Mindfulness is the practice of being in control of your mind, rather than your mind controlling you. For a child, mindfulness is a critical life skill that will aid them in developing self-control, awareness, acceptance and even achieving academic success.
Why Teach Mindfulness to Children?
Research has shown that practicing mindfulness:
improves self-control and impulsive behaviours
increases attention span
improves academic success
increases awareness of the physical world around us
helps us make peace with personal imperfections by teaching acceptance
help us embrace vulnerability by learning to trust ourselves and others
provides the avenue to be more gracious, empathetic, compassionate and kind to ourselves and others
How often and where do we teach Mindfulness?
Mindfulness sessions take place in the classroom and are led by the class teacher. Each class will have a daily 5-10 minute mindfulness session straight after lunch and some classes may plan longer sessions at other times during the week.