While we’re busy juggling work from home, our minds can be playing on a loop of endless babble of worry.  Now, may I ask you for a moment to try to forget all of that. Breathe in and out a few times. If your mind wanders, just notice that and refocus on your breathing. That’s a bare-bone example of mindfulness.

Scholars have recently explored an emerging phenomenon that exists in different classrooms where teachers use loving-kindness, compassion, and inner peace strategies. Interestingly, mindfulness fosters these attributes. Rooted in Buddhist traditions of meditation and breathing, mindfulness is a skill that involves making a special effort to notice what’s happening in the present moment in your mind, body, and surroundings. The practices of mindfulness include explicit attentional training. Students are guided in exercises to anchor attention to simple bodily processes, such as engaging in sitting, moving, and body-scanning meditations along with relaxation exercises.

Pressure on academic performance has continued to grow over time; at the same time, teachers are facing increasing pressure to support children’s emotional needs.  Teachers are increasingly expected to be more keenly aware of their students’ social-emotional development and to have effective methods for dealing with social-emotional challenges. Many educators are recognizing significant limitations in current practice and looking for novel approaches. Opportunely, evidence-based researches have suggested that proper implementation of mindfulness practices may equip students with skills and strategies to manage stressors, thereby performing more successfully. In this way, mindfulness practices may be a relatively simple tool to support teachers in meeting the redesigned curriculum requirements.

By: Mary Myra M. Tacazon | Teacher I | Kalalake Elementary School