Three Skills Cultivated by Mindfulness: Model From Posner & Colleagues (2015) Mindfulness Practice Emotion Regulation Attention Control Self- Awareness Beneficial Outcome

Presentation Outline My experience What is mindfulness and why it matters Practice session Ideas for implementation Discussion

My experience Professional book study Establishing personal practice Training with Mindful Schools Guidance “Drop Ins” MindUp at EVES Supporting teachers Mention journals and lessons

Mindfulness is noticing what is happening right now. What Is Mindfulness? Mindfulness means maintaining a present-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, or surrounding environment. “Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally...it’s about knowing what is on your mind.” Jon Kabat-Zin “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning. It also includes the intentional nurturing of positive states of mind such as kindness and compassion. Why Mindfulness is a Superpower: video by Happify “Raise your hand if someone has ever asked you to pay attention. Keep it up if anyone ever told you how.” WHAT are we paying attention to? Anything in our experience, anything that comes through our senses … vision, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling. For instance … noticing our feet on the floor, our hands resting on our thighs. Things that happen in our inner world with our thoughts and emotions. Paying attention to the mechanics of how this inner world operates [Note to presenter] It can be useful to separate mindfulness training from all the associations people have about the word “meditation.” These associations are often religious and exotic. They often also often involve activities have no relationship to what we are doing in this program (religious mantras, complex visualizations, etc.). Mindfulness is a form of attention or awareness training that can be applied in any activity throughout the day – seeing, hearing, walking, eating, playing, homework, etc. Its purpose is to increase self-awareness, emotional balance, impulse control, and overall focus. *****************************For children: Mindfulness is noticing what is happening right now. What you’re seeing / hearing / feeling / thinking

The science behind it Jon Kabat-Zinn’s work with MBSR Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz: “How Mindfulness can change your brain” Benefits for students: their reflections Data!! “Just Breathe”

Benefits of Mindfulness Supported by 30+ years of research and current neuroscience among adults, and a growing literature with youth Better focus and concentration Improved self regulation as well as compassionate attitudes and behavior Decreased stress, anxiety, and depression Hundreds of studies on adults from the past 30 plus years, and a number of recent studies with youth find these types of benefits of mindfulness. For citations, see www.mindfulschools.org/research Mindfulness isn’t: disciplinary tactic, always calm and happy, a silver bullet for everything that ails, absence of thought, religious. For students and for teachers!

Practice Session Mindful Bodies and Mindful Breathing Every time we practice mindfulness, we start by getting in a mindful posture. A mindful posture has five guidelines: 1.Facing forward 2.Back is upright 3.Stillness 4.Quiet 5.Mind and body are relaxed yet alert 6.Letting your eyes close Let’s try one minute in this mindful posture. Today, in order to practice this mindfulness, we are going to focus on something that is happening in us all the time – breath. Breath is neutral. It’s just there, continually, all day, everyday, breathing in, breathing out. We can find it any time we remember. Start by taking one breath. Now, close your eyes and take one deep breath. Now take three breaths, but just normal breaths, don’t deliberately change it. Now, take three breaths, this time noticing where in your body you feel your breath. Follow the breath in this place for the entire three breaths. (wait. give some explanation of the different places the breath can be felt - belly, chest, nostrils.) We will call the place that you feel you breath most obviously your anchor. It is the place to anchor your attention. Let’s try this for one minute. optional, if you have extra time: I am going to ring a bell. With your eyes closed, please let your attention go to the sound and simply listen to the sound from the moment it starts until it ends. Listen as closely as you can to see if you can actually hear the moment it ends. (ring bell) Notice how you feel, if that was challenging, if you noticed thoughts or not, if you were able to just listen to sound for 30 seconds. What you are beginning to develop is observing a single thing for an extended period of time. Our minds will naturally wander away because they are very happy to jump and run around. Actually, most of what we are doing each day is training our minds not to stay on one thing. Cell phones, texting, facebook, twitter, video games, all train the mind to move quickly. Because of that, this might feel uncomfortable in the beginning. ************************************************************************** Thank you for your attention and effort in sharing this short practice.

Possible Structure of Lessons Parts of the brain 2-3 lessons Introduce relevant parts: amygdala, prefrontal cortex, hippocampus—fist model Refer back to these throughout the day Mindful bodies and mindful breathing practice Scaffold and build up to 1-2 minutes Start the day with it, transition with it, let students lead Mindfulness of senses: listen, see, touch, hear, walk Tie into curriculum (English, Phy Ed, Science, Spanish,etc..) Body Scan Practice Gratitude and Optimism PP of a lesson for 5th and 6th graders and K-3 MindUP Lessons

Kindergarten Example Start the day: 2-5 minutes Scaffold: mindful bodies for 30 seconds for a week, then 1 minute for another week. Mindful seeing and mindful listening around school and classroom and outside Once a week, practice one strategy for calming down: brownie breaths, counting, self-talk, etc. Once mastered by most, create a menu. Give specific feedback—direct students to notice, say their feeling, choose a strategy, calm down, talk.

No time for lessons? No problem First day: first practice Teacher led Recording (resources on worksheet) Use CalmClassrooms Create routine for at least once a day Allow students time to reflect (journals?) Sprinkle in conversations about self-awareness, reactions, brain, mindful experiences, gratitude Be a model

What’s next? Read a book 5 minutes a day! Personal practice More authentic teaching Personal gain Take a course: in-person or on-line Try an app Watch more videos Lesson plan with: MindUp or The Mindful Education Workbook: Lessons for Teaching Mindfulness to Students

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