Hello from guest blogger, Lisa Robinson! This week is my second one in the program presented in “Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World” by Mark Williams and Danny Penman. I’m repeating the first week in the 8-week program because I lost my momentum during the July 4th holiday weekend. I want to spend more time with the week one content and really incorporate it into my everyday experience.
I want to share with you a wonderful meditation from the program that I’m doing twice each day, the Mindfulness of the Body and Breath meditation. It’s a great start and end to my day, and helps me stay focused on the present. Here’s a link so you can experience it, too:
What about Social and Emotional Learning?
Mindfulness takes us back to social and emotional learning, or SEL. In her work through The Hawn Foundation, Goldie Hawn (yes, the famous actor and celebrity) has collaborated with Scholastic to offer the MindUP curriculum for children.
In the book, “The MindUp Curriculum: Brain-Focused Strategies for Learning – and Living (Grades 6 – 8), one of the lessons has to do with mindful awareness. Other curriculum guides are available for Grades Pre-K – 2 and for Grades 3 – 5. Students learn how to use the concept of what is mindful and unmindful to understand their own thoughts and take appropriate actions. They find out about the importance of mindful awareness through lesson activities that help them understand the purpose, connect to learning, and experience more application that helps them to extend the lesson. This method continues throughout the curriculum.
To learn more about this important work, go to The Hawn Foundation here: https://thehawnfoundation.org/. Many resources will provide you with more information. The book I referred to above can also be purchased on the site here: https://thehawnfoundation.org/mindup/mindup-products/ or on www.amazon.com . If you are a teacher or a parent, or work with children, you may be interested in learning more about this curriculum and how it can help children improve their SEL skills.
Please let me know if you try the meditation above and what you think of it. If you’re reading the Mindfulness book and working on the 8-week plan, I’d also like to hear about your experience. If you have feedback or questions about any of these topics, please either comment here or contact me directly at mindfulpath@outlook.com .
I look forward to sharing more ideas and resources in my next post. I hope you enjoy a mindful week!
