A previous version of this article was published in Collage: Colorado’s Magazine for Art Educators in Fall 2019. 

Integrating mindfulness into daily routines expands children’s capacities to engage, focus, stabilize emotions, build resilience, maintain a positive outlook, and more.[1]

Let’s integrate mindfulness into our teaching and parenting culture, too. We can increase all of these capacities FOR OURSELVES, THE TEACHERS + PARENTS, thereby bolstering our capacities to practice mindfulness with children.

Children and students mirror the wellness of their parents and teachers. We cannot sustainably or meaningfully support our children in cultivating mindfulness without cultivating mindfulness in ourselves first.

I invite you to PLAY with the following Mindful Moment Ideas. Tweak them so they work for YOU. Practice them with your children and students. Create a Mindful Parent or Teacher Group!

Mindful Moment Ideas:

1. Find QUIET, during your commute, while preparing for the day, etc.

2. Take DEEP BREATHS. Notice your breath going in and out.

3. SET INTENTIONS. What do you want to accomplish? How do you want your day or class to go? How do you want to feel?

4. REFLECT. Check-in with yourself and your intentions often.

5. GET CURIOUS. QUESTION & INVESTIGATE. Did you meet your intentions? If yes, why? If not, why not? Try reflecting without judgment. We’re all doing the best we can, and everything is a practice.

6. DEEPLY OBSERVE (without judgment). For example, you could deeply observe and wonder about:

• Your emotions. How are you feeling and why?

• How you react when your children or students challenge you?

• Your body. Where are you tense and why?  Could you breathe relaxation into that tension? Could you do simple, helpful movements, such as rotating your neck from side-to-side, relaxing your jaw, or rolling your shoulders?

• A child’s work.

• One child each day.

• Your home/classroom/office. How could it function and feel better?

• Your tone, facial expressions, and word choices.

7. JOURNAL. Even a few words of reflection will help you process and evolve.

8. CREATE REMINDERS. Place an object in your home/classroom/office that reminds you to pause, breathe, set an intention, stretch, etc.

9. PRACTICE GRATITUDE. What sparks a smile or sense of gratitude from your day? Keep a running list and read it when you need a boost.

10. MOVEMENT Integrate some movement into your day, such as extra steps, taking the stairs, stretching, going for a walk, yoga. Movement helps us to process our thoughts and emotions more quickly and easily. Move your body, move your mind.

INSERT YOUR IDEAS HERE!

Thank you for reading. I am grateful for the wonders that are the parent and teacher.

To Many Mindful Moments,

Sara Hiris

[1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271904180_The_positive_effects_of_mindfulness_on_self-esteem; https://www.mindfulschools.org/about-mindfulness/research-on-mindfulness/