week without walls at The Affiliated High School of Beijing University
Students designing their own stress relief programs
In November 2019 we spent a week with PKU’s affiliated high school, Dalton Academy, teaching the basics of emotional wellness and physical health to lay the groundwork for college success. The program included morning yoga and meditation, self-insight workshops, a hiking trip to the Great Wall of China and afternoon writing sessions. Students learned to watch and then control their monkey mind, making insights about the fears and motivations that have guided their lives to this point. On a emotional closing day, each student led the group in their well-being tool of choice, and even the teachers learned a little more about themselves.
“I’ve been afraid to admit to myself that I wanted to attend an all girls college, but now I have the courage to do what I really want.” -Judy
“I can’t believe I learned to lead a meditation, and to watch my thoughts.” -Michael
“I never knew that I played music to numb, but now I am more able to sit with myself and look at my feelings.” -Anon
“I have known you all for many years but I feel closer after these five days than ever before. We are really a community.” -Janet
career prep at arlington pep
Erin Henshaw enlightened students in the Program for Employment Preparedness (PEP) at the Arlington Career Center with mindfulness strategies, thought, and fun. The students in the PEP program have varying levels of disabilities and are high school students aged 18-22 years of age. Erin came and taught two sessions to different groups of students one day before their graduation day, to prepare them for the upcoming stresses of interviews and public speaking.
Erin did a remarkable job of tailoring her instruction to each specific group that she taught. The first group was small, but required a high level of support from staff and thorough accommodations like repetitions. Erin did a wonderful job of keeping all of the students engaged and by providing the teachers with tools like body scans and mindful movements to assist students during the sessions. We spoke about developing our "spidey senses" of personal and group awareness, and the difference between how the body responds to "big things," and "little things" in life.
The students had so much fun being silly and using skills to calm down at their own pace. Erin welcomed their unique inputs and incorporated their thoughts and their own body movements into her own instruction. The second group of students was larger, more independent, and more doubtful of “mindfulness”. Erin easily changed her teaching method to appropriately reach these students, using appropriate metaphors like popular music and pressing personal challenges. They discussed the science behind various mindfulness methods and brainstormed scenarios where one may use them, like when preparing for job interviews after graduation. Erin did a remarkable job of keeping the students interested and wanting to hear more. As a staff person, I was delighted to watch our students engage with new concepts and was left wishing for it to happen more frequently!
Laura Jacobs
Speech and Language Pathologist, Arlington Public Schools
brain breaks at johnson elementary
A note from the Johnson Elementary PTO:
Thanks to a grant from the Johnson PTO, The Mind Body Project will be leading a Mindfulness program at Johnson! The program runs 6 weeks and includes classes grade 1-4 for 15-25 minutes per week. Facilitators introduce mindfulness and mindful practices into the classrooms, in a smile-infused, caring, enthusiastic manner.
The program empowers students to: reduce stress and improve the ability to respond to stress, increase self-confidence, improve attention, increase optimism, and improve socially competent behaviors. Now in their second week of practicing mindfulness, Johnson students have explored intentionally experiencing the present moment without judgment, paying attention not only to what’s happening in their environment, but also their personal internal dialogue and emotions, and the interconnection of mind and body.
Gathered in the course of one Mindfulness afternoon, the following quotes respond to facilitators’ questions about what emotions students feel and where in the body, students’ experience of a minute of mindful listening and the effects of a short body scan:
“Through my whole body I sometimes feel anger.” (2nd grade)
“If you know where you feel your emotions, you can calm them down through relaxing.” (4th grade)
“All my stress focuses on that area.” (3nd grade)
“The body scan helped because if you are too excited you can get that thought out of your mind and relax.” (4th grade)
“It was crazy…I could feel stuff going on in my mind…” (3rd grade)
“I felt a different kind of crazy…it was quieter and I got to hear things moving.” (3rd grade)
“Everything gets fuzzy and stretched out and like…I can hear the birds.” (3rd grade)
“We have a way to just relax.” (3rd grade)
“It made me feel calm. Like at home…and strong inside.” (3rd grade)
mindful School Year
kick-off
"TODAY WAS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR."
Full Day Teacher Self-Care and Mindful Teaching Program
Themes: Growth Mindset , Challenge, Socio-Emotional Regulation
Program:
9am: Healthy Breakfast + Gratitudes
10am: Energizing Cardio Wake-Up
10:30am: The Teacher Brain on Yoga
Noon: Lunch
1pm: Yoga + Deep Relaxation
3:30pm: Growth Mindset Cardio Challenge
5pm: Group Reflections + Takeaways