I've always believed in the benefit of counting to ten, taking a breath in stressful situations. But after taking a class last summer, I now realize the benefit of taking a breath just for the purpose of taking a breath. Lead by principals Sarah O'Leary and Kathryn Castonguay, about 20 teachers from the Tri-town School Union participated in the class to learn mindfulness techniques and benefits and to understand how we might be able to integrate a practice into our school day.
And so, since the beginning of the school year, our class has been learning about mindfulness. We practice after lunch and recess, a time of transition with students moving between classrooms and focus expectations. Using the MindUp curriculum as our guide, we've learned about the brain and how we want information and stimuli to get to our prefrontal cortex for reflective processing instead of stopping at the amygdala and being reactive. We've learned how to breathe mindfully, to listen with mindfulness, and to see while being mindful. We are exploring now what our bodies feel like when they are tight and stressed and what it feels like to release them (freeze and thaw).
At first some students were hesitant to try mindful breathing, but all were respectful of their classmates and waited quietly while we did our breathing practice for a few minutes. Gradually, more and more students have joined in these few minutes of quiet time to get themselves more calm, relaxed, and focused for the rest of the afternoon.
Ask your student about mindfulness. Ask them to show you how to breathe quietly and with focus. Let them lead you into this practice of being right here, right now, just for the purpose of taking a breath.
