Mindfulness: Research, Process and Resources

Many of us are working on developing a mindfulness practice for ourselves and, in tandem, one for our students. There is a preponderance of research in brain science that validates this as a worthy pursuit for adults and children alike. The pay-offs are many: less stress and anxiety, better sleep, improved ability to make choices, and better able to cope with "big" or "negative" feelings (there aren't any negative feelings- they are all feelings).

This post will provide support following the meeting of 9/25/2017. At the meeting personal journals were distributed for tracking your own mindfulness practice, as well as handouts that covered a mindfulness curriculum.

Above, is an animated short with Dan Harris' talk about why mindfulness is a superpower.

What might it look like in a classroom?

• My experience: For me, mindfulness was most helpful to begin our day, after lunch, and sometimes prior to the end of the day.
• Students enter my room to the same song each morning, knowing they have the length of the song to check in, sharpen pencils, put things away. At the conclusion of the song, mindfulness begins.
• Mindfulness varied in practice and length: one day may be just bringing attention to the breath, another day I might be reading a guided meditation, or students might be listening to a guided meditation. Whatever the technique, I stuck with it all week. (It is a PRACTICE! LOL)
• Students all needed to participate: by that I mean, not doing anything else.They needed to sit quietly and not distract others. Sometimes on their chairs, sometimes from the floor. Please never force a child to close their eyes- that can be a trigger from past trauma.(Exception: I had two parents with religious objections to a non-religious practice. I'm not going to argue. Those students sat and read quietly.)
• The practice of mindfulness must be secular in our setting. In other words, there should be no "ommmming", chanting or hands held like you see on tv and in the movies. Kids will do that because that is what they have seen. 
• We are monitoring our breath, scanning our body for tension and soothing our mind. That is mindfulness. It also means to try to bring ourselves fully into the present moment through using our breath as an anchor.

Sharon Salzberg on the choices we face and what qualities we choose to "feed".

This is a link to a "morning meeting" in a 5th grade classroom. A practice like this could be very valuable at any grade, but would take careful attention and time to cultivate. The most important part of any social emotional learning or mindfulness practice is doing it daily, and remembering it is practice. Some days will be better than others, and those kids most resistant to it it, who act out and disrupt others, are the ones who need it most!

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/classroom-morning-meeting#

Below are embedded videos that show the Mindful School's curriculum in practice.