Clearwater bay Mindfulness matters Week 4: Seeing what you want

Today we looked at their 'movie mind' and having faith in the future. The were students really engaged, interested and focused, and it was hard to stop the discussions and keep to time! 

Visualisation is a difficult skill to master but they really had a go at it including the wonderful but tricky wishing tree activity where they try and visualise a heartfelt dream/ desire and let it go, and have faith that this positive change will happen at some point in the future.

Their practice with mindfulness is really paying off, and you can feel the increase in focus, and attention. One student has already mentioned using the spaghetti test each night as when she does she gets to sleep really quickly instead of it taking and hour!

We finished the sessions off today with a great mindful movement activity. and if you'd like to try it out with your children, here it is!

Next week: Emotions and the world of thoughts

Raisin' the Bar: Paying more attention to the everyday things that we do!

This week was focused around sensory exploration, paying conscious attention to things that perhaps we take for granted.

For the students the session started off with an activity around checking out the internal 'weather forecast' of their feelings, and a discussion of how quickly the 'weather' can change. Although easy for some who were able to say for example that the weather was 'Foggy' (They felt sleepy) or 'sunny' (they felt happy and energetic), for others this was a tricky task.We had a good discussion about the idea that it was checking how you feel rather than the imagery that was important. For one group the discussion got on to the movie 'Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs 1+2' Some of the students said they could equate emotional states and mood to the food that came from the sky, or to the 'Foodimals' different moods and characters! 

All the students got the idea that their mood affected how they felt during the day, but that this mood was as changeable as the weather i.e. they were unlikely to be angry for a whole day or happy for a whole day, and it was useful to notice how they were feeling at particular points.

All four classes had a great discussion about paying attention to routine things. I asked them all whether their parents  asked them about their day when they got home? There was a unanimous raising of hands! and a pretty consistent set of stock responses that the students gave:

'So what did you do today at school?'

• 'nothing'
• 'stuff'
• 'writing'
• 'maths'
• 'break and lunchtime'
• 'I forgot'

The students really got the idea that it was hard to remember specifics about what they had done each day because it was encased in a routine framework that varied little on a daily basis. We talked about what parents could ask instead and they agreed that 'Tell me one interesting or exciting thing that you did today?' might be a question that got more information out of them!

Its interesting to think form a parental perspective what would you say if every day your children asked you 'So what did you do at work today?' How many days would you respond ' oh emails, meetings and reports' or just...'stuff'!

Illustrating our discussion around not paying attention to routine things we discussed the idea that most car accidents take place on roads familiar to a driver and close to their home. The next activity asked them to try and regard a very familiar object  as if they had never seen it before, and describe it using the senses available to them.

The student's  approached the task of trying to see, hear, smell, touch and taste a raisin as if it was the first time they had ever seen it with a lot of interest and enthusiasm! 


There was a lot of great discussion following around thinking about the food we eat more mindfully, in terms its appearance, taste, texture etc. We also talked a lot about considering the journey the food makes to be in front of us.

The students have been tasked to pick a mealtime this week and to try and eat mindfully during this meal or just for 5 minutes of the meal. I've promised them that if they do they are likely to notice new things about the taste of food they take for granted! You could join in with them if you want and have a discussion about your experiences. 

Another suggestion is to take time on a walk you do regularly to stop for 10-20 seconds to consider what you can see, hear, smell and feel.

Next week, How we deal with situations when we long for them to change: Patience and faith and letting go

For those of you who missed the parent talk last Wednesday I mentioned a number of resources that can be used to explore mindfulness outside of this program if you wanted. For adults and older teens there is the Headspace program http://www.getsomeheadspace.com/index.aspx which gives an introduction to mindfulness through 10 minute meditations. For all ages there are free mindfulness programs available through The Smiling Mind website http://smilingmind.com.au/.

Happy to have any questions about these to tim.conroystocker@esfcentre.edu.hk

The Spaghetti Test: Year 6 students at Clearwater bay school learn some ways to refocus and increase their performance!

So this is the second week of the 'Mindfulness Matters' program at Clearwater Bay school. All four year 6 classes are having once a week lessons, learning about focused attention and awareness techniques. The course forms part of the provision supporting student wellbeing, and will give the students useful tools to ensure a positive and successful transition to their next school.

Today's focus was to help students to pay mindful attention to signals from their body, and to share a technique for relaxing their body to increase focus.

We first did a short meditation looking at how breathing deeply or breathing shallowly affected how you are feeling. We followed this with a discussion of how your body shows different emotional states: Happiness, anger, sadness and worry. 

I asked the question 'What do you notice in your body when you are worried?'and got a lot of responses about things the students were worried about. Many were worried about the Mandarin test they had that day and said that this was on their mind. Many more talked about what it was like when they worried:

• 'Worry makes everything seem bad and a lot worse than it is.'
• 'If you're worried you get upset. Sometimes I need to tell someone. It feels better when I tell someone.'
• 'When I'm worried I think a lot of 'what if's'.'
• 'I Can't think properly.'
• 'I get hot sweats.'
• 'I Try to concentrate but I get too anxious.'
• 'It Stops me sleeping.'

A follow up question to all 4 groups indicated that a significant minority sometimes found it difficult to get to sleep at night. 

There was a big consensus that when they were happy they had loads of energy and liked to do lots of things! There was also a discussion about doing things for others, and whether that made you happy, or whether you were more likely to do it if you felt happy?

As a way of preparing their body for a difficult/important/scary task, to help with worry, or to help them get to sleep I introduced the group to the spaghetti test. The students lay down and tensed and relaxed face, arm, stomach and leg muscles in turn, and paired this with belly breathing to achieve a relaxed and calm state.

The students were fabulous at this! and about half said they might try it to try and help get to sleep at night. With a couple of the groups we talked about just doing this with your arms and using breathing to calm yourself down in an situation were they were wound up or angry.

Next week we will explore how expectations can affect your experience and how to make the senses sharper!

Just sitting,and Dancing,and wishing, and the secret of happiness!: Mindfulness matters week 8, the Final sessions!

So my journey at Kowloon juniors comes to a close for the moment. The kids have been fantastic, and I believe they have learned a lot. the children will continue to practice as Matt and Dom will  run the 10 minute exercises on a regular basis for the rest of the year. 

In year 2 we looked at the difference between moving energetically and moving in a slow and controlled way. The kids loved dancing to Dancing Queen. I ask 'So how did that make you feel?' 'Like I could dance all day' answers one little girl.

The children then practiced slow and quiet walking as if they had a small butterfly on their head. The calm nature of this activity led on to a wishing meditation were the children thought of a wish for themselves, a wish for others and a wish for all the children in the world. One child wished for ice cream every day, another with a heartfelt look in his eyes wished that he could have a good day. Some wished for friendship for others, one wished for a 3d x box for all the poor children in the world, and one wished for everyone in the class to have good days, every day...

They liked the snowglobe and understood how their busy heads and worries were like the snow and could be cleared through mindful breathing.

 At the start of the process i was skeptical as to whether year 2s could benefit from mindfulness, or would be able to engage with it. I was very wrong, and I will miss working with this group very much!

Year 6s focused on the secret of happiness. Just a small thing to learn about! I think they got the idea that having things wouldn't necessarily make them happier, and that the secret of happiness revolved around being aware of when you were happy and noticing how often this happened.

I asked them What they liked the best from the mindfulness matters course?, What they had found difficult? and What they had learned?. Their responses knocked me off my feet:

'I sleep better now, because mindfulness helps me get to sleep'
'I can focus on things one thing at a time now'
'It really helps me calm down'
'I like the spaghetti test best'
'I feel a lot happier at school and home now'

and many more like that...All that from just focusing attention in a warm and non judgmental way on your breathing...amazing!

Looking forward to starting it all again at Clearwater Bay school, April 28th!

Safe places, invisible balloons and parents get in on the act!: Mindfulness Matters Week 7

In Year 6 the students created safe places in their mind that they could go to in times of stress or anxiety. The trick was to try and create this place without other more negative images crashing it in to make it less safe!

The nature of what is kind and unkind is important as there is a great deal of evidence suggesting that kindness and gratitude are linked to positive wellbeing and resilience.
So we asked: what did it mean to be kind? and how were people unkind? and how are you unkind to yourself?

That final question seemed the easiest for students to answer. They were very aware of when they were hard on themselves and what words they said to themselves about it:

'Im so stupid!' " why did you do that, thats dumb!' etc.

Their task for this week is to keep a card with kind and unkind written on it in their pockets. Every time they do/say something kind or unkind they have to take the card out of their pocket and put it back in the other one. Should be interesting! Lets see what happens next week?

Year 2 did some mindful movement; lifting an invisible gigantic balloon  and sending it in the air, then raising their arms like a 'proud peacock'. Both myself and Mr Parry their teacher felt proud of them because they did it so well! They also did well sitting and doing nothing, just focusing on their breathing. For some a really boring task, for others wonderful to have permission for a small slot of time where nothing was expected of them. Again the kids were fantastic at it!

For the Year 2's safe place we asked them to imagine a friendly and brave animal that would guard them when they were scared. Jaguars, dinosaurs, dogs and birds all made an appearance, and maybe the children now have something to help them if they are afraid of the dark?

Thanks to all the parents who came to the parent session. They tried the activities, and found out about the course. It was great to hear how one child's attentional skills at home seem to have really improved, and how other children seem to really value the sessions. 

Their only challenge: When will this be done in the whole school? because all the children need it. 

I couldn't agree more, why shouldn't they all have it? It has to be my mission to make it happen. But I do know I will have lots of allies campaigning with me!

Final instalment next week!

Frogs, Butterflies, Birds and deer: Mindfulness matters 6: learning to move with mindful attention

Year 6 were buzzing with the visit of students from their new secondary school but really got into the idea of thinking about and observing their thoughts. 15 seconds of them trying to think about nothing was the highlight today!

For the year 2's today was all about mindful movement. From squatting like a frog, waving arms like a bird, to standing like stork and being still as a deer. 

They finished off by lying down and letting their bodies go limp as a bowl of spaghetti

As they focused mindfully on the movements I became aware that they really seemed to be taking on the attributes of the animals they were emulating, until finishing off standing like a deer they became so still I felt i was surrounded by the animals in a woodland scene!

The focus on mindful movement and being in control of your body's movements is another way for kids to be helped to de-stress when there is a lot of tension about.

Whats interesting is that at this age there seems to be a real character difference in the kids. Some find the meditation brilliant and really benefit from it. You can see how a chance to be calm and quiet really helps them.

For others the calm quiet is really difficult but the mindful movement is something they really enjoy. They are focused and set free by the chance to move and hold a pose, and that will be a way for them to enjoy the calm.

And why shouldn't there be a difference? I dont mind meditation, but if you give me a chance I would go for mindful walking or Tai Chi/ chi gung as a way of calming down. That's what quietens my mind most. I suspect, however, that I benefit from both!

So that's the end of week 6. Two weeks to go in the pilot and looking forward to meeting the parents next week!


For a taste of mindful walking why not get the mindful walking app on the Apple app store and Google play. a small investment for a really positive experience Try it out on a walk through an area you know well, and see how many new things you see!

Children who suffer a loss

Participants creating memory jars using salt and pastels to help remember a loss

So no mindfulness with the kiddies this week, but for very good reason. This week myself and 60 colleagues from ESF and wider took part in brilliant workshops on child bereavement and the management of critical incidents, run by Sarah Gothard a psychologist and bereavement counsellor who works with Winston's Wish http://www.winstonswish.org.uk/ the Uk's leading Child bereavement charity. 

1 in 29 children in the UK will have suffered a significant bereavement of a parent or sibling before they are 18. Thats just over 3%, yet death remains conspicuously absent from school curriculums in both primary and secondary phase. If our aim is to promote the development of resilient children should we not help to prepare them for one of the most constant and powerful factors they will experience in life: The death of someone close to them.

Conveying an understanding of how death may affect someone, and giving strategies to help is a relatively simple proposition, yet in perhaps misguided attempts to protect children, the topic is taboo, and avoided in most schools, until something serious forces the school to address it. 

So what help do bereaved children get in Hong Kong? and how many children are bereaved on a yearly basis? I don't know the answer to this yet but as one of my primary colleagues said in a takeaway from monday: 'Im going to find out and do something about it'