, spiritual, and narrative le arning. (2007). In S. B. Me rriam, R. S. Caffare lla, & L. M. Baumgartne r,

Learning in adulthood: a comprehensive guide (3rd e d.). Hoboke n, NJ: Wile y. Re trie ve d from

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Chicago "Embodie d, Spiritual, and Narrative Le arning." In Learning in Adulthood: A Comprehensive Guide, by

Sharan B. Me rriam, Rose mary S. Caffare lla, and Lisa M. Baumgartne r. 3rd e d. Wile y, 2007.

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Harvard Embodie d, spiritual, and narrative le arning. (2007). In S.B. Me rriam, R.S. Caffare lla & L.M. Baumgartne r,

Learning in adulthood: a comprehensive guide. (3rd e d.). [Online ]. Hoboke n: Wile y. Available from:

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MLA "Embodie d, Spiritual, and Narrative Le arning." Learning in Adulthood: A Comprehensive Guide, Sharan B.

Me rriam, e t al., Wile y, 3rd e dition, 2007. Credo Reference, http://libe zp.lib.lsu.e du/login?

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