| The innovative
teaching strategies I've been planning
are implemented, but I rarely get the
chance to sit down and reflect and revise
the way I'd like to. It takes a deliberate
and conscious person to put the brakes
on and slow down the process. The practice
of mindfulness is a tool teachers can
bring to their own lives, and to the
lives of their students, to help with
the stress of everyday life.
Health and Mindfulness
For those of us who work in health fields,
one of our challenges is to practice
what we teach. I used to find that stress
management was a particularly difficult
topic for me to teach students, because
I was teaching them practices that were
all in my head and not in my heart.
It's not easy to teach young people
to exercise, sing, daydream or breathe
when faced with constant daily stressors,
especially when as teachers we scoff
at the notion of taking 5 minutes to
stare at the clouds. In the last ten
years, stress has been recognized as
a significant problem for children and
adults. Young people report increased
stress related to societal events and
the pressures of school. Adults are
faced with the physical and emotional
repercussions of years of stress. It's
widely accepted now that chronic stress
can contribute to sleep deprivation,
compromise the immune system, and play
a significant role in depression and
anxiety.
From best-selling books on "being
in the moment" and the prominence
of yoga classes, it's clear that mindfulness
is reemerging as a powerful strategy
in responding to stress. Most simply,
mindfulness is being aware in the present.
It means paying attention and observing
ourselves without critique. In order
to practice being mindful, the challenge
is to stop letting our thoughts about
the past and the future consumer our
lives. Rumination is the term for reliving
and obsessing over various thoughts,
usually negative or fearful thoughts.
Ruminating over what we should have
done or need to do can lead to worn
out mental grooves that consume our
energy. When we're over-thinking our
past and future, we're left to live
the present in a kind of a fog, multitasking
through the seemingly mundane aspects
of life.
I often refer to teaching as 'the ultimate
in multitasking.' When someone is teaching,
he or she is typically thinking about
a student's comment or action, connecting
it to the next concept in class. Teachers
often scaffold behaviors from earlier
lessons, or subsequent lessons, as they
plan how to further elaborate on a skill
or idea. Teaching involves constant
planning, and planning is thinking about
what is going to happen. The life of
a teacher can be consumed by planning
- by thought. Mindfulness can help an
individual move away from the all-consuming
thoughts to focus on the rich details
'of the now.' We can learn to attend
to the internal and external world around
us, which includes our thoughts. By
observing our thoughts we can gently
move past them so they don't take over
our lives.
Stress Management
Increasing numbers of stress management
programs are using different forms of
mindfulness to help people decrease
rumination and obsessive thoughts. Breathing
techniques, imagery and meditation are
some strategies that have proven successful
in reducing stress and improving overall
physical and psychological health. Health
and physical education programs are
beginning to offer students young and
old the opportunity to practice mindfulness
strategies in educational settings.
Mindfulness practices lend themselves
to a coordinated school health philosophy
since they can reach across disciplines,
linking students, staff, family and
programming with one holistic goal to
reduce stress and improve the quality
of living - moment to moment.
First Day of School
The challenge for us as teachers is
helping our students learn about and
practice mindfulness, while enjoying
the benefits ourselves. Planning for
that first day of school inevitably
throws us into the mental world of future
thinking. One strategy is to make sure
we aren't living that first day of school
over and over way before it's actually
here. We can set limits to our planning,
and also limit our planning to constructive,
excitement-driven ideas rather than
ruminating over failed lessons or fears
of the future.
Setting the stage for mindful teaching
isn't easy, but we can start with a
mindful first day. Rather than jumping
head first onto that roller coaster,
we can ease in to the seat, notice the
colors, textures, smells and sounds
so we can savor the moments as the car
begins to move. Some of us remember
our first days of school when we were
young, especially those first days at
a new high school or junior high where
we memorized our schedules and locker
combinations, prepared our clothes,
and maybe even imagined walking down
the hallways. Mindfulness for teachers
can involve thoroughly appreciating
the vast array of student emotions.
We can look into our students' faces
and experience their excitement and
eagerness. The first five minutes we
have with each new class can be the
most important five minutes of our time
with those students. Slowing down to
experience and enjoy those initial impressions
can add meaning and purpose to teaching.
Pay attention to the nervous smiles,
the new fashion trends, and the curious
eyes trying to figure you out. The energy
from the first day of school is contagious,
and I know that I don't want to miss
it because I'm busy planning for the
next class, the next day, or even the
next year.
(pelinks4u
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