Mindful motion: engagement with the messy vitality of research

A key role of supervisors and teachers is their engagement with the shaping of knowledge. In guiding students towards what is possible to know, and how it is possible to ‘write’ of such knowledge, there is a heightened sense of responsibility and a significant duty of care. It takes time, organisation and deep discipline to create elegantly designed frameworks through which to view experience, research ideas and comprehend ambiguity. The arguments addressed in this paper, offer a reminder of ways we might practice research as a mindful endeavor and in the process, seek understanding and cohesion. Sparked by my annual reconsideration of what is important to share with students and researchers, I visit ideas that underpin ways in which we might realise nimble thinking and so hone significant change. In this way, the work of the paper offers, a gentle disturbance to the streamlining and consolidation of practice-as-research in the academy. The discussion champions practice that prizes the revealing of ideas, without rushing to answers. In order to recognise the opportunities afforded by what is a place of not knowing, there is need to recognise that our search is to provisionally affirm, rather than finally confirm, order. In continuing to grapple, with ways to guide researchers, I argue that understanding the consequences of ‘how’ you engage with the potential of knowledge is the significant aspect of practice-as-research that we must protect.