Mindfulness for Professors and Students

Supports overall well-being.

How best to introduce this practice?

Concept

What is mindfulness?

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BartEverson

MediaArtist

Definitions

tiny.cc/xmindful

Mindfulness can be fostered through

formal practice

Mindfulness is a conscious, purposeful way of tuning in to what's happening in and around us.

Deborah Schoeberlein

Mindfulness has a role in

everyday life

Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way;

on purpose,

in the present moment, and

nonjudgmentally.

Jon Kabat-Zinn

(including your professional life)

PHYSIOLOGY

• Deep rest: decreased metabolic rate, lower heart rate, reduced workload of heart
• Lowered levels of cortisol and lactate (associated with stress)
• Reduction of free radicals (unstable oxygen molecules that cause tissue damage)
• Improved blood pressure

PSYCHOLOGY

• Increased brain wave coherence
• Greater creativity
• Decreased anxiety
• Decreased depression
• Decreased irritability and moodiness
• Improved learning ability and memory

For Everyone

PHYSIOLOGY

• Higher skin resistance. (Negative correlation with stress and anxiety levels.)
• Drop in cholesterol levels.
• Improved flow of air to the lungs resulting in easier breathing. Helpful to those with asthma.
• Slows the aging process.

PSYCHOLOGY

• Increased self-actualization
• Increased feelings of vitality & rejuvenation
• Increased happiness
• Increased emotional stability.

Benefits

Source: NIH

for teachers and students

Movement

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You can find more information, including attribution for photos and citations in this presentation, on our wiki.

http://tiny.cc/xmindful

Increases responsiveness to students' needs.

Burgeoning!

For Teachers

Improves focus and awareness.

Promotes emotional balance.

Enhances classroom climate.

Supports stress management and stress reduction.

Supports healthy relationships at work and home.

What is so fragile that if you speak of it,

it breaks?

Silence

Promotes academic performance.

Strengthens attention and concentration.

Reduces anxiety before testing.

Supports "readiness to learn."

For Students

Promotes

self-reflection

and

self-calming.

For You & Your Students

Consider starting a mindfulness

group

Supports holistic well-being.

Support

Mindfulness

Improves classroom participation by supporting impulse control.

Fosters pro-social behaviors and healthy relationships.

Provides tools to reduce stress.

Enhances social and emotional learning.

• Support each other's practice

• Support mindful teaching

• Explore programmatic initiatives

Much of the content in this presentation has been adapted from

Mindful Teaching and Teaching Mindfulness

by Deborah Schoeberlein.

We highly recommend this book.

Please note:

• Best time

• Posture

• Set a timer.

• Turn off phone, TV, radio. Put aside your to-do list.

• Take five minutes to sit still, by yourself, in a quiet, comfortable, and private place.

Prep

• Return your attention to the breath.

• Notice when you lose awareness of the breath and start thinking about something else.

• Moment of Silence
• Roll Call
• Journaling
• Kindness Reflections
• Many more...

• Breathe normally, paying attention to the feeling of the breath.

Practice

• At month's end, assess the preliminary results of your experiment.

• Try to extend your heightened awareness of mindfulness into your professional activities.

Mindful Breathing (For Teachers)

• That's just twenty-five minutes a week with weekends off.

• Take 5 every school day morning for a month.

One Month Experiment

Take 5

Other Techniques

You set your intentions based on understanding what matters most to you and make a commitment to align your worldly actions with your inner values.

Phillip Moffitt

Finding a riddle's solution requires students to find the balance between focusing their attention and expanding their awareness.

Riddles

Setting Intentions

Formula:

If I were a ———, this object would ———.

• Return your awareness slowly to the classroom when you hear the sound marking the end of practice.

• Bring your attention back to the breath.

• Notice when you lose awareness of the breath and start thinking about something else.

• Journaling
• Kindness Reflections
• Many more...

• Breathe normally, paying attention to the breath.

for you

• Switch your attention to noticing your breath.

• Listen to the sound until it softens into silence.

Mindful Breathing (For Students)

Other Techniques

Take 1

Techniques

for teaching students

Techniques

Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Faculty Development • 2012-2017