Title:	How can love improve my practice? Researching the relation of being with doing.
Authors & affiliations:	Eleanor Lohr, University of Bath
Abstract: (Your abstract must use Normal style and must fit in this space)	Relevance of enquiry This is an example of practitioner research that brings together a spiritual practice with an action research methodology, and which shows how embodied values can influence and be enacted in professional practice. The presentation will be of interest to those who are developing their own reflective practice. The question is posed from a living educational theory perspective. Clarity of the research question(s) Living educational theories are being generated as explanations from practitioner-researchers of their educational influences in educational enquiries of the kind, ‘How do I improve what I am doing?’ and is based on the work of Whitehead (1988) and others at http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/living.shtml. Appropriateness of methods and literature This is a deliberately value-laden living educational theory developed through iterative cycles of action and reflective writing. It incorporates the theoretical perspectives of Bernstein’s (2000) theories of pedagogical communication, the inclusional approach of Rayner (1994) and is underpinned by the concept of relational epistemology (Thayer-Bacon (2003).The methodology includes autobiographical writing and journalling, together with Hindu philosophy and spiritual practice based on the Eight Limbs of Yoga (Iyengar 1966). Robustness of analytical or theoretical framework The relation between being and doing is supported by the consistency of the action research cycles (Heron 1996), and by the development of criteria against which both ontological experience and the worth of professional practice may be judged (Whitehead, 1988). The phenomenological framework is supported by Bortroft’s (1996) ideas about the nature of perception. Significance for educational policy and/or practice. This research shows how embodied knowledge generates action, which in turn generates propositional knowledge. It shows (1) how awareness of how tacitly held knowledge can contribute to the development of loving educational relationships through which learning is both enabled and made more meaningful, and (2) how embodied, felt resonances influence judgement and decision-making. Bernstein, B. (2000) Pedagogy, Symbolic Control and Identity: Theory, Research and Critique U.S.A: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Inc. Bortroft, H. (1996) The Wholeness of Nature: Goethe’s Way of Science. USA: Floris Books. Heron, J (1998) Sacred Science: Person-centred Inquiry into the Spiritual and the Subtle Ross-On-Wye: PCCS Books. Iyengar, B.K.S. (1966) Light on Yoga London: Sydney: Wellington: Unwin Paperbacks. Rayner, A. D. M. (2004) Inclusionality: The Science, Art and Spirituality of Place, Space and Evolution .Available from: www.bath.ac.uk/~bssadmr/inclusionality/ Thayer-Bacon, B. J. (2003) Relational (E)pistemologies. USA: Peter Lang Whitehead, J. (1988) Creating a Living Educational Theory from Questions of the Kind, ‘How do I improve my practice?’ available from http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw//writings/livtheory.html [accessed July 2004].