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MINDFULNESS IN SCHOOLS PROJECT
TEACHERS’ NOTES
TASTER SESSION:
An Introduction
to Mindfulness
© Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2015
TASTER SESSION:
AN INTRODUCTION TO MINDFULNESS
Mindfulness can be understood by contrasting the thinking (driven-doing) vs
sensing (mindful-being) modes of mind. These are adopted in turn, listening
to the same piece of music and noticing the differences between the
experiences. Drawing on the learning from this experiential exercise, a
conceptual framework fleshes out the qualities of the two modes of mind.
Examples drawn from a busy work day at school help demonstrate the
practical benefits of being able to shift gear into mindful-being mode.
Another door into understanding mindfulness is offered by introducing the
neuroscience and evidence base, along with examples of successful
organisations engaging with the practice. This readies the ground for a
mindfulness of breath and body practice and enquiry.
Many in the audience will be interested to explore how mindfulness can
support the young people they work with. The curricula of the Mindfulness
in Schools Project are shown to emphasise the diverse ‘possibilities’
available, from dealing skilfully with challenges to flourishing.
However to bring mindfulness to young people, it is necessary to begin with
the teachers and staff. By putting on their own oxygen masks through a
course such as .b Foundations, staff can learn ways to boost their
wellbeing. For some this is also the start of the journey towards being able
to teach mindfulness in an embodied, authentic way to young people.
Resources
 Slide clicker
© Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2015
 USB with presentation
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GENERAL TIPS
• This session has been designed primarily for school staff who may not have
chosen to attend, for example, as part of staff training day (INSET) or staff
meeting. As such, it is conceptual at times and more presentational than
regular .b Foundations sessions, as it aims to engage even the most sceptical
participant. For this reason the session does not begin with a practice and
the first exercise is engaging participants in something they may well do
already, namely listening in sensing mode. By the time we arrive at the
sitting practice, participants should feel comfortable with engaging.
• If your audience is voluntary you may choose to adapt the session, offering
more time for practice. But the outline provided has worked well in a variety
of settings and group sizes.
• Use the script provided in this plan as much as it feels helpful. Instructions
and tips for you are in grey italic font. Additional information is in grey
standard font. ‘Scripted’ instructions for your group are in black. However,
remember that the most important thing is to be modelling mindfulness and
speaking from personal experience may be more helpful than following the
script.
• Whilst this session is more presentational in style, there are still many
opportunities for modelling mindful curiosity, acceptance and a lightness of
touch.
• This presentation could be delivered to a large group, from which a selfselected number will go on to do a .b Foundations course.
• If you aren’t based in the school, it is worth speaking to your contact to find
out the context vis-à-vis the interest in mindfulness. What is the level of the
school’s commitment?
- Is this just a taster session for staff information or is it to gauge staff
interest levels? Or is the intention to run a .b Foundations course and
train teachers to teach young people?
- If you know the will is there for a .b Foundations course, you could
arrange dates so they can be announced during the taster.
• Find out about whether your audience are teaching and/or non-teaching staff
as this will affect examples you give during the session.
• It is also important to understand the wider school context with your contact
or through the website: e.g. What age group are the pupils? Is there a
particular school ethos?
© Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2015
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SESSION OVERVIEW
Practice
Timing
Exercise/Presentation
Activity
0
- Introduce the session
- ‘Thinking’ vs ‘sensing’
5
- Listening with two modes of
mind
- Enquiry
20
- ‘Driven-doing’ vs ‘mindfulbeing’
- Kung Fu Panda clip
35
- Neuroscience and popularity
40
- Mindfulness of breath and
body
- Enquiry
60
- Mindfulness for young people:
‘Possibilities’
70
- Mindfulness for teachers/staff
80
- Plenary/questions
© Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2015
Both
Reminders
4
1. INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES
a) Briefly introduce your background in teaching and practising mindfulness
and any links or experience you have to the education context.
b) State the overall objectives for the session:
•
•
•
•
•
To
To
To
To
To
introduce mindfulness conceptually
provide an experiential taste of the practice
set out some of the evidence base
explore the potential of mindfulness with young people
offer suggestions for exploring mindfulness further
c) Get to know your audience. You could ask the following:
I’d like to find about who we have in the room and how much you already
know about mindfulness? So, reflecting on which category you would place
yourself in: (1) I know nothing about mindfulness, this is the first I’ve heard
of it; (2) I know a little about bit, maybe having read about it or tried out
the practice once or twice; (3) I know a fair bit (or even a lot) – maybe
having done a course or practised for a while, or even having taught
mindfulness.
And now, raising your hand if you are in group 1: “I know nothing, this is
completely new to me”. How about category 2: “I know a bit about it”. And
finally category 3: “I know a fair bit about it or I’ve practised for a while”.
Pause and acknowledge the range of experience in the room.
So whether you are completely new to this or if you are already an expert, it
would be lovely to hear any reflections as we go through the session, so this
is less presentation and more of a conversation.
© Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2015
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2. INTRODUCE ‘THINKING’ VS ‘SENSING’ MODES OF MIND
A good place to start is by recognising the degree to which our mental
health and levels of happiness are shaped by what we do with our
attention.
Maybe you can sense right now how attention is this arena of awareness that
tends to move around from one object to another? (Pause) I can see that
some of your attention is directed on me now.
Generally our attention is hijacked by the most intense experience in any
moment which right now might be me talking, or might be a thought about
something that happened earlier or is due to happen later, or it might be a
body sensation or a worry.
We can see how for much of the time the main thing we’re giving our
attention to is to THINKING [Click]: we’re busy re-living and pre-living our
lives in the cinema of the thinking mind.
Mindfulness offers another possibility: to begin to give much more attention
to the sensations of the body – to SENSING [Click] . So changing the
allocation of our attention from this [Click] to this [Click].
Interestingly, making this shift tends to make our thinking more economical,
less ruminative, often more creative.
To explore this further, let’s experiment with paying attention with these two
different modes of mind.
© Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2015
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3. LISTENING WITH DIFFERENT MODES OF MIND
Intentions/Possible Learning Points
• To explore the two modes of mind.
• To explore sensing mode through a medium which many participants will
already be familiar.
• To notice the patterns of the thinking mind – wandering (autopilot),
connections, memories, associations, connecting emotions.
• To notice details of ‘sensing’ – sensations in the body, details of music,
direct experiencing.
This first time, I am inviting you to THINK about the music. There are some
questions on the board to work through. Please consider all of these
questions and the music lasts for around two minutes.
Click through the questions before pressing play on the music.
© Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2015
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Now, listening for a second time, in sensing mode.
Click through and give the instructions, before pressing play on the
music. You can give participants the option to close their eyes for
this listen, whilst also encouraging them to bring an attitude of
curiosity.
ENQUIRY



Enquiry in pairs first before opening to plenary.
There is music embedded in the slide already, which is a clip
from the song by Ali Farka Toure called ‘Kaira’ from the
album ‘In the Heart of the Moon’. This can be accessed by
holding the mouse over the volume sign at the top right of
the slide.
You could use different music, but probably best to avoid
lyrics and choose a song with a range of melody, rhythm and
tone.
© Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2015
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Driven-doing vs Mindful Being
Psychologists and neuroscientists have shown that giving attention to
Thinking [Click] and Sensing [Click] are the portals to whole modes of mind
/ body / action that are broadly described as ‘Doing / Driven’ mode [Click]
and ‘Mindful / Being’ mode [Click] .
© Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2015
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Driven-doing vs Mindful Being
Here are some of the contrasting qualities of these modes that
provide the foundations for mindfulness courses.
Click through, wherever possible referring back and linking to
learning drawn from the previous listening exercise. The following
text is an example but share what feels appropriate for you.
The first quality we can notice [Click] is that when we are in ‘Drivendoing’ mode, it’s conceptual, whereas when we were sensing the
music just now we were perhaps a little more aware of our bodies
and using our senses.
And [Click] perhaps during a busy day at school, you may recognise
that our thinking becomes very driven about what we should be
doing next, or about what’s just happened. Whereas in mindful-being
mode, as some of you commented about the listening exercise, we
can be more present – after all our bodies are always in the present.
© Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2015
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You may also recognise [Click] that during a full day at school, right from the
moment we wake up our actions and thoughts can be come quite habitual –
almost like we are on autopilot. Our bodies are there doing whatever we are
doing, but our minds are elsewhere, wandering off, just as some of you
commented happened during the listening exercise. I wonder, if you reflect
on today, what have you done on autopilot?
Get a few examples such as commuting, eating, listening to the presenter,
etc.
Whereas with mindful-being mode, if we are a more embodied and in the
present, we can have more of a say in what we do, so with more
intentionality and space for creativity.
In terms of autopilot, you could point out that research has shown that our
minds are wandering 47% of the time. In the 2008 study by Killingworth and
Gilbert, called “A Wandering Mind is an unhappy mind”, 2250 adults in the
US were contacted via an iPhone app at intervals through the day. Amongst
the questions asked was “Are you thinking about something other than what
you’re currently doing”.
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/images/application_uploads/KILLINGSWOR
TH-WanderingMind.pdf
Another contrasting quality which is perhaps especially pertinent for us
working with young people is that of [Click] Reacting vs Responding.
When caught up in driven-doing mode, during a busy day, we might be having
a difficult conversation with a student in class, or with a colleague, and we
might ‘react’, perhaps raising our voice, or saying something we later regret,
inflaming the situation.
Or imagine, after a long day, leaving school, having had a difficult lesson or
received some feedback from a line manager or pupil. We are feeling quite
drained and the staff room is full of our colleagues bouncing along, talking
about how much progress their wonderful class are making . A thought might
flash across the mind: “Why did that go wrong?”
© Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2015
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And we start reacting to our thoughts.
“Maybe it was because of this?”, “or was it because of that?”, “Yes I should
change that next time?”, “but this seems to happen a lot to me”, “what is it
about me” - and we can end up spending our commute home running these
thoughts over – this can even take up our mental space when at home with
our family, when we are not at work, the thoughts triggering off difficult
emotions.
By contrast, with mindfulness practice, we are still going to have reactions,
but just possibly, in the first instance of the difficult communication, we
might just remember to take a breath, perhaps even two, (model pausing
and breathing) to feel our feet, our bodies, and to create this sliver of
space, in which some more rational thinking and wisdom can come in, so we
speak or act in a more appropriate way.
In the second example, we might just notice as we leave school and the selfcritical thought process kicks off – “hold on here, I am tired! I’ve had a long
day”.
[Click]
“My shoulders are tight, I am drained. This thought that “I am no good” is
actually a thought, rather than a fact”.
“These are thoughts, mental events happening in the mind. Now I need to
look after myself, I don’t need to fix this now, to solve this now, I need to
have a break, do some exercise, read my book, see a friend. Yes, I can put
aside some time tomorrow to be discerning and reflective on how to
improve my performance, but that doesn’t need to drain me now and take
up my evening. “
At this point you may like to invite a question or comment on what you’ve
just presented on this slide, although be careful that this doesn’t eat up too
much time in the session.
© Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2015
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As Mark Williams (one of the founders of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive
Therapy) highlights, mindfulness training helps to restore to
emotions their proper ‘signal function’ – switching on to achieve a
task such as running from a lion, but then switching off again so that
we are not repeatedly re-living or pre-living difficult events in the
cinema / simulator of the mind.
See pages 26-27 of the Frantic World course book for an explanation
of this.
© Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2015
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In the last few years, the development of fMRI (functional Magnetic
Resonance Imaging]) scanning has enabled us to see how these Doing/
Driven and Being/Mindful modes are associated with different networks
and regions of the brain.
A 2007 paper by Farb et al describes how a group of 36 people, whilst
having their brains scanned, were asked to do a ‘thinking’ task and to do a
‘sensing’ task (practising mindfulness). The brain scans revealed that:
The blue/green areas in the diagram are those associated with ‘narrative
self-focus’ (conceptual thinking), whilst the red/yellow areas are those
associated with ‘experiential self-focus’ (sensing body).
Notes on study
The thinking/self-narrative focus task was to reflect on what selected
adjectives meant about one as a person. The experiential self-focus task
was to respond to the adjectives by focussing on “temporally proximal”
sensory objects (physical sensations, feelings and thoughts) without
selecting one sensory object.
See Farb et al. [2007]. ‘Attending to the present: mindfulness meditation
reveals distinct neural modes of self-reference’.
http://scan.oxfordjournals.org/content/2/4/313.full.pdf+html
© Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2015
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Of course, this is not at all to deny the value of thinking, but I’m sure
you know what happens when we get stuck in our heads.
The proposition is that mindfulness can help modulate our thinking
in helpful ways.
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It is also interesting to note that.
Click through the phrases on the slide.
© Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2015
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So far I’ve suggested mindfulness practice involves a shift into
sensing mode and we can come now to a more complete working
definition of mindfulness.
Click through the phrases on the slide.
© Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2015
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So let’s have a look at how we introduce this idea to students in our
secondary school curriculum, since it is quite fun - we use Kung Fu
Panda.
Here we have Po, a Panda who is not a happy Panda. We’ve all felt
like this at certain times in our lives. The “It’s all going wrong”
feeling, things seem to be falling apart and not going the way we’d
like them to. Confronted with many difficulties he is on the verge of
giving up his dream of kung fu glory and going back to making
noodles, but fortunately for him the wise old turtle, Oogway, arrives
on the scene
I’d like you to notice a couple of things when watching:
1. What do you notice in his body language, gestures and actions
which may be similar to what you/we do when stressed?
2. What is the advice that Oogway gives Po?
© Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2015
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So, what was Oogway’s advice?
Click through.
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So another way to put Oogway’s advice is the suggestion to
move from Driven, thinking mode, to Mindful, sensing
mode, into the present moment, with curiosity and
kindness.
It turns out that spending time doing this regularly can have
a measurable physiological impact on the brain.
© Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2015
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But maybe this isn’t so surprising. As I talk of “impact on the brain”
does anyone know why I am flashing up these pictures?
Invite responses.
[Click] The discovery of neuroplasticity has been called “one of the
most extraordinary discoveries of the twentieth century” (Norman
Doidge).
It was long believed that once we grow up our brains are fixed, but it
turns out that the brain is plastic throughout life – it is constantly
changing. The more we do something, the more the brain physically
changes.
So taxi drivers were found to have a larger posterior hippocampus
(part of the brain used for navigation) than a regular person.
Juggling, playing an instrument and being bilingual have all also been
shown to change the structure of the brain.
Notes
For more information on these studies see
• Taxi Drivers http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/677048.stm
• Juggling http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3417045.stm
• Bilingualism
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v431/n7010/abs/431757a
.html
© Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2015
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So the key message is that we can train our minds to change
our brains.
Whilst we need to maintain a healthy dose of scepticism about
what brain scans reveal, a number of research studies suggest
functional and structural changes in the brain resulting from
mindfulness practice. These changes are more striking in long
term meditators, but differences can be observed in those
who’ve just done an 8-week course.
Notes
These are some of the key papers on the topic:
• Davidson et al, (2003). ‘Alterations in brain and immune
function produced by mindfulness meditation’.
• Farb et al. (2007). ‘Attending to the present: mindfulness
meditation reveals distinct neural modes of self-reference’.
• Lazar et al. (2005) ‘Meditation experience is associated with
increased cortical thickness’.
• H Hölzel et al. (2011) ‘Mindfulness practice leads to increases
in regional brain gray matter density’.
© Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2015
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We know a good deal about
these parts of the brain.
We know that the [Click ] Prefrontal Cortex is the area of the brain
with over all responsibility for making choices, paying attention.
We also know that the [Click] hippocampus helps us with memory.
The amygdala [Click] reacts automatically in response to perceived
threat. Its job is to keep us safe, but sometimes it gets in the way of
making wise choices.
Finally the [Click] insula helps us recognise our body state and to tune
in to how others feel.
Mindfulness practice has been shown to have a positive impact on these
areas of the brain.
For more information I’d point you to the research paper by Professor
Katherine Weare ‘Evidence for Mindfulness: Impacts on the Wellbeing
and Performance of School Staff’ which is available on our website. I
can also send over other references if you like.
Notes
Prefrontal cortex: The area of the brain with over all responsibility
for making choices, paying attention and therefore helping us learn
more effectively.
Hippocampus: This helps us with memory, especially in linking old and
new experiences.
Amygdala: (There are 2 of these, but we tend to refer to them in the
singular) This reacts automatically in response to perceived threat. Its
job is to keep us safe, but sometimes it gets in the way of making wise
choices.
Insula: (Again, there are 2 of these, but we tend to refer to them in the
singular) This helps us recognise how our body state is (tired, hungry
etc.) and helps us to tune in to how other people are feeling.
“The insula is extremely important in detecting emotions in general and
specifically in mapping bodily responses to emotion — such as heart rate
and blood pressure — and making that information available to other
parts of the brain.” – Dr. Richard Davidson.
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Time for a game. Using some of the letters available to make the missing
word, can what do these four pictures have in common?
The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Google, MP’s and Peers in the
Houses of Parliament, and US Marines.
[Click] Of course, it’s mindfulness training.
Google have the ‘Search Inside Yourself’ programme which thousands of their
staff have completed. Over 120 MPs and Peers have done eight week
mindfulness courses in the Houses of Parliament.
Indeed there is now an All Party Parliamentary Group on Mindfulness looking
into its public policy potential in education, healthcare, the workplace and
the criminal justice system.
At the Guildhall School of Music and Drama the mindfulness courses are
focussed on performance, creativity, but also working with the high levels of
inner criticism that students can feel.
And the US marines use mindfulness to help prepare for high pressure,
stressful situations, in order to respond appropriately, as well as being used a
treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
So, if it’s good enough for them, might it be good enough for [insert name of
school]? I am going to invite you now to take part in a brief mindfulness
practice, focussing on the body and the breath.
© Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2015
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5. Body and Breath Practice
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Brief posture guidance
Sensations of Feet on Floor, Body on chair
Coming to the sensations of breathing, noticing with curiosity
Full duration of each in breath and out breath
Redirecting the attention with kindness
Expanding attention to include sense of the whole body breathing
 Lead an eight to ten minute practice, remaining sensitive to the
feeling in the room
 Discuss in pairs (2 min) before opening to the group (5-10 min)
 With a large audience include as many as possible in the enquiry
ENQUIRY
Use the enquiry as an opportunity to make the point that
mindfulness is not relaxation. We are training our attention so we
can be aware of our experience, whether lovely or difficult, so we
can then make wise choices.
© Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2015
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Let’s turn now to consider the potential of mindfulness for young people,
and in the world of education and schools.
The burning question is, how and why might these young people [Click
through 3 images] be interested in engaging with mindfulness?
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Depending on the context where you are delivering the taster
session, you may choose to hide the slides referring to .b or Paws b.
The Mindfulness in Schools Project has created a curriculum for
secondary school students called .b, which stands for, ‘Stop, Breathe
and Be’.
Each lesson includes Home Practice to help support the student to
make connections between the mindfulness practices and the
application to their everyday lives.
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It is a ten week course (including the introduction) with each week
teaching a different aspect of mindfulness.
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The Mindfulness in Schools Project has (also) developed a
mindfulness curriculum for primary school students called Paws b.
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With these 6 themes, students learn how to aim and sustain
attention as well as recognise the role attention plays in their school
work, their relationships, and in the way they communicate, both at
school and at home.
They also learn about the 4 key areas of the brain: Prefrontal
Cortex, Hippocampus, Amygdala and Insula.
Each lesson includes Home Practice to help support the student to
make connections between the mindfulness practices and the
application to their everyday lives.
If useful, you can also mention that both .b and Paws b make use of
practical exercises, film clips, audio files and worksheets, in order
that the children are engaged and encouraged to explore skills and
techniques that, once learned, will always be with them.
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In a nutshell, these courses are intended to give young people
some useful skills – a tool box of techniques and understanding
that they can draw on whenever they need to.
This tool box, or life skill will help young people in different
ways, so it is about possibilities.
Jon Kabat-Zinn explains the value of mindfulness in education
very beautifully:
“The practice of mindfulness at any age is both simple and
profound. Above all it involves LEARNING – learning how to
cultivate greater self-awareness and greater awareness of others
and the world, and then reaping the substantial benefits of that
awareness, both inwardly and outwardly. The specific
applications of this learning are seemingly boundless.
We do not know what specific knowledge our children are going
to need ten or twenty or even five years from now because the
world and their work, when they come to it, will be so different
from ours.
What we do know is that they will need to know how to pay
attention, how to focus and concentrate, how to listen and HOW
to learn, and how to be in wise relationship with themselves –
including their thoughts and emotions – and with others.”
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The potential value of doing so in an educational context were
beautifully acknowledged as far back as 1890 by William James.
Considered to be the founder of modern psychology, James put
forth a challenge to the education system:
Read quote aloud.
We are now at a stage where we believe we have the directions
to do this.
34
What benefits can this education ‘par excellence’ bring? There is a lot
of interest, including amongst politicians around the potential impact
on attainment and it’s true that mindfulness supports one’s capacity
to focus, to manage one’s own attention and emotions and to be able
to persist at a task.
Notes
Professor Katherine Weare states in a review of the evidence on
mindfulness with children and young people that ‘when well taught
and when practised regularly it (mindfulness) has been shown to be
capable of improving mental health and wellbeing, mood, self
esteem, self regulation, positive behaviour and academic learning’.
For more details see Weare, K (2013), ‘Developing Mindfulness with
children and young people: a review of the evidence and policy
context’. http://mindfulnessinschools.org/wpcontent/uploads/2013/09/Children-and-mindfulness-journal-ofchildrens-services-weare.pdf
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Others are interested in the potential of mindfulness in confronting
the mental health challenge we face in the UK.
According to Public Health England, [Click] 1 in 10 children and
young people have a clinically diagnosed mental health disorder
and/or emotional and behaviour problems (often the same children).
We also know that [Click] around 1 in 7 has less severe problems
that interfere with their learning and development.
Source: Hagell, A., Coleman, J. and Brooks, F. (2013) ‘Key Data on
Adolescence’. London: Public Health England, cited in Weare, K.
(2015) ‘What works in promoting social and emotional well-being and
responding to mental health problems in schools?’, National Children
Bureau.
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But when we stop and think about it, [Click] these two areas surely
can’t be separated.
If a child is facing a difficult emotion and they haven’t the skills to
navigate this, it is very hard for them to be motivated, to persist at
tasks and to attain.
On the other hand, if a child is attaining at all costs and putting
intense pressure on themselves, this can have a damaging impact on
their mental health.
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We point out to young people the evidence that mindfulness can
help you to support yourself with many difficult things.
Click through, perhaps pointing out that there are:
•
Mindfulness based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) courses which the
NHS prescribe
•
Mindfulness based pain management courses (MBPM) courses
(remember Jon Kabat-Zinn first developed MBSR through helping
patients with chronic pain).
•
Mindfulness based Eating Awareness Training (MBEAT)
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But it is also about flourishing. To support you when playing music, [Click]
concentrating or [Click] playing sport.
You could mention that there are many examples of sportsmen and
sportswomen who practise mindfulness as a key component of their
training. Young people are often motivated by hearing examples such as:
• the USA Women’s Ice Hockey team (who are multiple gold medal
winners)
• Novak Djokovic
• Johnny Wilkinson
• Kobe Bryant.
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So the question then is how can the benefits of mindfulness be brought to these
people, to students? The answer begins here [Click], with teachers and staff.
Focussing on teachers for a moment, it is clear that it can be an extremely
demanding profession. Here are some recent headlines from newspaper articles
out there [Click] According to research by the NUT from this year, over 80% of
teachers experience stress, anxiety, or depression at work, and over 50% feel
extremely stressed.
Teaching is the second most stressful profession; can you guess what is first?
[Answer is ambulance driving]. The burnout teachers are experiencing is
contributing to many leaving the profession, especially in the first five years of
teaching, or those over 50.
There are complex and multifaceted reasons for this, but what we can say is that
for a teacher to stay in the profession for the medium or long term and be able to
do a good, demonstrating creativity, resilience, passion etc., this level of stress is
clearly a problem. There needs to be balance.
But mindfulness is about more than just stress-reduction [Click]. In our course
designed to teach the foundations of mindfulness to teachers and staff called
[Click].b Foundations, we learn ways to respond wisely to stress and difficulty, but
also how to relate skilfully to others and ourselves, whilst cultivating helpful
states of mind such as concentration and calm.
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So we follow the Oxygen Mask Principle.
You may be familiar with this image from flight safety
demonstrations, but it also has a valuable message for all adults
working in education.
Before we teach mindfulness to others, we encourage you to put on
the mask yourself and experience the benefits of mindfulness
practice. Then you can put on the mask of others.
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The first step is to develop a mindfulness practice yourself by going
on 8-week introductory course.
Mindfulness in Schools Project has its own course designed specifically
for staff in the school context, called .b Foundations.
There are also various courses out there which you can find on the Be
Mindful website, such as Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction and
Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy. These offer longer sessions and
home practice.
The second pre-requisite in order to teach mindfulness to young
people, is to [Click] develop a daily practice for 6 months.
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And then for those who wish to teach young people, we offer training
to teach our curriculum.
Click through.
N.B. In case anyone asks, the Paws b training course is 3 days rather
than 4 as there are fewer lessons to work through.
Why do we ask you to develop a practice for six months before
training to teach young people? You wouldn’t want a swimming
instructor who is not adept in the pool, or a physics teacher not
trained and skilled in Physics. So teaching mindfulness to children
also requires you to understand it from within, and to be able to
model and embody the skills of deploying attention, with the mindful
attitudes of kindness, curiosity, acceptance etc.
Pupils will also ask difficult questions or say things such as “this is
boring”, and as teachers we need to be able to respond skilfully to
make mindfulness come alive.
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To summarise….
[Click through]
If you may be interested in attending such a course here at your school
then please feed back to [insert name of relevant staff member].
Adapt this slide accordingly. e.g. If you have dates arranged for a .b
Foundations course or if you have agreed with the organisation that
there will be a nominal cost for staff then you could put this
information here.
Emphasise the home practice, so participants are making a clear
choice in signing up for the course. You could balance this by pointing
out that mindfulness can save us time by (1) helping us work more
effectively and (2) helping us connect with what is really important in
our lives, so we may be able to let go of other things which consume
our time.
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Here are just a few observations from those who have taken part in the
.b Foundations training. The quotes come from teachers and staff from
London and Brighton.
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So as well as supporting young people in education, the focus here is
very much on the people who work and care for them as well.
This is why MiSP’s slogan is [Click] Bringing mindfulness to young
people and those who care for them.
At this point you can thank the audience for their participation and
invite any comments or questions. If time allows you could invite
discussion in pairs or small groups on their reflections on the session
and any questions they may have, before opening up to the whole
group plenary.
You may also like to share your email address on this slide so
participants can follow up with you.
You can direct the audience to our website for more information,
including video testimonials from students
www.mindfulnessinschools.org
Please make clear that you are do not work FOR MiSP (you are
trained by MiSP), so any enquiries about anything else we do should
go via the website.
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