Fostering Connectivity + Facilitating Joy

Sitting on my meditation cushion, I inhale. After feeling the air expand my lungs, I then take a long, deep exhale. During this moment of pause I am instantly filled with a sense of overwhelming gratitude and fulfillment.

A smile spreads wide across my face and a waterfall of happy thoughts flows into my mind. As I take a moment to reflect on my years of teaching, I am struck by how my journey with mindfulness has evolved into an essential part of my being and at the core of my teaching. I am blessed to teach, to be in a profession that fosters connectivity and facilitates joy. 

My personal journey with mindfulness began about 15 years ago, at a time of stress and anxiety. Through practicing yoga and mindfulness I discovered an anecdote to the discomfort I was experiencing. Recognizing this conduit for joy in my own life naturally brought me to consider this gift for the students I teach. Today, more than ever, children and families are facing complex stressors like never before. The pandemic has disrupted our children’s lives at school and at home, and kids need healthy coping strategies - and mindfulness.

Susan Kaiser Greenland defines mindfulness as "paying attention with kindness to yourself, other people and the world around you.”

While certainly not a new concept, mindfulness is becoming consistently more common and mainstream in many school cultures. At GUS, we recognize the benefits of having young children consistently practice and explore mindfulness routines as early as in pre-k. Practicing mindfulness helps children to understand and identify their emotions and gives them tools to effectively manage them. Whether helping to calm nervous energy before a presentation, to find focus when they’re feeling distracted, or simply helping students transition smoothly from one activity to the next, practicing mindfulness from an early age gives students healthy coping strategies that will stay with them for a lifetime. 

I am fortunate to be able to weave mindfulness into the daily routine of my second grade class. We talk about how there is no right or wrong way to practice mindfulness. We embrace exploration and curiosity and we go where the moment leads us. While the practice itself can be serious, we have fun and sometimes we are wiggly. Often we laugh. The authenticity of shared experience grounds us as we practice breath, yoga, and create new movements. We feel peace as well as energy.

Some mindful practices I incorporate into my classroom include:

Focusing on the Senses

Mindfulness can be applied to our senses, thoughts, and emotions by using sustained attention and simply noticing their experience. In class, we practice silent mindful eating during lunch and snack. When they take time to enjoy a meal, it’s stress free, peaceful and calm, which is especially important for students’ health and well being. 

Mindful Listening + Walking

Equally calming and stress free are mindful listening and mindful walking on our GUS nature trail, in the class or in the hallways. An instant grounding and calming benefit of mindful walking and listening is that students focus on their senses. Sometimes we put yoga blocks on our heads and walk around school or the classroom!

Loving Kindness

Early in the year, I teach my students loving kindness meditations (or metta) as it directly compliments our class contract and being kind to others. Metta is particularly powerful for children as it highlights positive self-talk and self-care, and can help to lessen and ease internal stress. One of our classroom agreements is, “be the friend you would like to have.”  

Meditation

We meditate for at least 5 minutes both at the beginning and end of the day. After about 30 days of practice our meditations become student-led. The kids love spontaneously creating their own simple meditations respectfully using our gong or singing bowls. We also read guided meditations, and compose our own that we publish in a book at the end of the year (personally, I think the students write better meditations than adults!). Recently, a student shared that she was feeling stressed, and wanted me to read a guided meditation because it ``made the stress go away.”

When I arrived at GUS in September of 2014, I was already convinced that practicing mindfulness could foster deeper and more meaningful bonds with my students. I knew that mindfulness would complement the school’s mission, and specifically enhance and support the Open Circle curriculum. I am forever grateful to GUS and Gretchen Forsyth for encouraging me to explore my passion for weaving mindfulness into the classroom and our community. GUS has supported my goals and challenged me to dig deeper. My growth as a teacher is also my students’ growth. During my time at GUS, my journey with mindfulness has expanded. I am forever grateful to those colleagues who pushed me to record a podcast for ADDittude Magazine, write an article for Attention Magazine and collaborate with colleagues in a mindfulness Professional Learning Group. I have been fortunate to attend the Mindful Schools essentials class and teacher certification program, and I am currently enrolled in the Mindfulness certification program at Lesley University. Who knows what’s next?