Embodied Sensemaking and the Emergence of Educator Leadership: A Phenomenological Study of Awareness, Regulation, and Relational Practice

<p>This phenomenological study explores how educators describe their experiences while engaging with mind-body practices and nervous system care within a professional learning context and how they interpret these experiences in relation to their professional practice. The research was conducted with a cohort of educators participating in the Heart-Centered Connections (HCC) program in Northern California between 2022 and 2023. Data sources included reflective assignments, written records, and semi-structured interviews collected across multiple stages of the program. Data were analyzed using phenomenological methods focused on participants’ descriptions of lived experience.</p> <p>Participants frequently described increased awareness of bodily sensations, emotional cues, and patterns of reactivity within everyday classroom interactions. These experiences involved momentary interruptions of habitual responses, developing capacity for self-regulation, and heightened sensitivity to relational dynamics with students and colleagues.</p> <p>Within participants’ interpretations of these experiences, leadership emerged as an evolving dimension of professional practice. Rather than being framed as a formal role, leadership was described as grounded in embodied awareness, relational responsiveness, and the capacity to influence classroom climate and professional interactions. Participants’ accounts further suggest that leadership may begin prior to formal recognition, emerging through shifts in presence, initiative, and relational engagement within everyday practice. Leadership was also experienced as co-constructed, shaped through ongoing interactions with students and colleagues.</p> <p>The study contributes to educational leadership scholarship by conceptualizing leadership development as a process of embodied sensemaking through which educators interpret experience and enact relational influence in everyday practice within complex and demanding professional contexts.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD Leadership Studies

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation: USD Users Only

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Leadership Studies

Year dc:date.available

2026

Author dc:creator

• Lopez Alvaro, Gabriela M.

• Embodied sensemaking Educator leadership Leadership identity development Mind-body practices Co-regulation Mindful leadership Nervous system regulation Phenomenology
• Adult and Continuing Education
• Adult and Continuing Education and Teaching
• Educational Leadership
• Other Teacher Education and Professional Development
• Teacher Education and Professional Development

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digital.sandiego.edu/dissertations/1124

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digital.sandiego.edu:dissertations-2141