MINDFULNESS IN SCHOOLS PROJECT TEACHERS’ NOTES LESSON TWO: Taming The Animal Mind Cultivating Curiosity and Kindness © Mindfulness in Schools Project 2014 Lesson 2 – Taming the Animal Mind Objectives • To explore that the mind has a life of its own – we often can’t control it • To nurture an attitude of curiosity, kindness, acceptance and openness that helps us to deal more skilfully with these fluctuating mind-states • To teach that by ‘anchoring’ our attention in the lower half of the body we can begin to turn towards calm even when our minds are stormy Lesson Flow Our minds are like animals – they seem to have a life of their own Which animals is the mind like? A good opportunity for pairwork and class discussion. It’s helpful to practice being with the mind as DA is with animals: curious, patient, kind Show the clip. Think of the gorillas as being like our mind, and Attenborough being like us observing it. Let’s bring these qualities to a FOFBOC Slide quickly into the FOFBOC: • Feet • Weight of body on chair • Sensations of breathing Using language of exploration, curiosity, patience, acceptance. Calm the mind by anchoring it in the body Explaining the ‘why?’ of FOFBOC. Home Practice The FOFBOC sound file Resources Film clip Access to sound file (CD’s / emailed links) © Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2014 2 Last week we looked at how our attention works. On the one hand we can direct it to ‘attend to’ the sensations in our body, but on the other hand it wanders and is difficult to train. It takes firm, kind, patient repetition to train this puppy mind of ours. Before we begin, I’d like to hear how your home practices went… Review breath counting – what they noticed, how it went. Review experiment with searchlight of attention – what they noticed, how it went. Did anyone remember and practice any of the mindfulness exercises at other times in the day / week? Pick up and highlight any feedback that mentions feeling more calm as a result of doing the practices. Let’s begin by seeing how many breaths you’re doing in one minute right now. Without changing your posture or even moving at all, direct your attention to your breathing and after three, start counting. One – two – three… Once they have done this , take them through Susan KaiserGreenland’s ‘My Mind Feels, My Body Feels’ exercise. Going around the room one by one, each person (including you!) says ‘My find feels…, my body feels…’. © Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2014 3 (Following on from my mind feels my body feels) Wow! Isn’t it remarkable how many different states of mind and body there are in only one classroom. In a single hour we will experience many different ones etc. Sometimes you might feel really surprised [Click]. Sometimes really happy or a bit thoughtful or reflective [Click]. Other times really angry [Click]. Others overwhelmed or sad [Click]. And sometimes just plain exhausted [Click]. It could be big life events that shift your mood or often quite small things that set the mind off in one direction or another. © Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2014 4 One thing for sure is that our minds are not easily controllable [Click] “Our minds seem to have wild and uncontrollable lives of their own” [Click] “For this reason, the mind has often been compared to certain animals” [Click] “Which ones?” This is a good opportunity for pair-work and discussion. There is no practice coming up so it doesn’t matter if the group gets more lively and loose. Whilst pupils discuss, this also provides an opportunity to check that the video clip is cued up. Hear their suggestions and why they make them. If they’re comfortable with the idea of comparing the mind to different animals, you might ask them which animal their mind is like right now. © Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2014 5 SLIDES 3 – 5 [Pictures of animals.] Move through the pictures of chimpanzee, elephant and hippo considering in what ways the mind might be compared to these animals, and what moods they might represent… Hear their suggestions of how the mind can be like a chimpanzee. You might prompt: Cheeky. Won’t listen. It’ll do it’s own thing. ‘Monkey mind’ is a term often used to describe the restlessness of the mind, jumping around from idea to idea, from worry to anxiety, to joy to excitement, back to worry and anxiety like a monkey swinging from tree to tree. With mindfulness we can learn to bring the monkey out of the trees, to sit quietly on the jungle floor for a bit. © Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2014 6 How is this like the mind? Suggestions: Unstoppable, powerful, noisy, wilful, difficult to train. But also when trained, very strong, great stamina, helpful – and the largest and most noble of creatures. © Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2014 7 In what ways can the mind be like this hippo? Suggestions: Lazy, sluggish, sleepy, difficult to budge… © Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2014 8 Hands up who knows who David Attenborough is? [Hear their answers.] David Attenborough is someone who’s used to being with animals in very skilful ways, and maybe we can learn something from his example about how to be with our animal minds. In the film clip that I’m about to show you, think of the gorillas as being like the mind: sometimes scary and powerful, sometimes really cute and cuddly. Sometimes it seems to be quite relaxed, other times angry and aggressive. Think of Attenborough as watching the mind. He is the observer. Afterwards I’m going to ask you how he is with the animals. What is his attitude towards them? How does he observe, because this is the attitude I’m going to encourage you to take towards your own mind. Watch the David Attenborough film clip of him with the gorillas. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN4nzQO0B1E © Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2014 9 Before click… So, how is he with the animals? Hear their suggestions [maybe calm, careful, respectful, attentive, trusting, courageous, curious, appreciative, kind, playful]. Then run through the clicks and really emphasise these points. What we’re learning is to pay attention to what is happening within us in the same way that we might pay attention to animals that we’re observing. If the mind is restless like a monkey, let’s give it space to be restless and attend to it with respect, patience and curiosity. If it’s sluggish like a sloth, let’s be patiently curious about that. If it’s wild and raging like an elephant, let’s recognise that and give it respectful space in which it can calm down. Notice that ALLOWING whatever we’re experiencing and however our minds are behaving – giving them space to be as they are - is key and helps to calm our minds. [Note that the idea of “David Attenborough mode” originally came from Professor Mark Williams. Prof. Williams also used the example that even when watching a lion tearing apart a gazelle, Attenborough doesn’t try to get involved or interfere in any way. He still watches with the same attentive, calm, patient curiosity. Consider the implications of this in terms of how we might deal with very negative mind-states.] © Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2014 10 So now let’s practice ‘being’ in this mode with whatever is happening in our minds and bodies right now. It’s called ‘FOFBOC’ which stands for ‘Feet on Floor; Bum on Chair’. When you get stressed, you can feel how energy tends to rise in your body and you become “up tight”. You’re thinking [and perhaps speaking] fast, and your breathing becomes shallow and gasped. One of the best ways to calm and slow yourself down is to take your attention into the lower half of the body, starting with the very lowest part: your feet as they touch the ground. [Note that the below is an example of FOFBOC instructions, but we suggest you guide this with your own experience of guiding a seated body scan. With time, and with a good group, you might do a longer practice than this. Whilst doing the practice yourself, keep your eyes open so that you can monitor the class too.] As you sit here, begin by bringing your attention into your feet. Really tuning into the sensations of your feet as they touch the floor… noticing what that feels like… which parts of the soles of your feet are in contact with the floor and which are not… exploring and investigating these sensations as if you were Attenborough observing them with the same patient, kind curiosity. Now including all the sensations of your feet, noticing what it’s like to be wearing socks and shoes [if they are!]. © Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2014 11 Feeling now the weight and the texture of your legs… the lower halves…and the upper halves… really letting yourself explore what legs feel like from the inside… And now letting your awareness expand also to include all the sensations of sitting… tuning in to what it feels like to be in contact with the chair… again, what does sitting feel like from the inside? And now expanding your awareness to include all the sensations of the lower half of the body… it’s almost as if you’re listening to the lower half of your body…receiving all its textures as they change moment by moment… Feet on floor, bum on chair… anchoring your awareness in the lower half of your body… And then including the sensations of breathing in your awareness. Letting yourself be refreshed and nourished by your in-breathing, and allowing yourself really to relax as you breathe out. Feet On Floor, Bum On Chair, breathing. This is a FOFBOC. Finally, notice how doing this exercise has affected your mind-state… What do you notice? And then, when you’re ready, gently allowing your eyes to open. Hear from them: What did you notice during that practice? What did you feel? What effect did doing it have on your mind and on your body? Notice that FOFBOC/ ANCHORING is an exercise that we can do at any time, with our eyes open or closed. With practice, we can also get used to doing it quickly as a way of grounding and anchoring ourselves in the middle of any situation, even very difficult ones. We can practice anchoring ourselves in the lower halves of our bodies even when we are walking around. This is a very practical tool that can REALLY help! © Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2014 12 What was the point in that exercise though? Why are we learning to pay attention to our feet on the floor and our bum on the chair, and how can this help us be calmer? [Click to picture.] We all feel angry or upset sometimes. If we fight our minds by telling ourselves that we shouldn’t be feeling what we’re feeling, or by getting angry with ourselves or by trying not to feel, or getting frustrated about feeling stressed, we just make matters worse. [Click to text.] If we can accept whatever we’re feeling, ALLOWING IT and GIVING IT SPACE rather than fighting it, this will help us to turn towards calm and a lessening of the difficulty. When we relax with whatever we’re experiencing, and give it space, our minds and bodies grow more calm, we become less stressed, and we’re more able to deal with whatever is going on. © Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2014 13 Looking at it another way, when the mind is stormy, allow the storm to pass. [Click] In addition, use your body as an anchor by dropping your attention into the lower half of the body. Feel your feet on the floor and ground yourself in the present moment of what is actually happening. [Click] This anchoring calms us down. It… • slows our heart-rate • steadies our breathing • calms our thinking When we feel less stressed, we feel more confident and more able to cope with whatever is happening. © Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2014 14 In summary… © Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2014 15 The more you practice this, the easier and more powerfully helpful it becomes. We’ve created a sound file for you to guide you through a FOFBOC, and we’d like you to practice this for a short while each day. Read through the instructions in the student booklet with them. They can download the file from the website, or you may choose to email it to them, or give it out in CD format. http://mindfulnessinschools.org/what-is-b/sound-files/ It’s 10 minutes long. Check they understand the home practice and how to get access to the sound files. © Mindfulness in Schools Project, 2014 16
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