Starting a Gratitude Practice

During this busy time of year we hope that you can take a few moments each day to practice gratitude. Below are some of suggestions and a few videos that may inspire you to begin or continue this important practice.

2 short videos on taking a moment to feel grateful and make today a little brighter!

https://app.gonoodle.com/activities/be-grateful

https://app.gonoodle.com/activities/celebrate-the-new-day

Here’s a link to ideas on how to start your own gratitude practice:   https://leftbrainbuddha.com/start-gratitude-practice/

Below are some ways to practice Gratitude with your children:

• Children can use a notebook or a folder and paper to make a Gratitude Journal.
• Practice gratitude journaling at a regular time each day, or a few times a week.
• Take five minutes to think of something that you feel grateful for today. Here are some topics or ideas:

1. Something that someone else did for you that day.
2. A person in your life that you appreciate.
3.  An activity or hobby you are grateful to be able to do.
4.  A positive quality of someone that can sometimes be hard to get along with.
5.  A skill or ability you have.
6. An item that you love.
7. Something that made you laugh.
8. What you have learned from something that was hard.
9. Have family members put their day’s thanks into their own Gratitude Jar, or create a Gratitude Tree where each day’s thanks is written onto a ‘leaf’.

Coping skills for kids

During this busy time of year, we are often asked by parents and teachers for some ideas on how to help their children manage their feelings, particularly those of frustration, anger and anxiety. It seems like perfect timing that one of our teachers found this FANTASTIC website on this exact topic! We were so excited by the useful strategies and ideas included in this website that we wanted to share it on our blog. You will find the link below:

Coping skills for kids

We hope that you find something useful for you and your family. Some of the sections included are:

• Calming Anxiety
• Managing Anger
• Deep breathing exercises for kids
• Helpful books for kids and families
• Helpful toys, games and activities

Stay tuned next week for a post on the importance of the mindfulness practice of: 

Gratitude

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MIndfulness Summer Bucket List

One of our favorite mindfulness blogs full of ideas for parents and their children is Left Brain Buddha! I would like to say that we thought of the idea of a mindful summer bucket list, but we will give full credit to the Left Brain Buddha blog! 
Please follow below for some of her great ideas to keep you mindful and peaceful this summer! In addition, I have added a few Nabnasset ideas at the bottom of the list! Personally I am going to keep track of all my mindful activities in a journal over the summer and come back to school feeling refreshed, renewed and more mindful than ever.

The Mindful Summer Bucket List

• Read a book about mindfulness (see a list of top recommendations here)

• Eat an entire meal in silence — pay attention to the act of eating and to the taste of the food

• Go for a walk — with no iPhone, no music…. just pay attention

• Get a mindfulness coloring book and spend an afternoon coloring

• Watch Inside Out

• Start a gratitude journal — and write in it once a week

• Take a 24-hour technology detox — no phone, Internet, TV, etc.

• Declare a Day of Kindness and volunteer, engage in random acts of kindness, smile at people you see, and make people’s days

• Teach a mindfulness practice to your kids

• Forgive someone for something (maybe yourself?)

• Practice mindful walking

• Try these breathing exercises that my son learned in kindergarten

• Change up a daily activity — brush your teeth with your non-dominant hand, drive a different route to work, sit in a different spot in your morning meeting…. Go wild!

• Put on some music and dance — just move however your body wants to move

• Practice lovingkindness

• Take a class — art, painting, drumming, dance, tai chi

• Make a list of the things you love about yourself

• Do a 30-minute body scan meditation

• Declutter an area in your house that’s driving you crazy

• Make a mind jar

• Watch a sunrise

• Make a list of the top 10 things that help YOU reduce stress — and post it somewhere you will see it every day

• Create a meditation space or a calm-down space in your home

• Meditate outside

• Watch a Cosmic Kids Zen Den or GoNoodle mindfulness video with your child

• Sign up for the Calm.com app and practice the "Daily Calm"

• LIsten to some relaxing music for kids from Mindful Kids

• Go outside and look up! Do some stargazing or cloud gazing!

We wish you a peaceful, relaxing summer filled with fun and sprinkled with some mindfulness!

Mindful Eating Activity for April                                       


Spring is in the air and another mindfulness post is here! This month our Mindful Strategy is Mindful Eating.

When we eat, most of us are usually sitting around a table, conversing with friends and family. Or we are busy sitting at our desks, having a working lunch (or dinner). We are mostly paying attention to the tasks in front of us, whether that be work, family conversations, or handling squabbles around the table. However, there is one thing we are not paying attention to: our food! We eat without tasting our food, without seeing it. But how could that be, you ask? I see food on my plate. When I eat it, I taste the spiciness of the food, the meat or the vegetables I am consuming. But are you really?

With mindful eating, you are slowing down the process of eating, enjoying each little bite, each little morsel. We slow down so we can really look, smell, taste, enjoy your food. It's amazing what one can see or taste in a piece of chocolate (my favorite) or goldfish (the kids' favorite). Food becomes a lot more interesting and flavorful when we can sloooow doooown the process. Try the exercise below.

Mindful Eating in 7 Easy Steps

1. Choose a piece of food. It can be a piece of apple, chocolate, cracker, broccoli, whatever.
2. Look at the food. Check out the texture, shape or the color of the food.
3. Smell the food. What can you smell? You'll be amazed how the food smells may not always taste the same.
4. Taste the food. Place it on your tongue, but don't chew yet. See what individual flavors/spices your tastebuds can pick up.
5. Take one small bite. Don't eat it in one mouthful. Just a nibble. Notice the texture and sounds the food makes as you chew.
6. Chew the food. Pay attention to how the texture and flavor of the food changes as you chew.
7. Swallow. Notice the sensation as the food travels down your throat to your stomach.

Try to practice one mindful bite at each meal. You'll find that eating is a whole new experience!

Here are some other resources for mindful eating:

You tube reading of "No Ordinary Apple" by Sarah Marlowe.  A story about Elliot and experiences with mindfully eating an apple.

Cosmic Kids Zen den video to teach kids about mindful eating.         

Monthly Mindfulness Activity for March

We have been working on developing a visual tool that will help our students remember to pause when they are experiencing a strong emotion. If they can pause/stop, and use their mindful breathing to calm down, they will be able to take some space and think about what they can do. We encourage them to choose a kind and thoughtful response. If they have a strong feeling, but don't follow these steps, then they are more likely to just react quickly without thinking of others.
If you want to try to use this at home we suggest you practice first.
When you notice that your child is having a strong emotion, say: 

"Red light".  They should stop and take 3-5 mindful breaths. (If more than one child is involved in the problem, they should both follow this system so both can calm down).

Then have them practice "Yellow light" = think about their feelings.
Think about some choices to solve their problem. Think about what might happen with each choice.

Have them pick a choice and say "Green light = Go". 

Once they understand the system, you can still use the phrase "Red light" to remind them to look at the visual and then proceed.

Below are 3 great Cosmic Kids Zen Den videos which review the importance of pausing and taking space before taking action:

Watch this Cosmic kids video called the Owl and the guard Dog - This video gives a great explanation of how the brain works and how breathing helps

us to take space to calm down first before we do something.

Listen for the  “Magic 10” tool that is taught.

“Mine” cosmic kids zen den video - teaching kids to recognize their feelings, use zen den powers (breathing ) to think about what to do instead of react

Cosmic kids zen den video - ‘Getting wanty” - teaches how to press the freeze/pause button and breathe before they do something

MIndfulness in the classroom!

Did you know that we have a group of teachers who are meeting once a month to learn

about MIndfulness! Each month we meet with either Mrs. MacKinnon or Mrs. Reynolds

before or after school. During our meetings they have been sharing valuable information

about how we can incorporate mindfulness strategies into our daily classroom routine.

Teachers have been incorporating many mindful activities from gonoodle.com

(free account for families, explore the mindfulness activities with your child)

and cosmic kids zen den into their curriculum. In addition, Mrs. MacKinnon,

Mrs. Reynolds and Mrs. Kelly (certified Mindfulness instructor) have been able

to teach mindfulness in 4 pilot classes this year. If you would like to follow up on

incorporating mindfulness at home, then we encourage you to view these interactive

videos with your child.
For further information about how mindfulness is beneficial

for students (as well as adults) please visit these links:

https://blissfulkids.com/what-is-mindfulness-and-how-to-explain-it-to-kids/

https://leftbrainbuddha.com/10-ways-teach-mindfulness-to-kids/

https://nabnassetguidance.blogspot.com/

Watch this Adorable short video -click here from BBC with kids explaining why

they like mindfulness)

https://www.nytimes.com/guides/well/mindfulness-for-children

In addition, here are some books read aloud on Youtube which are helpful in

introducing mindfulness to children:

1. Watch and listen to “What does it mean to be present”
2. I am Peace  by Susan Verde  (read aloud on youtube by Susan Verde)
3.  Puppy Mind by Andrew Nance (read aloud on you tube)
4. The following link brings you to 5 ways to teach thankfulness to kids - some good book suggestions included:  (Mayuri Gonzales, Little Flower Yoga)

We also wanted to show you our new Mindfulness Bulletin Board! We are about to add our February Mindful Activity of the month so stay tuned for our next February post.

It's a brand new year. There's something exciting about the change of the calendar. Exciting vacations to plan, new experiences, unseen possibilities, a chance to start something new.

And here at the Nab Guidance blog, we are trying something new to start off 2019! Every month we will be posting a mindful activity that can be competed anywhere. We promise they won't be very involved or take a whole lot of time (unless you choose to, of course). So, without further ado, we introduce our first ever....

Mindful Activity of the month

This month we are going to take advantage of the mild weather, get everyone outdoors, and go for a MINDFUL WALK.

During this walk, take the time to use your senses to focus on your surroundings. This can be accomplished around the yard, at the park or during a walk in the woods. Below is a chart that you can bring with you to assist you in what to focus on.

Click here for a great example of what a mindful walk looks like.

What will you find on your walk today?

Have fun!