Mindfulness
What is Mindfulness?
At its most basic level, mindfulness trains our attention to be more aware of what is actually happening, rather than worrying about what has happened or what might happen. We learn to bring greater curiosity to whatever it is we experience. This helps us to not only appreciate what is going well but to respond more skilfully in the here and now to life's inevitable challenges.
Why practice mindfulness?
If you hear somebody claiming mindfulness is a cure for everything then please be careful! Nevertheless there is a growing body of increasingly robust research which points towards tangible benefits both for young people and those who care for them. In adults, mindfulness training has been shown to improve health and wellbeing. After taking a mindfulness course, people of all ages have reported that they are able to learn new information more effectively, think more clearly and feel calmer and less anxious. Mindfulness is now recommended by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence and GPs are referring adults on to eight week mindfulness courses to reduce stress and help prevent recurrent depression. It is increasingly being used in the workplace to improve staff wellbeing and satisfaction, in sports training to improve performance, and with children and young people and in schools to enhance wellbeing and learning.
*Reproduced with permission of the Mindfulness in Schools Project
What mindfulness is:
What mindfulness isn’t:
Mindfulness In Schools
Paws b and .breathe are two evidence based courses designed by the charity Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP), in collaboration with the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice at Bangor University. It is one of the most established provider of mindfulness training and curricula for schools, with over 350,000 primary and secondary pupils having already benefited from its training programmes over the past decade.
Paws .b [pause be] for 7-11 year olds
Paws b is a leading mindfulness curriculum for children aged 7 -11 in schools .
The course, designed by the Mindfulness in Schools Project UK provides pupils with a toolkit of skills which they can bring to their own lives.
The course is based on the following six themes:
Brain Training: Let’s Explore Our Amazing Brain!
Puppy Training: Learning to Be in the Present Moment
Finding a Steady Place: Grounding Ourselves When We Wobble
Dealing with Difficulty: Managing Your Amygdala
The Storytelling Mind: Realizing the Power of Thoughts
Growing Happiness: How to nurture ourselves and others
Children are taught how to steady themselves and how to respond rather than react in challenging situations. They learn about thinking processes and how thoughts emotions and body state affect each other. They investigate ‘fight-or-flight’ and perception. They practice training their attention and explore how mindfulness can support them in all areas of their lives.
.breathe curriculum for 9-14 year olds
.breathe is a four-session programme aimed at the school ‘transition’ years of ages 9-14 and is particularly well-suited to support transition from primary to secondary school.
.breathe explores ways in which mindfulness can support students through the challenges of adolescent life. In particular, .breathe explores issues around the following themes:
ATTENTION - Exploring how we can work with a wandering mind.
WORRY - Why humans worry, and how to support ourselves when we do so.
SLEEP– Why it is important and what to do if we struggle to sleep well.
RELATIONSHIPS – the opportunities and challenges of working skilfully with friendships and other relationships.
Each session includes:
-Exploration of the function and structure of key areas of the brain involved in daily experience
-Introductory mindfulness practices
-Animations
-Discussions
-Exercises they can try in their own time
.breathe can be delivered once a week for four weeks during the period leading up to the end of the final years of primary school or during the first years at secondary school.
The Mindful Heart Curriculum
The Mindful Heart Curriculum is a ten lesson programme which can be adapted to teaching children from junior infants to sixth class and which can be linked to a number of units within the strands of the Irish Primary schools SPHE curriculum. Developed by Louise Shanagher, BA and MSc in Psychology, Play Therapist, Mindfulness Teacher and Psychology Lecturer and Paul McNamee, BA in Psychology - the programme introduces mindfulness to children in a practical, fun, creative way.
The Mindful Heart Curriculum helps to promote an environment of calm and peacefulness in the classroom, which promotes the positive implementation of the ‘ Well-being Promotion Process’ as per the Department Circular in July 2018 regarding the introduction and implementation of the ‘Wellbeing Policy Statement and Framework for Practice’ for promoting the well-being of students.
Creative Mindfulness for Kids
Creative Mindfulness introduces mindfulness to children in fun and creative ways. Children learn how to calm and relax their minds, to focus and pay attention, to understand and express their thoughts and feelings and cultivate kindness through creativity, stories, meditation, visualization and discussion.
These courses are accredited by the IMMA - International Mindfulness and Meditation Alliance and CPD - Continuing Professional Development standards.
