Mindfulness matters Week 2: Students take the 'spaghetti test'!

'I felt like I was so relaxed...like i was sinking in to the floor...'

So week 2 of the program and the teachers report that the children are really enjoying the mindfulness exercises and asking when they are going to do them in the day. The focus for this session was all about the body, recognizing pain and tension and trying to relax.

The Year 2s had a good shake then stopped, and discussed where their stop button would be if they had one, and when they might want to press it! They had a go at clenching and relaxing their fists, talked about when their body hurts and where, and finished off with some yoga exercises, stretching like a cat in the sun. We also tried sitting still like a frog again.

Its interesting that I can see almost a split developing between those who like doing the movements and those who like being still and breathing. Lets see how it goes over the next few weeks, if they come together, drift further apart, or if this flips completely?

Year 6 also had a focus on the body but at a more sophisticated level. After an extended sitting still like a frog we talked about recognising body signs of anger, happiness and worry. We finished off with the 'Spaghetti test' In this exercise the object was to help the students become relaxed as a plate of spaghetti! They lay down on the floor of the classroom with coats for pillows, and then received instructions to tense and relax different parts of their body, breathing out all their tension.

For a large number of the students this was very powerful. They commented on how relaxed they felt, how they felt like they were sinking through the floor...there were a lot of smiling faces! I've asked them to try it out if they feel stressed, or if they cant sleep, or just if they want to relax. Lets see how many of them have used it by next session! Nothing next week as its Chinese new year

Kung Hei Fat Choi!

Cuddly Frogs and learning to Breathe: Week 1 of 'Mindfulness Matters' at Kowloon Junior School

--'You've got the talking stone, what did you think about the meditation?'

pause

--'You're frog is so cuddly!'

--'Brilliant!'

So the dangers of getting too plush a puppet for Year 2s are illustrated, but it was part of a wonderful process in fantastic opening sessions for year 2 and 6 at Kowloon Junior school. 

‘Mindfulness matters’ is an eight-week mindfulness/ Attention training course for children in primary schools.  The course teaches  how to be mindful or attentive. The half-hour lessons take place once a week at a set time  delivered by  a specially trained mindfulness teacher. In addition, 10-minute exercises are practiced on the other schooldays delivered by the class teacher.

One class in Year 6 and one  class in Year 2 will be piloting the course with some before and after data collected form the children, parents and teachers.

In year 2 the focus in the first session was on the introduction of the attention bells, the talking stone, breathing, and sitting still like a frog. The students were engaged and attentive, (despite the distractions of the plush frog!), with just a few finding it really hard to sit still. This is a difficult task for 7 year olds, but there were some great moments of calm and stillness. They loved the Breathing Rhyme:

B is for Breathing

Full of fresh air from up high

it comes in through your nose

and goes out again with a sigh (pppphhhhhhh) 

Suffice to say they were really easy to re-energise with the popcorn method at the end of the session!

In Year 6 the focus of the students was outstanding. They were interested and attentive from the outset, listening and applying a great degree of thought to any questions posed. They were really interested in a discussion about attention and memory and were so still during the first attempt at sitting still like a frog you would have thought they had practiced for years!

All told both groups were a credit to the school and I'm looking forward immensely to session 2!

The book accompanying the program ‘Sitting still like a frog: mindfulness exercises for kids (and their parents) is published by Shambhala, and available through Amazon or the Book depository.

I think some of you haven't been paying attention...

A familiar lament from many a classroom teacher, but whilst the teacher is concerned about the students paying attention to her instructions, perhaps the real concern should be that they haven't had the opportunity to pay attention to their own physical and emotional state?

The capacity to be mindful of ones current emotional state is something that has come on to the agenda of many schools in an age where its difficult to focus on the self without being bombarded by multiple calls on our attention from a new Facebook status, a retweet,someone +1'ing one of our posts, being ousted as mayor of our local Starbucks, or simply receiving a text or email. Now I love all this stuff, but I want to be able to stay in control of it as well!

Students are managing more information sources and demands on their attention than ever before, but evidence shows that their ability to manage all these stimuli rather than be managed by them has been seriously degraded. Even the Daily Mail agrees and has agreed that there is no gender difference in the degradation. There is even challenge to the idea that any of us can multitask at all! 

So if Multitasking, or attempting to multitask is the problem, whats the solution that allows us to stay focused and deal with tasks efficiently as they arrive?

Many would argue that mindfulness as an approach and mindful meditation in particular are the answer to this. 

I spent 8 weeks before last summer attending a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course. Two and a half hours of class, plus around 6 hours of practice outside of class,  a week, and  attendance at a one day silent retreat. How did I fair? well not naturally being a quiet minded chap I absolutely hated it at first; my back was uncomfortable during meditation, I kept falling asleep during the bodyscan, and thoughts just crashed in on me all the time. But as someone once said 'I am not a quitter' so I persisted and with practice I started to enjoy some of the exercises particularly the Bodyscan, mindful walking, and 3 minute awareness of breathing. I started to be able to breathe away my anxieties and stresses, take some minutes to refocus my attention and to be in the moment, however pleasurable or painful that was. 

I make no bones about this...it was pretty life changing. I don't practice every day, but I've got a set of tools that allow me to refocus, take care of myself, and ultimately support my wellbeing. I would recommend anyone to take the MBSR course.

But how does that help the kids in school, wheres the time to do a 40 minute, or even a 10 minute meditation? The answer is that there are mindfulness programs to suit every level of school engagement, and most have a growing evidence base around effectiveness with students.

For School Practitioners who have completed the MBSR course programs such as .b and Mindfulness Matters give an in depth introduction to mindfulness practice for children. The Phuket International Academy at Thanyapura uses .b for its secondary students. For its primary students it uses the MIND UP, program which is a gentler introduction around short breathing exercises and some very good neuroscience related to what part of the brain does what, and how you can regulate it.

For those of you that would like to try before you buy! why not go to the Smiling mind website. There are free mindfulness programs for all ages with recordings to listen to and other activities. I'm doing it with my two boys ages 7 and 10 and they love it! Try the rock the boat activity its great

Time will tell how the mindfulness in schools movement develops, particularly in Asia, but given the increasing incidence of mental health difficulties in schools these are approaches are certainly something we should consider. The evidence suggests they would provide an effective framework of support for emotional wellbeing for children and adults in our schools.