Sep: Week of the 7th
For our first topic in September we will focus on mindfulness. Mindfulness can be defined as maintaining a present awareness/presence of your thoughts, emotions, sensations, and surrounding environment. With the practice of mindfulness participants of all ages have reported that stress has been reduced, emotions have been regulated and focus has improved. Mindfulness can be put in to practice to support with your mental health. Below you will find supporting resources on this practice.
What is Mindfulness?
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is the practice of paying attention to the here and now without judgement. It can be practiced where ever we find ourselves, in whatever we are doing. The first step into the present moment is breathing with awareness. By simply zooming our focus on breathing-in and breathing-out, we can quiet our minds, reduce felt sensations of stress, and cultivate compassion for self and others.
How Mindfulness Helps:
As educators (and parents), we often expect, tell, even demand that young people focus and pay attention. Yet many times we fail to model, guide, and teach them how to do this. By integrating more mindful moments into our own lives, and bringing simple, but very powerful, practices into our schools (and homes), we can help young
people nurture the seeds of awareness, reflection, executive functioning, and emotional
regulation.
What the Research Says:
Research shows that practicing mindfulness is an effective coping strategy for anxiety, anger, depression, trauma and other social emotional challenges. It builds neurological pathways that promote presence, attention, and self-regulation. And in the context of school, mindfulness can help students to refocus on the task in front of them and bring calmness during transition times. Mindfulness improves both social-emotional and academic learning. Plus, the very nature of mindfulness exercises are experiential, which we know is one of the most impactful ways to cultivate not only learning but also the JOY of learning.
❤️ Creating a Trauma Sensitive Classroom ❤️
More and more children and adolescents are coming to school in a heightened state of protectiveness and on-guardedness, as an adaptive strategy to survive the challenging experiences in their lives. These brain break activities are especially useful for cultivating a mindful, trauma-informed classroom. Practicing mindfulness not only creates a more peaceful, quiet environment in the classroom, mindfulness helps to create peace within, helping young people to feel more grounded, safe, and ready to learn and interact with others in healthy ways.
-WholeHearted School Counseling, 2020
