Social and Emotional Learning

Hello from guest blogger, Lisa Robinson!  This week presents a great opportunity to find more synergies between mindfulness practiced intentionally by adults and mindfulness as experienced by children in school as part of social and emotional learning (SEL) exercises. Mindfulness Program I’m continuing to work through the program in “Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World” by Mark Williams and Danny Penman.  In ‘Mindfulness Week Two: Keeping the Body in Mind,’ the meditation is a body scan.  By experiencing this, you can learn to pay attention to your body, identify messages your body is sending you about anxiety and stress, and enhance your awareness by carefully scanning all areas of the body. I have been really enjoying this mindfulness program.  I really think that it’s helped me to be more centered and calm, which has resulted in being more present instead of focusing on the past or the future. Meditation Resources If you’re interested in exploring some free meditation resources, try this link from UCLA Mindful Awareness Resource Center. https://marc.ucla.edu/body.cfm?id=22 Yoga Enhances Mindfulness I have found that starting a yoga practice along with mindfulness makes my whole experience even more rich.  Although I took some yoga classes in the past, it was so long ago that for all practical purposes, I’m a beginner again.  I’ve been working with some recorded content for beginners; this has helped me to stretch my muscles, tone them, and to relax