By: Mariam Gates
This book is a wonderful resource to help teachers and parents introduce tweens and teens to mindfulness-based practices. The book is a quick read and well-organized. It is divided into five chapters. In the first four chapters, the author provides pertinent background information, along with specific activities to explore each of the following areas: mindfulness, mindful yoga, mindful breathing and mindful meditation. In the fifth and final chapter, a 5-day mindfulness challenge is offered to serve as a how-to planning guide for incorporating mindfulness into everyday life. Throughout the book, there are easy to follow instructions accompanied by colorful illustrations to depict the various activities, body positions and sequences of movement poses. We heartily recommend this book to help beginners of all ages explore the variety of ways to learn and experience mindfulness. My name is Cindy Kaump. As an 8th grade English teacher, I constantly see students who feel stressed, worried, or unfocused. In January, members of MC4ME came to my district to help us bring mindfulness into the classroom. It was like two parts of my life were coming together, since I’ve been an educator for nine years, and practiced yoga for just as long. One of my favorite benefits of yoga has been the practice mindfulness. Mindfulness helps me not worry about things I can’t control, in my past, or in the future. I find my focus is better, and I’m a better listener because of my practice, so of course I thought I should teach mindfulness to my students!
Yoga Calm for Children, by Lynea and James Gillen, is a wonderful resource for anyone concerned about fostering the emotional and physical well-being and academic learning in children and youth. This book describes a unique educational program that combines the practice of physical yoga and social-emotional skill-building. It includes more than 60 specially designed classroom and therapeutic activities: yoga-based movement, breath work, relaxation, and social-emotional learning and storytelling activities. Each activity is clearly explained and, in the case of yoga practices, accompanied by pictures. In addition, the book specifies different ways the activities can be combined into five-to-forty minute lesson plans for a range of ages, abilities and populations. Personal stories drawn from Lynea's thirty years of classroom teaching, counseling and implementing this program add to the richness and the usefulness of this material.
This series of five video sessions from March 12- 16, 2018, organized by the Mind & Life Institute, features leading mindfulness scientists and expert practitioners sharing information with His Holiness the Dalai Lama on his longstanding interest in learning how to best educate the hearts and minds of young people. Each of the five sessions are two hours in length and focus on social-emotional education in early childhood, elementary and middle school. Presentation of research findings and model curricula, sprinkled with discussion and words of the Dalai Lama, demonstrate how compassion, ethics, and attention training can be more fully integrated into existing educational frameworks. Enjoy the videos at your leisure, and feel free to begin with whichever session sparks your interest most.
Watch videos here. This book has been hailed as a unique resource for transforming our schools by a number of prominent leaders in the fields of mindfulness and social emotional learning. The first half of the book is divided into three parts and sets the context for mindful teaching and education. In Part 1, Why Mindfulness Matters, Rechtschaffen defines mindfulness, introduces us to a range of mindfulness work already happening in schools and presents an overview of scientific findings on personal benefits. Part 2, Begin With Yourself, emphasizes the importance for teachers and parents to experience mindfulness practices before effectively teaching these skills to children and teens. In Part 3, The Mindful Classroom, the author describes the qualities of a mindful teacher, and essential ingredients for a mindfulness classroom, including ways to address diversity and inclusion, stress and trauma and the needs of different age groups.
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