Mindful Minds
Educating the Mind, Body, and the Heart
About
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is being present by bringing attention to one’s thoughts, feelings, and sensations at that moment. Participants partaking in mindfulness practices are encouraged to do this with non-judgment, self- compassion, and empathy for others.
Why mindfulness?
Every child comes to school with two backpacks. One backpack can come in any color, shape, and size and is usually filled with school supplies and a lunch box. The other backpack is invisible, but it carries the heavyweight of emotions – including trauma, fear, anxiety, and stress – that affect a child’s ability to learn. All children deserve a learning space that helps them manage these emotions and enables them to learn in a safe and supportive environment.As an early childhood teacher, I believe it is my role to provide my students with a learning environment that supports them academically, socially, and emotionally.
Throughout my years of teaching young children, I have found that many of my days are filled with laughter, love, and learning. And yet, an increasingly frequent challenge I experience is the number of children exhibiting emotional distress. This emotional distress has a negative impact on their learning, behavior, and social and emotional development – resulting in low self-confidence and poor academic achievement. Interestingly, I have found that students can express this distress through a variety of behaviors, ranging from quiet and withdrawn to challenging and disruptive.
Young children need to be supported in developing the essential self-regulation skills needed to help manage emotional distress and make progress academically, socially, and emotionally. Simple mindfulness practices can be used to benefit students in all areas, as these practices will train them to slow down and be more present. Mindfulness practices in education have been proven to enhance attention, teach lifelong skills that can be used daily, promote a positive and nurturing learning environment, meet social-emotional needs, and help learners reach their fullest potential.
What are the benefits of mindfulness?
Practicing mindfulness can positively affect all other executive functioning skills. Studies show that some benefits of mindfulness are reduction in stress levels and anxiety, improvement in health and working memory, decreased depressive symptoms, increased resilience and self-worth, and better self-regulation.
In searching for research on the use of mindfulness in schools, I found that most of it has been conducted with adolescents at the middle school level and above. However, more recently, some educators have studied the use of mindfulness and relaxation techniques with young learners as young as five-years-old. Here is one study that I found especially helpful to understand the benefits this could bring to my kindergarten students. For additional studies and other resources, here is the link to my Resources page.
A child that practices mindfulness may be better able to identify the feelings they are experiencing and respond to them appropriately, have increased ability to focus and tune out distractions, be better prepared to regulate their responses to stressful situations.
