“In today’s rush we
all think too much – seek too much – want too much – and forget about the joy of just being” – Eckhart Tolle
Mindfulness is the
practice of ‘just being’ – being aware of the present moment and approaching
it in an accepting, curious and open manner. Research
on mindfulness practices in schools has shown the benefits to students are
wide-ranging, including decreased anxiety and depression, enhanced social
skills, increased optimism, and improved academic performance. In fact,
researchers are finding through neuroimaging that mindfulness practices
change the brain. Dr.
Iroise Dumontheil, from the University of London, found the brains
of adolescents who practiced mindfulness for as little as eight weeks were
able to more quickly refocus on a cognitive task after being
distracted.
With this ever-growing
body of evidence, many teachers are keen to weave mindfulness into everyday
practice in the classroom. However, some teachers are unsure where to begin,
what techniques to use, or how to overcome the challenge of doing something
that is outside of the students’ (or the teacher’s) comfort zone.
As educators, we want
our students to be the best they can be inside and outside of the classroom.
We want to help them be confident in their abilities, be in control of their
emotions and attention, and to feel good about themselves. Teaching them how
to be mindful is a beneficial, proven approach to help them achieve this.
Here are some basic practices teachers can use to scaffold their students’
learning of the skill of mindfulness.
Set
the scene
When first introducing
your students to mindfulness, you can pique their curiosity by giving
real-world examples of the powerful ways mindfulness can help them cope with
everyday problems. Here are some good hooks for students:
- The pressure of preparing for
and performing well on exams can trigger stress and anxiety. Mindfulness
can help teens relax, pick up on patterns in their negative self-talk,
and re-focus their attention.
- Today’s world is hectic and
over-stimulating and can cause us to lose sight of who we are.
Mindfulness helps teens slow down, spend time in silence without
distractions, learn to be comfortable in their own company and better
understand their strengths and passions.
- Getting into arguments with
those we are close to can flood us with negative feelings and thoughts,
making it tough to concentrate on anything else. Mindfulness helps teens
hold these experiences lightly, view them as temporary and let go of
them more easily.
- Teens love learning about the
brain and how it works. Share the latest research with your students on
the ways mindfulness
can help their brain harness feelings and thoughts.
Model
mindfulness
A common question from
teachers interested in introducing mindfulness into everyday classroom
practice is whether it is necessary to engage in mindfulness practices of
their own before teaching these to students.
As we know with
teaching academic subjects, be it maths or history, successfully engaging
students does not just depend on whether the teacher has a good amount of
content knowledge, it is also about the personality and life experiences they
bring to a lesson. Good teaching often comes from reflecting on our learning
process and on our struggles to understand complex concepts.
Reading about mindfulness
practices and being comfortable with your script can be a good start. But
that may only get your students so far in developing a meaningful and
impactful mindfulness practice. Authenticity, particularly with teenagers, is
vitally important to engage them deeply, help them recognise the benefits of
what they are being taught, and develop a sense of trust. Teenage students
appreciate the honesty and openness of teachers who share personal stories of
setbacks and growth. This does not mean that the only way to help your
students take mindfulness seriously is for you to engage in daily mindfulness
meditation yourself. But it does help to be able to share personal
experiences of how mindful practices have positively impacted your life.
For example, you might disclose how using mindful breathing helped you
get through a stressful job interview.
Use
teen-friendly mindfulness practices
One of the most
effective ways to engage teens in mindfulness practices is to use metaphors,
comparing abstract concepts to concrete, real-world items. Some examples
include:
- Instructing your students to
picture their thoughts and feelings as bubbles floating past.
- Getting your students to
create mindfulness
glitter jars to help them understand what happens when their
thoughts and emotions get all stirred up.
The best place to have
your students start their journey with mindfulness is getting them to focus
on their body. This helps ground them to the present moment, builds their
physical and emotional awareness, and you can relate it to sport. In sport,
when we have present-moment awareness of our bodies and an acceptance of that
moment, we become completely focused on the athletic task, are not as easily
distracted by external events, have fewer negative thoughts about our
performance, and as a result we achieve peak performance.
Here are some useful
mindfulness resources that you could use to engage your students:
- Reachout
Breathe – an app that reduces the physical symptoms of stress
and anxiety by helping the user control their breathing and heart rate.
- Music e-scape –
an app that uses the user’s music library to help them reach their
desired mood.
- Smiling
mind – an app for young people that makes meditation more
accessible.
- Guided meditations
– a range of guided meditation recordings for teens.
Challenges
to practice
Some common complaints
of students about mindfulness is that their minds wander too much or they
cannot sit still and do nothing. Let you students know that mindfulness is a
practice. Like any sort of training, there will be days that are easier and
days that are harder, and that distractions are part of the process.
Introduce the mindfulness concept of self-compassion – not judging ourselves
on how good or bad we are going, but embracing who we are in that
moment.
Despite your best
efforts to ‘hook’ your students, some still might not be motivated to engage
with mindfulness. If this is the case, you may want to consider using a
creative approach that links to prior learning. In his recently published
book, Mindfulness &
Character Strengths, Ryan Niemiec, the Education Director at
the Values in Action (VIA) Institute in the USA, suggests there is great
value in basing mindfulness practices on one’s top character strengths.
Character strengths are “those strengths we bring forth most naturally across
multiple settings and infuse us with energy. As they are core to identity,
they help individuals to function at their best and maintain a sense of
authenticity” (p. 26-27). Using the VIA youth survey, help each of your
students identify their top character strengths and then engage them in
individualised practices based on these strengths. If a student’s top
strength is Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence, you might engage him or
her in guided imagery, such as visualising walking through a serene
landscape. If confronting time constraints, you might instead choose to
identify the top three most common character strengths of the entire class.
If a top strength in the class is Curiosity, you could engage the group in
walking meditation. If Kindness is a top classroom strength, you could engage
the class in loving-kindness meditation.
Some students may be
skeptical or think practicing mindfulness is pointless. It often takes just
one session though to change this opinion. Giving your students the chance to
experience these practices first hand can be the most powerful testament of
how mindfulness does calm the body and refocus the mind. Similarly, some
teachers may find it daunting to teach mindfulness because, unlike other
areas of learning in the classroom, we are unable to measure how much impact
mindfulness has actually had on our students or what level of skill they have
acquired. Rest assured, mindfulness is a truly personal experience, it takes
time and practice, and a bit of commitment and flexibility from the teacher
will go a long way. So we encourage you to take that daring leap - give
mindfulness a go with your students today!
If you would like to
get more ideas on how to introduce mindfulness practices into your classroom,
come along to our upcoming one-day training course, Exploring
Mindfulness.
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