WHEN THE TEACHER BREATHES: LEISURE AS AN ACT OF RESISTANCE

Abstract

This study analyzes the teaching experience from the perspective of understanding leisure as a practice of self-care, preservation of subjectivity, and ethical resistance in the face of the intensification of contemporary work. The expression "When the Teacher Breathes" seeks to humanize the figure of the educator, shifting them from a merely functional perception to highlight their human condition in the face of the pressures, overload, and processes of illness present in the exercise of teaching. Based on reflections on self-care, suffering at work, and teacher professionalization, the study engages with authors who problematize the relationships between work, subjectivity, and existence. It argues that leisure should not be understood merely as a compensatory break or entertainment, but as a fundamental dimension of quality of life, freedom, and the reconstruction of meaning. From this perspective, leisure is configured as a space for inner recomposition, self-creation, and resistance to the productivist logic that reduces the subject to continuous performance. By articulating philosophical, sociocultural, and poetic dimensions, the text defends the right to leisure as an indispensable condition for the humanization of teaching work and for the preservation of the sensitivity, autonomy, and dignity of the teacher..