First, you may be asking yourself some of the following questions:
What is mindfulness? Mindfulness is the quality of paying attention in an open, balanced, curious and compassionate manner. Mindfulness can be applied to all sensory experience, thoughts, and emotions.
What are the benefits of mindfulness? Over 30 years
of research has shown the benefits of mindfulness in adults to range from
decreased stress and chronic pain to improved emotional and mental well-being.
This, plus emerging research on children, offers compelling evidence to support
using mindfulness in education. The application of mindfulness by students may
improve academic achievement, mental health, and inter- and intra-personal
relationships.
Benefits of mindfulness include:
- Improved focus and concentration
- Decreased anxiety and stress
- Increased self-awareness
- Increased self-soothing capacity
- Stronger impulse control
- Heightened empathy
Key Terms: Here is a list
of the most common words we use in teaching mindfulness. After a few lessons,
students really take to this new vocabulary. We are hoping to hear stories of
students spontaneously using these words in the classroom, on the playground or
at home.
·
Mindfulness: Mindfulness means paying attention to
your experience, or noticing things on purpose, in a curious and open way. We
can be mindful of everything including sound, sight, smell, taste, touch, our
thoughts and our emotions.
·
Mindful Bodies: The posture we use for
practicing mindfulness. A “Mindful Body” is still, quiet, calm, relaxed yet
upright. Students need not always have a Mindful Body, but when they are
prompted they know exactly what needs to change in order to “get into” a
Mindful Body.
·
Anchor: Our “anchor spot” is the place where
we feel our breath most obviously. It’s the place that holds our attention,
just like an anchor holds a boat in place. The three most common places people
feel their breath are: 1) the belly; 2) the chest; 3) the nose. Any place is
fine, as long as you can feel the breath there, choose one place and stick with
it.
·
Mindful Breathing: This is the foundation of most
mindfulness lessons. Although we learn to be mindful of almost everything we
do, mindful breathing happens in every class. Mindful breathing helps us to see
where our attention is: when it’s present, and when it’s wandered away. Mindful
breathing can help us calm down, help us be present, and help us remember to
notice our experience, whatever it may be at any given moment.
·
Heartfulness: Heartfulness is anything that develops
empathy, kindness and caring. Lessons that cultivate heartfulness include
sending kind thoughts, cultivating generosity and gratitude, and developing
kindness in social situations like the playground or recess.
How can I support mindfulness at home? Many parents
who recognize the benefits of this training want to integrate mindfulness at
home. In many cases, children are more responsive at school than at home, but
here are some suggestions for encouraging mindfulness at home.
Your own practice: A sure-fire way
to establish mindfulness at home is for you to be mindful! Your mindful
presence will impact your children. Children are constantly learning from us.
They receive much more than the information we tell them, but also the way we
compose ourselves and how we handle difficulties. If your mindfulness develops
patience, deeper presence, and more compassion in you, then you will be
impacting your children in every moment by modeling these qualities. Further,
your own increased capacity for self-regulation will have a positive impact on
your child’s nervous system and growth. If you don’t already have a regular
practice but are inclined to begin one, try creating a daily mindfulness
practice on your own. Start with something that is manageable like 5 minutes
every morning before you leave for work or 5 minutes every evening before bed.
We often tell the students that the hardest thing about mindfulness is
remembering to do it. This is as true for adults as for children! Initiating a
personal practice can be challenging. Be prepared for some resistance and
procrastination. Mindfulness takes discipline and practice.
Formal practice at home with your child
•
Do mindfulness together regularly. Commit to keeping mindfulness a priority.
•
Make mindfulness part of a daily routine. Do it before bed, before homework, or
before “screen time.”
• Be consistent in:
o
Time: Practice at the same time each day.
o
Environment: If possible create a calm, quiet space for mindfulness.
o
Length of practice: 1-3 minutes per day can do a lot.
• Keep it simple. Just do what’s easy. A
little mindful listening and a little mindful breathing each day can begin to
change the tone or mood of the household.
• Get a vibratone, singing bowl, or similar
chime to practice mindful listening.
•
Approach this together. If mindfulness is new to you, let your child be the
guide. Ask them how to do mindfulness. Much of mindfulness is empowering
children to recognize their own capacity to affect their experience in a
positive way. If they teach you, it will reinforce their understanding and give
them a sense of ownership. You might be delighted to witness what they’ve
absorbed!
Informal practice at home: You can use or
refer to mindfulness anytime.
•
Prompting children to “notice how you are feeling right now” momentarily guides
them inside. When you do this regularly they will start to notice, unprompted,
more often. (Watch out for using this as a disciplinary tool instead of as a
means for curiosity and inner exploration)
•
If there is a particularly emotional situation, ask your child if there is
anything they’ve learned in mindfulness that might help them at that moment.
Ask them where they feel that emotion in their body and what happens when they
gently notice that emotion and take some mindful breaths.
• It’s usually not helpful to suggest
mindfulness at the height of a difficult moment. Wait until the situation has
settled some. When your child is calmer talk about what happened. Ask how
mindfulness might have helped in that moment? This increases the likelihood of
them remembering to apply mindfulness next time.
Below are some Mindfulness exercises which will be done in the lessons:
Mindful Bodies
When
preparing to do formal mindfulness practice, we assume a particular posture,
called a “Mindful Body” with children.
•
Become still, quiet, gentle, and considerate of those around you.
•
Let your back be straight without being rigid.
•
Rest your hands calmly in your lap or on the table in front of you.
•
Let your eyes close.
•
Let all movement slowly come to a still place, so that you are really prepared
to focus your attention.
•
Spend 1 minute in a mindful body.
•
We can have Mindful Bodies while standing or walking as well.
Mindful Listening
Listening can be done with a bell or with
ambient external sounds. If you use a bell, singing bowls or vibratones work
great.
•
Get into a mindful body and let your eyes close.
•
Ring bell.
•
Listen from beginning to end.
•
Then listen to the sounds around you.
•
Listen to sounds coming from outside the room.
•
Listen to sounds coming from inside the room.
•
Are you quiet enough to hear sounds in your body?
•
Listen for 1-2 minutes.
Mindful Breathing
Mindful
breathing can be done anytime: before bed, walking to school, waiting in line,
when frustrated or excited, while thinking, even watching TV.
•
Get into a mindful body and let your eyes close.
•
Place your hand on your belly (or wherever you feel your breath the clearest –
maybe your chest or at your nose).
•
Notice the sensations as you breath in and out.
•
Try to continue noticing every breath for 1-3 minutes.
•
If you find that you started thinking, simply notice it and return your
attention to the next breath.
Heartfulness – Sending Kind Thoughts
Having
intentional thoughts and cultivating positive mind states are very important
skills to learn. If we don’t know how to be deliberate in our thinking, we can
be overcome by an undercurrent of negative thinking that influences how we feel
and act in our day. Try sending kind thoughts to counter this and strengthen a
state of care and kindness. You can use this practice to send kind thoughts to
oneself, or to another.
•
Get into a mindful body and let your eyes close.
•
Imagine yourself happy, peaceful and calm.
•
Silently repeat three or four kind thoughts to yourself. Examples of phrases
are included below, but feel free to find words that resonate with you. Just
try to keep them simple.
o
May I be safe.
o
May I be happy.
o
May I be peaceful.
•
Send each kind thought a few times.
•
After you’ve sent kind thoughts to yourself, ring the bell and then direct kind
thoughts to each other. Your child would be wishing you well, and you would be
wishing them well.
o
May you be safe.
o May you be happy.
o May you be peaceful.
•
This practice is not some esoteric, metaphysical exercise – you are simply
affirming the kindness and love you feel for each other.
•
Always notice how you feel during and after this exercise.
One of our new favorite books to read with students to help explain mindfulness is called:
I Am Peace by Susan Verde and Illustrated by Peter Reynolds
One of our new favorite books to read with students to help explain mindfulness is called:
I Am Peace by Susan Verde and Illustrated by Peter Reynolds
We also use this Hoberman Sphere to help students learn to breathe in and out slowly! It is amazing to see the students instantly learn how to slow their breathing down with this simple tool!
For additional information and resources please click here. This link will bring you back to our blogpost on Mindfulness from May 4, 2016.
