What does a mindfulness lesson look like?

Each class begins and ends the same. We start by circling up and finding a mindful body, with the help of a Tibetan Singing Bowl. Then we take three communal breaths; alternating between different styles (Five finger breath, ocean, tree, rainbow and many other kinds of breaths). 

After we settle in, we check in with our feelings. Taking a moment to notice what is showing up for us. Always reminding that feelings come and feelings go... 

Then we engage in some mindful movement: yoga, mindful movement games: Mindful Ms. Marie says, Mindful Freeze Dance, Follow the Leader, etc. 

Our main activity or learning throughout our mindfulness classes so far have included exploring:

• Throughout the Course of the Year we will explore these three areas: Awareness, Breath and other mindful tools, and Community. Our Mindful ABCs. 

• Exploring Awareness

  • Awareness is the understanding of what is happening both around us and inside of us. 

  • We can notice what is happening around us by using our senses. We have practiced focusing on two of our senses so far:

    1. • Listening: We practiced with in a few different ways

         1. Listening to the sound of the bell and raising our hand when we couldn't hear it anymore

         2. Freezing like statues and noticing all of the sounds around us (If we can be mindful in noisy New York City, we can be mindful anywhere!)

         3. We mindfully listened to each other; partnered up and shared with each other how they were feeling, then had to share out to the class what their partner shared.

         4. Mindful Ms. Marie says--Just like Simon says, but a great way to focus and move your body!

       • Seeing: We practiced in a few different ways

         1. Noticing what is around us; we have been in our classes for awhile now, so the students took time to notice something new they have not seen in their classroom. 

         2. Mindfully exploring a detailed picture of a scenery for a quiet moment, where students had to then recall what they saw after being prompted questions about specific details from the picture.

         3. What went missing game--With various objects laid out, the students observe them for a mindful moment, then with their eyes closed changes were made and the students had to share what they noticed was different.

• Exploring our Breath and Mindful Tools:

  • When we pay attention to our breath going in and out, it quiets our mind and our body. 

  • You will find a few different kinds of deep breaths we practice down below and books that offer a variety of deep breaths as well

  • Some other mindful tools:

    1. Mindful Squeezing 

    2. Mindful Tapping

    3. Yoga

• Exploring Community:

  • We do a lot of partner work in Mindfulness- Practicing Mindful Listening and Partner Yoga Poses

  • We explore the many ways we can use Mindful tools to help solve problems we may face

    1. Taking a mindful pause before reacting

    2. Practicing the peace path to find a calm solution to our conflicts

    3. Practicing mindfulness allows us to show up and be more attuned to the environment around us. From this place, we learn how to best show up and navigate various situations

    4. We practice how to listen mindfully to one another, approach people with kindness and understanding

• Closing: The same way we begin, we find our quiet mindful bodies and take three deep breaths together. This time though, a student will lead these breaths with either their own choice of breathing technique or using our breathing ball! Then another student will ring our closing bell, where we end by using the greeting "Namaste". Acknowledging our respect for one another and following that with: "I respect you, you respect me." 

Mindful Books:

Mindful Videos:

If you have any questions, comments or concerns, you can contact me, Marie Vizzotti at mvizzotti@polyprep.org