MINDFULNESS: highlights from Tuesday October 10th 2017 presentation from Tara Logan (http://www.lotusvillageyoga.com/)
A HUGE thank you to the PAC for fundraising for this $4,000 program!
Attendees: 11 parents, 1 teacher, and 2 administrators
Mindfulness pilot project will start Monday 16th October in 13 of 19 divisions. Some of the remaining teachers from the 6 divisions already incorporate previous training in mindfulness into their classroom but the hope is the benefits of Mindfulness techniques will be shared around the school and families so all divisions will join in the program.
WHY? Kids behaviour has challenges with increased stress and increased anxiety due to increased technology, lack of nutrition and lack of connection with the land and each other.
This makes learning a challenging environment for the students and the teacher with a lot of multitasking required. We need to work together to instill a calmer environment to focus on being a better and more effective learner and be available to learn more quickly.
Children and families need new tools to reduce anxiety without medication and re-teach self-regulation tools for the school and home environment. The brain needs to be activated to learn, and the goal is to get the classroom in a calmer, focused environment much more quickly to increase learning time and effectiveness and decrease distraction.
TOOLS in Mindful Corners of the classroom will include: bells, breathing techniques (bunny, dragon, Darth Vader!), kindness ball, breathing balls/spheres, magnet boards to draw pictures, and toys to reduce technology.
For those children who wish, there will be a Mindful Leaders session on a Monday and Friday lunchtime to do mindful games.
We plan to post videos on this Facebook page to keep you updated with what your child is learning and the purpose, and techniques you can keep practicing with them at home.
FEEDBACK: child, parent, family, guardian, teacher feedback is really appreciated to measure success of this program – what is working well, what (if anything) is not, have you seen improvements – get your children to teach you what they have learnt and practice techniques together. We plan to do another presentation to open discussions and feedback before end December so please participate!
RESOURCES:
Book: Happy teachers change the world
Studies: UBC and Harvard have released studies on the benefits of Mindfulness.
MindUP: Goldie Hawn foundation (10 mindful minutes)
PRO-D DAY and PARENT/CHILD COURSES: upcoming courses are available through Tara’s company - http://www.lotusvillageyoga.com/, see attached posters and register quickly to save your space.