Mindful Learning And Teaching

Buddhism; mindfulness; school; education; curriculum; meditation; Buddhist; mindful; meditate; zazen; vipassana; samatha; zen; teacher; stress; meditator; resilience; student; teaching; religion; religious; health; secular; contemplative; Buddha; Satipatthana; anxiety; mind; emotion

Flow, an optimal state for study, training and creativity, is often linked with the concept of The Zone, an ideal state for elite performance. Are these two states identical, or how might they differ?  Does it matter, which name we use? See more at www.TheFlow.Zone

In this first of two parts, I’m considering the similarities between Flow and The Zone, as two of the many different manifestations of Hypnotic trance. I’m arguing for very careful use of language, but not for the sake of a more rigorous theoretical discussion. The narrow definitions of some terms are highly contentious, so I’m deliberately accepting broad definitions in order to sidestep those theoretical debates. But I suggest that precise choice of terminology is vital, for utterly practical reasons.

The prevalence of mental health and addiction issues in the homeless population is very high. Mindfulness based interventions have been shown to have positive impacts on anxiety, depression and addiction in various populations. Mixed methods explored the impact of a mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) intervention for 12 homeless men. Quantitative measures of anxiety, depression, impulsivity and emotional reactivity were completed pre and post intervention, and participants were interviewed about their experiences of MBSR. Statistically significant changes in anxiety, depression, emotional reactivity and impulsivity were found. The qualitative data highlighted how mindfulness skills can easily be taught to this population, and through the use of these skills, participants were able to develop enhanced coping skills, mindful traits, well-being and an improved capacity to deal with their mental health and addiction issues. This study gives support to the promising potential of mindfulness interventions being implemented by mental health care professionals with homeless service users. Getting an accurate picture of exactly how many people are experiencing homelessness in any country, at any one time, is extremely challenging. Census data is generally collected based on household and while most census data takes into account those living in shelters, census takers struggle to count the 'hidden homeless' e.g. people who 'sofa surf' with friends and family, Int J Ment Health Addiction

Some individuals with autism engage in physical aggression to an extent that interferes with not only their quality of life, but also that of their parents and siblings. Behavioral and psychopharmacological treatments have been the mainstay of treatments for aggression in children and adolescents with autism. We evaluated the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based
procedure, Meditation on the Soles of the Feet, in helping three adolescents to manage their physical aggression. This procedure required the adolescents to rapidly shift the focus of their attention from the aggression-triggering event to a neutral place on their body, the soles of their feet. Incidents of aggression across the three adolescents ranged from a mean of 14–20 per week during baseline, 4–6 per week during mindfulness training, including zero rates during the last 4 weeks of intervention. Aggression occurred a rate of about 1 per year during a 3-year follow-up. Our results suggest adolescents with autism can learn, and effectively use, a mindfulness-based procedure to self-manage their physical aggression over several years.

Adults with intellectual disability who commit sexual offenses against children are prosecuted and sometimes diverted to mental health facilities for training and treatment. Of the few treatment modalities used with this population, cognitive behavioral approaches appear to hold most promise. In a preliminary study, we assessed whether three adult sexual offenders with intellectual disability could learn to control their deviant sexual arousal. Using a multiple-baseline design, we
evaluated the individuals’ ability to use self-control methods, Meditation on the Soles of the Feet, and a Mindful Observation of Thoughts meditation procedure to control their deviant sexual arousal when given relevant printed stimulus materials. Our data show that the individuals were minimally successful when
they used their own self-control strategies, more effective with Meditation on the Soles of the Feet, and most effective with Mindful Observation of Thoughts meditation. We discuss the limitations of the study, as well as some reasons why
mindfulness-based procedures may be worthy of future investigation for adult sexual offenders with intellectual disability.

Background: The use of physical restraints has generated immense controversy in the delivery of services to individuals with intellectual disabilities. The current zeitgeist is that effective positive approaches obviate the need for using physical restraints. In a multiple baseline design, we sought to assess how training staff members in mindfulness affected their use of physical restraints for aggressive and destructive behaviors of individuals with intellectual disabilities.
Methods: Twenty-three members of staff working in four group homes participated in a 12-week mindfulness-training program. Objective data were collected on the number of incidents, staff observations of incidents, staff verbal redirections, restraints used, stat medications administered, staff injuries, and peer injuries. Data were collected during baseline, mindfulness training and mindfulness practice phases.
Results: As mindfulness training progressed, the use of restraints decreased, with almost no use being recorded by the end of the study. Any use of physical restraints was correlated with new admissions and on-call staff who had not received training in mindfulness. Stat medications administered also decreased and staff and peer injuries were close to zero levels during the latter stages of mindfulness practice.
Conclusions: Data from this initial study suggest that staff training in mindfulness is potentially beneficial to both staff and the individuals with intellectual disabilities, particularly in reducing the use of physical restraints and Stat medication for aggressive and destructive behaviors.

Children and adolescents with Asperger syndrome occasionally exhibit aggressive behavior against peers and parents. In a multiple baseline design across subjects, three adolescents with Asperger syndrome were taught to use a mindfulness-based procedure called Meditation on the Soles of the Feet to control their physical aggression in the family home and during outings in the community. They were taught to shift the focus of their attention from the negative emotions that triggered their aggressive behavior to a neutral stimulus, the soles of their feet. Prior to training in the mindfulness-based procedure the adolescents had moderate rates of aggression. During mindfulness practice, which lasted between 17 and 24 weeks,
theirmean rates of aggression per week decreased from 2.7, 2.5 and 3.2 to 0.9, 1.1, and 0.9, respectively, with no instances observed during the last 3 weeks of mindfulness practice. No episodes of physical aggression occurred during a 4-year follow-up. This study suggests that adolescents with Asperger syndrome may successfully use a mindfulness-based procedure to control their aggressive behavior.

Parent-child transactions provide an important social context for the development of adaptive and problem behaviors in young children with autism. Teaching parents to develop alternative transactional pathways often leads to positive behavioral patterns in their children. We taught three parents the philosophy and practice of mindfulness in a 12-week course and assessed the outcome of the training on their children’s behavior. In addition, the mothers rated satisfaction with their parenting skills and interactions with their children. Results showed that the mothers’ mindful parenting decreased their children’s aggression, noncompliance and self-injury and increased the mothers’ satisfaction with their parenting skills and interactions with their children. We speculated on the possible reasons for the efficacy of mindful parenting in decreasing the children’s problem behaviors without the application of specific, programmed contingencies for the children’s behavior.

This paper reports the development and implementation of a unique Mindfulness for
Singers (MfS) course designed to improve singers’ vocal technique. Eight university
students completed the intervention. Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) scores
showed general improvement across all five facets of mindfulness. Qualitative results
showed benefits of daily mindfulness exercises on breathing, micro-muscular awareness,
vocal tone, text communication and problem solving. Exercises also positively affected
teacher/pupil relationships, concentration and focus in lessons and practice. Teachers
identified six of the eight participants in a blind controlled study indicating that vocal
students at any level would benefit greatly from a mindfulness course as a holistic
intervention.

Chapter on the most important skill of the pedagogy of the mindfulness-based interventions. To appear in:
McCown, D., Reibel, D., & Micozzi, M. (eds.) (in press). Resources for teaching mindfulness: An international handbook. New York: Springer.
Please do not cite from this draft.

This conceptual essay places the Buddhist notion of sunyata, or emptiness, at the heart of the enterprise of teaching mindfulness with military Veterans. It is a term that brings before us the necessity of having an open and “unknowing” mind, one that frees both students or clients and instructor from becoming mired in routinized, auto-pilot modes of psychotherapy delivery.  While attention to the teaching of mindfulness has centered on the training of instructors and  their employment of manualized treatment modalities, this essay shifts the emphasis to what humanistic psychologists and educationalists have termed variously “fusion-knowledge” (Maslow) and the “live classroom” (G. I. Brown). Humanistic psychological insights are brought in dialogue with the fields of knowledge management and organizational learning and, most importantly, transformative learning theory. The author’s group-based delivery of mindfulness in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) setting provides an example of a curriculum that is collaboratively generated and based in the ongoing creation of a common vocabulary for living and thinking mindfully. An expansive, improvisational approach to teaching mindfulness is posited as beneficial for the creation of new forms of awareness that shape our psychological and intellectual relations to the lived world.

Researchers in the field of mathematics education are beginning to appreciate the potential of contemplative practices such as mindfulness to alleviate students' stress and increase their focus. What researchers do not yet know is whether, and if so how, bringing focused attention to somatic experience through a wide variety of contemplative-somatic practices (i.e., yoga, Feldenkrais, body-mind centering, and attending to bodily sensations in meditation) may support student learning of specific mathematical content. As a first step toward conceptualizing and ideating the pedagogical design and facilitation of content-oriented contemplative exercises, we convened a workshop to explore these ideas. Here we report on findings from this pioneering workshop, which brought together international scholars and practitioners interested in the relations between contemplative-somatic practice and mathematical reasoning and learning. This report elaborates on participants' experiences and derived pedagogical insights to offer the field new horizons in the development of the theory and practice of contemplative mathematics. OBJECTIVES: Investigating Whether and How Contemplative-Somatic Practices Offer Students Enhanced Access to the Pre-Symbolic, Preconceptual Sense of Mathematical Concepts C ontemplative-somatic practice (CSP) covers a wide range of practices in which bodily movement and awareness is used to draw the practitioner's focus inwards to help them become more reflective or contemplative. Practices commonly used are: yoga, qi gong, tai chi, Feldenkrais, body-mind centering, ecstatic dance (i.e., 5Rhythms), walking meditation, and breath awareness practices used in Buddhist and Hindu meditation. In fact, any repetitive movement, such as running, rowing, or swimming , can lead to contemplative or meditative states. Mathematics education theorists have begun to engage with ideas concerning the potential role of somatic-contemplative contributions in supporting enhanced ped-agogical practice. These efforts include developing mathematics pedagogy (Brady, 1 The authors may be contacted at [email protected] and [email protected].

With roots in the Buddhist religious tradition, a secularized version of mindfulness meditation is now being embraced by many as a way to significantly improve their quality of life.  Mindfulness is a form of meditation that teaches one to focus with present-moment awareness.  Advocates extol the virtues of mindfulness and its positive impact upon one’s physical and mental health such as stress reduction and the ability to regulate one’s emotions.  It is increasingly being taught in hospitals, corporate settings, and now in schools. The purported benefits of the contemplative practice of mindfulness have propelled it into the curriculum of an ever-growing number of public school systems, yet there are those who claim there is potential for harm.

Critics of mindfulness programs in schools object for a number of reasons.  They believe it encourages children to unwittingly adopt Buddhist religious beliefs and an undesirable worldview.  Indeed, aspects of mindfulness training include “acceptance” and “non-judgment,” which seem to conflict with the goal of doing one’s best in the classroom and differentiating between right and wrong.  Detractors assert that although supporters of mindfulness point to scientifically-proven benefits, there are no studies of the long-term impact of mindfulness on school children.  Most research has focused on the physical, emotional, and health benefits of adults who practice mindfulness.  Others see mindfulness in schools as simply a waste of valuable classroom time.

Although inspired by Buddhist mindfulness practices, the secularized version of mindfulness does not teach Buddhism, a religion with vast writings and cosmology.  Mindfulness has been the subject of numerous scientific studies involving both adults and   
school children that demonstrate its benefits. Studies of mindfulness have proven that it reduces stress and related cortisol levels which are responsible for a variety of physical and mental health problems.  Mindfulness meditation has been shown to improve cognitive functioning and shrink the amygdala, a brain region associated with fear and stress, as well as increase the size of the hippocampus, a brain region associated with learning and memory.  It has been demonstrated to improve focus and emotional regulation as well as to build resilience.  Mindfulness meditation has been practiced for thousands of years by people of all ages, which dispels concern over any unknown long-term consequences.  However, as is the case with all subject matter taught in the classroom, it is important that teachers of mindfulness have been properly trained to guide students through it.  There is overwhelming evidence for expanding its use in secular settings, particularly in public education where young people can learn at an early age how to practice mindfulness to develop their ability to focus attention, manage stress, and regulate their emotions in the classroom.

Objectives: The application of mindfulness at work has experienced growing demand in recent years. This progress also brings new challenges for the field, such as the necessity to respect the dynamic environment of contemporary organizations and moving mindfulness practice closer to the social interactions. We created Relational Mindfulness Training (RMT), an 8-week mindfulness-based intervention, in order to address the lack of evidence in the field of relational mindfulness.

Sample and setting: Our study has examined the effects of RMT intervention on the sample of 66 students. The first measurement occurred one week prior to the start of intervention (T1). The second measurement occurred one week after the end of intervention (T2).

Hypotheses: We hypothesized that the participation in RMT would have positive significant effects on mindfulness, self-compassion, authentic leadership and empathic accuracy. Statistical analysis. The analysis of variance was used to access the differences between the experimental and control group between T1 and T2 and the paired sample t-test was used to assess the effects within both groups between T1 and T2.

Results: Our findings suggest that training in relational mindfulness may enhance the curriculum of management education. RMT showed a significant positive effect on mindfulness, self-compassion and authentic leadership. This study is, according to our knowledge, the first one that validates the effects of a relational-based mindfulness program in management education and the first one to validate the effects of MBI in the Czech Republic.

Study limitation: Most variables in our study were assessed by self-report questionnaires, we, however, used most common questionnaires in the field. The study was also not fully blinded and thus it might have been possibly biased by placebo or experimenter effect.

Draft. Final published in Ie, A., C. Ngnoumen, and E. Langer (Eds.). (2014). Wiley-Blackwell handbook of mindfulness. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

There are a number of differing definitions of mindfulness current today, which are privileged within particular discourses, such as the “Eastern” definition within the discourse of Buddhism, the “Western” definition within the discourse of academic social psychology exemplified by the work of Ellen Langer, the secular (but essentially “Eastern”) definition within the discourse of research on the MBIs, and a definition within a broader discourse of the pedagogy of the MBIs, as the needs of researchers and teachers differ significantly. This chapter proposes that teachers within the MBIs (or other discourses) will increase their effectiveness in the classroom through familiarity with a range of discourses beyond their own. Working from a particular classroom experience, four definitions and discourses are presented in précis, and the pedagogical utility of each within the basic MBI curriculum is suggested in both narrative and chart form.

Mindfulness programs are being used with increased frequency in schools, hospitals, clinics and community settings around the world. Research in school populations has predominately focused on assessing how the practice impacts students, using outcomes-based study designs. In the current study the author explored how experienced mindfulness instructors made sense of teaching children mindfulness, with a focus on exploring, understanding and interpreting the teacher's experiences. The methodology of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was employed to interview eight teachers teaching mindfulness with children from the United States and Australia. A number of themes emerged from the interviews; one being that spirituality plays an integral role in a teacher’s mindfulness practice. Implications for future research, practice and policy are discussed.

Abstract
Undergraduate students lack the opportunity and environment to contemplate and develop ecoliteracy skills that serve to integrate subject matter into their everyday experiences. Ecoliteracy is grounded in Capra's web of life theoretical framework and represents students' capacities to read world systems objectively with their head, heart, hands, and spirit. Contemplative pedagogy provides educators with exercises that give students time to reflect on the integration of learning. Ecoliteracy and contemplative pedagogy research has shown little quantitative data pertaining to how contemplative pedagogy affects undergraduate student ecoliteracy. To address that gap, this causal-comparative study measured the use of contemplative pedagogy exercises relative to undergraduate student ecoliteracy. A convenience sample of 150 undergraduate students who did and did not experience contemplative pedagogy exercises completed the New Ecological Paradigm Scale and Self-Compassion Scale Short Form. Independent-samples t tests measured the differences between the 2 groups. Findings indicated that students who did not experience contemplative pedagogy exercises in the classroom were more likely to self-report higher ecoliteracy. A possible interpretation of these findings is that current contemplative pedagogy exercises may focus students' attention internally and not adequately promote the world-centered view that would more readily advance student ecoliteracy skills. Results of this study provide further insight that may inform professional development and contemplative pedagogy exercises that empowers students' ecoliteracy skills by encouraging critical thinking, action, and compassion towards positive social change.

This experimental study will set examine the effects of Loving Kindness Meditation Workshop. This study explored compassion as a possible mediator for implicit bias in various teachers from a particular school district. This study will be conducted using a pretest-posttest design for both the experimental and control group. The experimental group consists of a fifty participants who will be primed to participate in at fifteen minute LKM session. Both before and after this meditation participants will self-report with a variety of measures.  There will be a active control group where instead of mindfulness training participants will attend a health enrichment program, designed to serve as an active control for LKM. The school district in which the workshop is being held will be presented this as paid training for teachers. If this is unable to be aragened requisite compensation to teachers will be given in some manner. At the conclusion of the workshop a pretest-posttest analysis of select self-report measures will be conducted. This will include an analysis of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, The Self-Compassion Scale, and The Implicit Association Test.  The hypothesis being proposed is that LKM will have a positive correlation with both rates compassion as an attribute and self compassion. This rise in compassion will moderate a decrease in implicit bias of educators with an interest on observing non-minority teachers. Through allowing these teachers to explore LKM in a safe and informative manner, they will hopefully gain an experience that could disseminate into the classroom environment.

Bu araştırma, sürdürebilir okul kültürü ve ekosistemi için, okul yöneticilerinin ve öğretmenlerinin farkındalık ve üst bilişlerini artırmak üzere yapılmış Empati Projesi ile ilgili görüşleri almak için gerçekleştirilmiştir. Araştırma 2015 yılında İstanbul’da yer alan üç lisenin 6 yöneticisi ve 38 öğretmeninin gönüllü katılımı ile gerçekleştirilmiştir. Katılımcılar üç hafta boyunca 24 saatlik farkındalık ve üst biliş odaklı empati eğitimi aldıktan sonra Empati Projesinin kendilerine fayda sağlaması amacıyla 5 soruya cevap vermişlerdir. Nitel araştırma prensipleri çerçevesinde katılımcılardan veriler, açık uçlu anketler toplanmıştır. Daha sonra veriler NVivo kullanılarak ayrıştırılmış ve en fazla kullanılan temalar ve ikincil alt temalar çıkartılmıştır. Araştırmaya katılan okul yöneticileri ve öğretmenlerin görüşlerine göre  farkındalık ve üst biliş odaklı empati eğitiminin verimli ve etkili olabilmesi için öğrenci ve öğretmen işbirliğinin artırılmasının önemi ortaya konmuştur. Bu paralelde bu konu ile ilgili uygulamaların artırılmasının sağlanmasıdır. Farkındalık arttıkça okul içinde yer alan kişilerin olumlu anlamda değiştiğini göstermektedir. Kazanımlar ile ilgili olarak katılımcıların kişisel gelişimleri, deneyim ve beceri edinme imkanlarının arttığı tespit edilmiştir. Ayrıca yaşamlarının tamamını kapsayacak şekilde çatışma çözme becerileri, problem çözme becerileri, iletişim ve en önemlisi de farkındalık ve üst biliş odaklı empati becerilerini geliştirmeleridir. Asıl önemli olan bir diğer konu ise önyargılarla baş etme becerilerini artırırlarken yaratıcı düşünme becerilerini de geliştirmeleridir. Bu sayede  başarı ve mutluluk getiren  alışkanlıklar sağlamaktadır. Bu tür bir durumda sürdürebilir gelişim gösteren bir okul kültürü ve ekosisteminin oluşturulabileceğini mümkün kılmaktadır.

Use the following link for the article with active hyperlinks to additional resources:
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Since the first iPhone was introduced in 2007, smartphones have become not only ubiquitous, but a near constant in our waking environment. Even when we are not on our own device, several people around us usually are, which often compels us to check our own. This is sufficient to demonstrate that their effect on us as individuals, whether attentional, psychological, or physiological, is determined not only by our own device and usage but by that of others around us as well. While we may have some sense of how our lives have become more and more lived through our devices, we rarely take a moment to more closely consider the range of impacts they exert on the psychology and general quality of our experience. This article discusses contemplative pedagogy in higher education and introduces an original exercise to help students (and ourselves) become more cognizant of these impacts.

There are numerous methods for reducing obesity, but often none of these methods prove effective for specific individuals.  For individuals who have failed on specific diets and other weight loss programs, finding a good match between their needs and an effective method is often difficult.  We collaboratively developed a multi-component mindfulness-based health wellness program with an individual who was morbidly obese and wanted a lifestyle change.  The components included: (a) physical exercise, (b) food awareness program, (c) mindful eating to manage rapid eating, (d) visualizing and labeling hunger, and (e) a mindfulness procedure as a self-control strategy against temptation to eat between meals.  The program was implemented within a changing criterion design.  The individual reduced his weight from 315 lbs to 171 lbs, increased his physical activity, ate healthy foods, stopped eating rapidly, substantially reduced serious medical risk factors, eliminated physical discomfort and mobility problems due to his weight, and enhanced his lifestyle over almost a five-year period.  He maintained his health wellness during 12 months of follow-up.

HSP Day 2020
On the first-ever International HSP Day, free online workshops on:

    Building child-friendly and healthy cities: lesson learnt and current challenges
    The importance of the environment for the well-being of sensitive children
    Presentation of the nationwide testing tool for measuring sensitivity for parents and teachers of children aged 3-10 years
    How parents and teachers can help their sensitive children and students navigate their feelings during school re-openings
    Highly sensitive child. Model of support in school/preschool environment
    Happy sensitive ME – Mindfulness and mindful movement programme for children, parents and teachers (Wear comfortable clothes to practice)

Hosted by the metropolitan city of Rome Capital, the event is the culmination of many minds, many perspectives, and many areas of expertise.
Working language: English, Italian, Polish, Romanian, Spanish
Registration forms: https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/HSP_Day

We consider designs for conceptual learning where students first engage in pre-symbolic problem solving and then articulate their solutions formally. An enduring problem in these designs has been to support students in accessing their pre-symbolic situated process, so that they can reflect on it and couch it in mathematical form. Contemplative practices may offer practical solutions to this epistemic bottleneck by orienting students not on their explicit thoughts but on nuanced somatic sensations within pre-conceptual liminal space. We support this proposal for a contemplative mathematics program by drawing on Mason and Roth and by citing findings from pilot studies.

Providing guidance is one of the key pedagogical skills and actions of the teacher in the Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs), along with stewardship, homiletics and inquiry. These skills are interrelated and each includes and influences the others.  Guided meditation, both “live” in class and through recordings, plays a crucial role in the cultivation of mindfulness, a way of being in the world in relationship to self, to others, and to the flow of experience moment by moment.

Written with Aleeze Moss, PhD, and Diane Reibel, PhD, of Thomas Jefferson University. A draft chapter in the forthcoming book, Resources for Teaching Mindfulness, from Springer. Please do not cite from this draft.

Recently the adoption of mindfulness or contemplative based approaches has escalated across many sectors, including in education. Proponents argue that mindfulness based teaching programs improve students' life skills, provide emotional balance, reduce stress and enhance classroom climate. To date though there is little evaluation or knowledge of how young people experience such programs introduced to classroom settings. This paper reports some key insights gained from an independent evaluation of a pilot mindfulness based teaching program implemented (over nine weeks) with a class of thirty, year seven students at a private school in Adelaide. The research methods incorporated a self-completed student questionnaire and Smiley Face evaluation sheets, interviews with teachers and classroom observations. The implications for teachers are about who should teach mindfulness in school settings, the sorts of curricula adopted, and recognition that a general school classroom is not an ideal space for conducting mindfulness-based activities.

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In the following study we investigate how young learners engage with music and movement to illustrate their understandings and connections to nature. We discover a symbiotic relationship between the performing arts, Social Emotional Learning, and Mindful Learning over the course of six months, and examine the potentials and constraints of this harmonization. Results from this study show that learning in a co-constructivist setting, which allows opportunities for reflective listening, choice, intentional focus, and feedback, supports the development of behavioural and emotional abilities, and empowers students to delve deeper into their connections with nature through composing abstract music and movement pieces.

Keynote talk at the summer school for mindfulness teachers at the Centrum voor Mindfulness, Amsterdam.
        In developing as teachers, it is after we have settled in to the core skills—working with the group, delivering informational content, guiding practices, and inquiring into participants’ experiences—that our real becoming begins. Whether consciously or not, we steep in the atmosphere of the classroom again and again. We are touched and moved by the transformations we witness in individuals and ourselves, and also by the whole environment in which it happens. As we learn to bring our attention to the atmosphere in the room, we begin to connect to our practice of mindfulness teaching in new and different ways.
This talk will explore the radical, embodied perspectives on our core skills that we gain from this shift of attention. We will explore the concept of atmosphere from a range of viewpoints, to better understand the kind of knowing we have from inside the community of the class. We become instruments that measure the unmeasurable. We know more than we can say—and we can choose to act from that knowledge. Most important is to consider how this experience of communion, of community, sends teachers and participants into the world beyond the classroom as potential catalysts for reshaping the small and large communities to which they belong. Perhaps good teaching really can change the world.

Research shows that after training in the philosophy and practice of mindfulness, parents can mindfully attend to the challenging behaviors of their children with autism. Parents also report an increased satisfaction with their parenting skills and social interactions with their children. These findings were replicated and extended with 4 parents of children who had developmental disabilities, exhibited aggressive behavior, and had limited social skills. After mindfulness training, the parents were able to decrease aggressive behavior and increase their children's social skills. They also reported a greater practice of mindfulness, increased satisfaction with their parenting, more social interactions with their children, and lower parenting stress. Furthermore, the children showed increased positive and decreased negative social interactions with their siblings. We speculate that mindfulness produces transformational change in the parents that is reflected in enhanced positive b...

In the following study we investigate how young learners engage with music and movement to illustrate their understandings and connections to nature. We discover a symbiotic relationship between the performing arts, Social Emotional Learning, and Mindful Learning over the course of six months, and examine the potentials and constraints of this harmonization. Results from this study show that learning in a co-constructivist setting, which allows opportunities for reflective listening, choice, intentional focus, and feedback, supports the development of behavioural and emotional abilities, and empowers students to delve deeper into their connections with nature through composing abstract music and movement pieces.

Mindfulness programs are being used with increased frequency in schools, hospitals, clinics and community settings around the world. Research in school populations has predominately focused on assessing how the practice impacts students, using outcomes-based study designs. In the current study the author explored how experienced mindfulness instructors made sense of teaching children mindfulness, with a focus on exploring, understanding and interpreting the teacher's experiences. The methodology of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was employed to interview eight teachers teaching mindfulness with children from the United States and Australia. A number of themes emerged from the interviews; one being that spirituality plays an integral role in a teacher’s mindfulness practice. Implications for future research, practice and policy are discussed.

In this paper we (graduate student and supervisor) collaborate to improve our practice through generating new educational knowledge using the conceptual principles of Living Educational Theory research (Whitehead, 1989, 2008). We examine how we might deepen our capacity to work and live in ways that make us feel whole within a variety of contexts through exploring our values of authenticity, diversity and love. To articulate our commitment to this inquiry we describe ourselves as 'servants of connectivity', meaning we prioritize understanding how our actions either connect or disconnect us from our values and from others. Through our inquiry we demonstrate how flourishing of self and community is an interconnected relationship and suggest this relationship can be nurtured by setting three intentions: 1) share spaces with love, 2) be self-fluid, 3) embrace new and creative ways of experiencing time and space. We found that through the collaborative process of our inquiry we c...

According to Schafer (2012) there are a number of critical issues in Steiner schools, which often trigger crises and which, if met consciously, can lead to renewal and transformation. My own experience as a Steiner teacher and parent inspired me to undertake research into the difficulties encountered by many teachers and leaders and the contribution mindfulness could give to the alleviation of these difficulties (Burrows, 2014; 2013). However, as Richardson (1997) writes, no matter how much we try to suppress it, our self is present in our writing and our self and research topic are deeply entwined. This is indeed true of this chapter, which takes another look at the study, which I am now ready to admit more openly, had its genesis in my own journey. For me, like Richardson (1997, p516) writing is a method of inquiry and interpretation and also a way of knowing). In this chapter I reconsider my original interpretation of data gathered in the light of my own growing awareness of self...

2016 Living in the moment is an integral part of the life of a Buddhist. It is being open to the life that appears in each second and going where it takes you. It is being a part of all that is without separation or fear. The power of the moment is beyond imagination and intellect and time and space. I hope you will take this journey with me and enjoy the flight as much as I have discovering it through my writing.

This is a "team project" of LGIBooks. Looking for "human nature researchers" and/or "human nature science writers to "team-produce" a website, interview series, series of books, with these main goals:

#1: To make the case for the need to feel safe inside oneself for optimal effectiveness in all aspects of life  -- through research, interviews, and stories. 

#2: To bring the "safe to be you" research to life in application for “everyman” and “everywoman.”

The beginning premises/theories of the project:

We human beings are biologically “wired" for survival from birth and throughout our life span.

Our “survival system” includes “the attachment system” and the “fight/flight/freeze system.”

If one's “system” (one's physiological system) detects/perceives a danger, one's fight/flight/freeze system will be triggered and all the resources of one's body will be mobilized to “fight” or “flee” the danger.  This is a mostly unconscious and automatic process.

When one's nervous system is triggered even a little bit into “unsafe mode”, one's whole body system will immediately start to go into some degree of mobilization to defend against the danger. 

When one is in unsafe mode, one doesn’t learn most effectively, or think creatively, or problem solve, or relate, or be happy, or pretty much do anything most effectively, other than focus on the fear.  This stress response system is optimally functional when there is real danger to your safety in the moment, but it is not functional when there is no real present danger.

If one has a “secure sense of self”, one's fight-flight system will be triggered much less of the time.  One will be much less likely to scare him/herself with thoughts or stories of danger when there is no real present danger.  Conversely, if one has an “insecure sense of self”, one's stress response system will be much more likely to get triggered more frequently and may even be chronically “on”.

A person with good brain integration skills, good present reality awareness skills, (1) will be more skilled at NOT scaring him/herself with thoughts or stories of danger when there is no real present danger; (2) will be more skilled at noticing when she/he has a danger thought that has no basis to any real present danger; and (3) will be more likely to quickly coach/re-direct her/himself to present reality, balance, and well-being when she/he does have a non-reality danger thought.  A person who is less skilled at brain integration and present reality awareness will engage in more self-scaring patterns and be less skilled at re-directing him/herself to present reality, balance and well-being.

Recently the adoption of mindfulness or contemplative based approaches has escalated across many sectors, including in education. Proponents argue that mindfulness based teaching programs improve students' life skills, provide emotional balance, reduce stress and enhance classroom climate. To date though there is little evaluation or knowledge of how young people experience such programs introduced to classroom settings. This paper reports some key insights gained from an independent evaluation of a pilot mindfulness based teaching program implemented (over nine weeks) with a class of thirty, year seven students at a private school in Adelaide. The research methods incorporated a self-completed student questionnaire and Smiley Face evaluation sheets, interviews with teachers and classroom observations. The implications for teachers are about who should teach mindfulness in school settings, the sorts of curricula adopted, and recognition that a general school classroom is not an ideal space for conducting mindfulness-based activities.

Some individuals with autism engage in physical aggression to an extent that interferes with not only their quality of life, but also that of their parents and siblings. Behavioral and psychopharmacological treatments have been the mainstay of treatments for aggression in children and adolescents with autism. We evaluated the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based procedure, Meditation on the Soles of the