BE calm.

BE kind.

BE project.

Note: This is an abbreviated version of the BE project curriculum. Full versions will be shared with any school or district that has undergone a BE project staff training.

Neuroscientists believe that humans have between 50,000 and 70,000 thought a day. That’s a lot of thinking! And the vast majority of those thoughts find us time traveling mentally; we are physically in one place, but mentally checked out. We either rehash (worry about something that has already happened, playing it over in our minds on loop) or rehearse (plan and worry about things that may – or may not – happen in the future). Those same scientists suggest humans are only paying attention to the present moment about half the time (a Harvard study found we are mindful about 47% of our waking time.

Mindfulness to the rescue! Mindfulness is paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment and without judgment. The cornerstone of The BE Project is the mindful minute, or a single minute of mindful breathing, offered consistently in your classroom each day. This practice supports growth in the Four Pillars defined below. Our values filter up through the Four Pillars to impact our being. By reinforcing values such as hope, dignity, optimism, gratitude and empathy, we support a healthy community.

The Four Pillars of the BE Project

THE BRAIN

By learning how our brains respond to stress, we use mindful breathing to quiet down the amygdala and activate the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex.

DEVELOPING AWARENESS

Mindful breathing fosters emotional and social competence, bolstering both our relationship with others as well as our relationship to ourselves. This leads to emotional self-regulation and empathy.

FINDING FOCUS

We can prime our brain for calm, clear decision-making using mindful breathing. This also sets the stage for long-term memory learning.

CULTIVATING RESILIENCE

When we connect to the breath, we connect to the present moment. Neuroscience tells us that feelings of hope, gratitude and acceptance can only be experienced in the present moment. In this way, a mindful breathing practice leads to more resilient students and staff.

PROGRAM DESIGN

Trauma

The amygdala is designed to solely be concerned with our survival. The amygdala loves consistency but is triggered by unpredictability and the feeling of helplessness. Childhood, by definition, is a relative state of helplessness. When the amygdala is triggered, memories become stored in the limbic region rather than in the cortex, and everyday triggers of those memories can set off the smoke alarm in our brains. In extreme cases, recurring trauma can become PTSD and can cause our amygdala to become jammed, causing us to live in a constant state of alarm. The BE Project is universally designed to work effectively in all who adopt the practice, including those in trauma, by offering empowerment through awareness, safety through consistency and the choice to practice at all.

Social Emotional Learning

“Learning is possible only after students’ social, emotional and physical needs have been met. When those needs are met, students are more likely to succeed in school.”

~Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development Task Force (2002)

The BE Project believes that the best schools have a systematic framework for promoting students’ social and emotional development to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.

Find out more about SEL at https://casel.org/

THE BRAIN

What exactly IS mindfulness?

Understanding How Breathing Affects Our Brains and Bodies

Mindfulness is paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment and without judgment. We observe our emotions, our thoughts and our surroundings in a nonjudgmental way. We apply this same focus of attention to situations both good and bad. Mindfulness cultivates focus, emotional regulation, body regulation, empathy and kindness, even when we’re under stress.

We call it a practice because no one will ever master it. There is no wrong way to practice mindfulness. As a teacher introducing mindfulness in the classroom, you may notice students responding with skepticism, nervousness, apprehension, passive observation or rejection of the practices. If given the freedom to choose, eventually most students will become curious and try. All of these responses are ok!

As teachers, you may notice that these responses evoke in you feelings of judgment, frustration, fear, anger or desire for control. Cultivate the following four characteristics to stay mindful yourself.

A mindfulness practice requires:

Consistency

Acceptance

Non-Judgment

Curiosity

Mindfulness lengthens the space between a knee-jerk reaction and a mindful response. It describes a neural process, a state of being for your nervous system.

The Mindful Brain

Let’s talk about our amazing brains. This wrinkly organ only weighs a few pounds, but it’s faster than the fastest computer on earth! The brain houses billions of microscopic cells called neurons that communicate with the body.In your brain, there are three major mindfulness players:

The amygdala (our “smoke alarm”)
The prefrontal cortex (the “smart one”)
The hippocampus (our “librarian”)

The amygdala, an important part of the limbic system, classifies sensory input as either pleasurable or threatening. Think of it as the brain’s smoke alarm. It is connected to the fight, flight, freeze, or fold stress response of the body. Call to mind our ancestors being chased by bears; the amygdala fired and the resulting adrenaline gave our forefathers the strength and endurance to get away. The problem arises from the fact that we live our current lives under chronic stress, constantly firing this part of the brain. Further, The amygdala isn’t great at discerning the difference between real danger and a minor stressor. So our smoke alarm goes off, even when there’s no fire!

The amygdala looks like two almonds deep in the center of the brain. So when we say, “I feel nuts“, you know you’re in the amygdala! The amygdala is reactive; if we are overly excited or under stress, the amygdala prevents neural information from getting to the prefrontal correct, the part of the brain responsible for rational thought. If the amygdala is too involved, the result is poor judgment and knee-jerk reactions. When we are calm and focused, the amygdala gets quiet and passes along information so that we can think and reason.

Did you know that a consistent mindfulness practice actually shrinks the amygdala and grows the gray matter in the prefrontal cortex? We empower staff and students when we understand neuroplasticity!

The prefrontal cortex is the brain’s thinking center. Think of it as the smart one. This is where we learn, analyze and comprehend. When we are firing in our prefrontal cortex, we are being mindful, intentional, and present. Now we also form opinions here, which can get us worked up emotionally. But basically, it’s in the prefrontal cortex that we make higher-level, reflective, and rational decisions. But it can only do if its job if it’s getting reliable sensory information-sights, sounds, smells, tastes, movements and feelings-from the amygdala. So we must deactivate the amygdala to make good decisions.

Finally, the hippocampus is the gray matter’s librarian that stores and retrieves all the information in your memories. The hippocampus is another part of the limbic system. It stores and processes memories that the prefrontal context thinks are important. But, again, if the amygdala is firing, then the hippocampus cannot store or retrieve memories with confidence. This can leave us as unreliable witnesses to an event, misremembering what was said and by whom.

And the easiest way to calm the amygdala? A minute of deep, mindful breathing. A mindful minute reboots the nervous system to a place of focus and calm, and allows the brain to stay rational and intentional. It’s a coping mechanism for stressful situations. When we learn to control the breath, we learn to manage our emotions and harness the learning capacity of the brain.

How Breathing Affects the Brain

You’ve probably told your students “just take a deep breath” a million times, and maybe noticed that actually taking the time to take a deep breath helps you feel calmer. Intuitively, we understand that the breath is the brain’s remote control. Deep breaths send oxygen-rich blood to the brain, deactivating the amygdala.

Breathe through your nose and down into your belly.

When we breathe through our nose, we create a neurotransmitter called Nitric Oxide that dilates the blood vessels in the body to move more oxygen to the brain. Breathing in our nose, instead of our mouth, allows us to breathe more deeply as well. When we breathe through our mouths, adults inhale about a pint of air. But when we take a deep nasal breath, many of us can inhale up to a gallon of air!

When we inhale, we should feel our bellies slightly expand like a balloon. The lower lungs are rich in parasympathetic receptors associated with a calm and focused body. Chest and mouth breathing often triggers the fight or flight response, because the breath stays too far up in the chest, where the ribcage prevents full expansion.

Kids are not great at abstract thinking, so the breath is the perfect anchor for awareness because it’s universally accessible. Everyone breathes and can connect to their breath at any point they choose.

Other Key Points to Understand:

Limbic System

The limbic system, or emotional center of the brain, is comprised of the amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (as well as the thalamus, hypothalamus, basal ganglia, and cingulate gyrus). When the amygdala is triggered, it causes the hippocampus to stop storing memories in our long-term storage and begins pumping the stress hormone, cortisol, into our brain. The result is that we stop taking in new information and cannot access the higher-order thinking skills in our prefrontal cortex.

Cortisol

When we feel stressed, the stress hormone cortisol is released in the brain. Cortisol prevents us from retrieving information from the prefrontal cortex, with all of our information coming from the hippocampus instead. As a result of this, the only memories retrieved are those associated with the particular emotion or situation causing the stress. This reaction reinforces our negative perception of events and prevents us from taking in and processing new information using reason and logic.

Mindful breathing can reduce the size of the amygdala and reduce the amount of cortisol in the brain. Practicing mindfulness by engaging positive memories helps us to reduce cortisol levels while increasing dopamine, a hormone that leaves us feeling hopeful and motivated.

Sensory Overload

The RAS, or Reticular Activating System, is a bundle of nerve fibers within the Central Nervous System (CNS). The RAS is a portal through which almost all information passes to get to the brain. Mindfulness practices engage the RAS, allowing us to filter out unnecessary information (in order to make the best decisions), react more appropriately and perform tasks with higher precision.

DEVELOPING AWARENESS

Consistent practice of the mindful minute is the best way to cultivate self-awareness in students. Self-awareness is a precursor to empathy and compassionate communication. We must have self-awareness first before we can have awareness of others.

The Mindful Minute

Remember that the foundation of The BE Project is the Mindful Minute. We suggest starting each day with a Mindful Minute, then use additionally during times your class needs to settle and focus. Breathe through the nose and into the belly.

Remember that consistency is key! A consistent mindfulness practice will train the brain to feel safe. When the brain feels safe, you can bet you’re firing in the cortex and not the amygdala. Over time, the practice will shrink the amygdala and thicken the cortex.

Teachers can start with this script, then let the words come naturally when they feel confident or adjust slightly for the appropriate age of their students.

Sit up tall in your chair and place your feet on the floor. Rest your hands on your knees. Close your eyes or rest your gaze gently on the floor.

(Short Pause)

Now notice your breath. Try to breathe in and out of your nose. Breathe in….this is the inhale. The belly will fill up like a balloon. Breath out….this is the exhale. The belly will move back toward your spine, like letting the air out the balloon.

(Short Pause).

Keep breathing like this. Let your breath be soft and relaxed. If you start thinking about other things, it doesn’t matter. Just come back to watching your breath come and go. That’s it.

(Short Pause, then ring chime)

Continue in this way for at least one minute.

You could ask the students to describe how they feel or why they think deep breaths help us feel calm and focused (slows blood flow, slows heart rate, slows neural firing in brain, allows us to focus on one thing, etc.) Keep referring to the three major mindfulness players in the brain.

Other Mindful Minute Exercises for the Classroom

Square Breathing to cultivate calm

As you breathe, draw a square on one palm with the finger of your opposite hand. Breathe in slowly through your nose as you draw the first line of your square. Breathe out slowly through your nose or mouth as you draw the second line of your square. Breathe in slowly again as you draw the third line. Breathe out slowly as you draw your last line, connecting your square. Practice several rounds of square breathing. Notice and discuss how you feel. You can also visualize your square in your mind, trace a sticky note on your desk, or use mindful movement to walk a square taped on the floor.

Hoberman Ball Breath to cultivate awareness

The breathing ball (also known as the Hoberman Sphere) is a great prop for a mindful classroom. You open and close the ball, and your class breathes to match the pace of the movement. Make sure that you’re choosing an appropriate pace for the age and lung capacity of your students (it’s easy to forget that children breathe faster because their lungs are smaller).

Counting the Breath to cultivate focus

On the inhale, silently count one. On the exhale, count two. The next inhale is three and the next exhale is four. Count all the way to ten, then start again. If you lose your place, just start over. No worries. If you don’t get to ten, it doesn’t matter. Practice for 1-2 minutes and then discuss how you feel.

Pinwheel Breath to cultivate awareness

Blow on a pinwheel to notice how different kinds of breathing affects how our bodies and minds feel. Use deep belly breaths to blow on your pinwheel. Now blow on the pinwheel using short, quick breaths. Now blow on the pinwheels normally. Which kind of breathing made you feel the most calm and focused?

Candle Breath to cultivate lung strength

Inhale deeply through the nose, then exhale through the mouth in a long, steady stream, as if blowing out a candle. Younger students might enjoy holding up a finger as their “candle”. Over time, this strengthens the respiratory system.

Back to Back Breath to cultivate body awareness

Start by sitting on the floor, back to back with a friend. It doesn’t matter what shape your legs make. Eyes may remain open or closed. As you breathe through the nose and into the belly, first see if you can notice the sensations of your breath. After a few rounds, see if you can now feel or hear your friend’s breath. You don’t have to breathe in sync, but it’s fine if you notice that happens naturally.

Buddy Breath to cultivate a personal practice

This is performed lying down, with a small stuffed animal (or hand) on the belly. Notice the movement of the buddy or hand as you breathe. Refer back to the Animal Brain activity! You (and your students) can practice this at school, but also at home.

Energizing Breath to cultivate energy

For this breath, we’ll breath in through the nose, but out through the mouth. On the inhale, take four small, quick sniffs of air through the nose, then open the mouth and breathe out ahhhhhh in one lone, forceful breath. The pattern is sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, ahhhhh…sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, ahhhhh… sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, ahhhhh. Take ten rounds of the energizing breath and then allow the breath to move back into a more natural rhythm. Notice how alert you feel!

Sound

Sound is a great anchor to the present moment. When used consistently, it hacks the brain by bypassing the limbic system (where the amygdala lives), into the prefrontal cortex to create a focused, attentive brain. We suggest using a bell or chime to start and end your mindful minute. The chime interests students (invariably, most children will want a turn at ringing it). If you introduce it with respect, your students will pick up on your respect for this practice and will have respect for it themselves.

Basic Mindful Listening
Do this with eyes open or closed. Try it with eyes open at first, then do it again, explaining that if we close our eyes, we might hear the chime better.

Remember that closing eyes for any mindfulness practice is always a choice.

I’m going to ring the chime. Listen to the sound it makes until you can’t hear it anymore. When the sound stops, raise one finger (or open your eyes).

Counting Breaths with the Chime
Ring the chime with enthusiasm, so the note is sustained long enough to take a few breaths.

I’m going to ring the chime. Count how many breaths you take before it stops ringing. Breathe in and say in your head one. Then breathe out and say in your head two. Keep counting and breathing until you no longer hear the chime.

How many breaths did you take? Does the number change after you repeat this a few times?

Mindful Movement with the Chime

This works indoors or out.

Slowly walk around the room. When you hear the chime, stop and take three slow breaths. Can you feel your feet on the floor or the earth? After three deep breaths, start moving again. Every time you hear the chime, stop and take three slow breaths.

Mind Jar

Use a mind jar to demonstrate how intentional focus leaves us feeling calm. Scientists believe humans have between 35 and 48 thoughts per minute, per person.

Imagine those thoughts as the glitter in the jar. When you shake it, the glitter thoughts swirl and cloud the jar. But then you allow the jar to still, and the glitter drifts to the bottom. Eventually, the glitter will totally settle. But it’s still in the jar, just like our thoughts. Your thoughts are still in your head, but they’ve settled a bit so you can focus. Mindful breathing isn’t about clearing your mind completely, because that will never happen.

Want to make mind jars for your classroom? Grab some cheap plastic bottles with lids. Fill with hot water and glitter glue. Then hot glue the lid on tightly and voila!

Find a comfortable seat and shake your mind jar. See if you can follow just one piece of glitter as it drifts downward in your jar. Be aware of your breath as you watch the “storm” (turbulence) in the jar calming itself. If you lose track of your little piece of glitter, simply find another to watch. As you watch the glitter settle, let your mind settle itself too.

Body Scan

The body is a great mental anchor for the present moment. The body scan is a mindfulness practice in which we non-judgmentally notice, in turn, the physical sensations occurring in each of our body parts. We aren’t trying to change our bodies in any way; we are simply paying attention to how they feel in this particular moment. Some places may feel relaxed, others may feel tense and some places may give us no feeling at all. Remember that you are simply trying to pay attention to what your experience is right now. The mind may wander off into stories or memories; this is fine. Each time that you notice that it has happened, simply bring your mind gently back to body and to the practice.

Here’s a script you can use to get started:

Begin by lying down comfortably on your back or sitting with your back tall and your feet flat on the floor. Allow your eyes to close, or turn your gaze toward the floor. This is a safe place to feel comfortable. Now feel your breath coming into and out of the body. Where do you feel your breath in your body? There is no right or wrong answer; just notice where you feel your breath right now.

Now, notice your feet. What sensations do you feel in your feet? Notice all the parts of your feet: the toes, the bottom of the foot, the heel, the top of the foot, the ankles. Remember, you aren’t trying to make anything special happen. Just notice what you feel, notice if it changes and notice if there are any blank spots. Just notice.

Now, let go of your feet and notice your legs. Notice all the parts of your legs: the shins, the calves, the knees, the thighs and even up into the hips. Just notice what you feel and where you feel it.

Now, let go of the hips and legs and notice the belly. What do you feel in your stomach? What do you feel in your back? What do you feel in your shoulders? What do you feel in your throat? Try not to use words to label what you feel; rather, just be with the feeling itself. Remember, there is no need to judge your experience. These sensations are not good or bad…they just are.

Now, let go of the belly and notice your arms and hands. Notice how each part of your arms and hands feels right now. Notice the sensation of your clothing on your arms. Notice the sensation of anything the arms and hands may be resting on. Notice the sensations in all parts of the arms.

Now begin to notice your face and head. Notice the front and back of the neck. Notice your mouth and jaw. Notice your eyes and the space between the eyes. Notice the top of the head. And the back of the head. Has your mind wandered away? If so, that’s fine. Gently come back to noticing your face and head.

Now, feel your entire body, together and whole. Notice the breath coming into and out of the body. Just rest here for a few more moments, breathing and noticing any feelings that arise and fall away in your whole body.

Take a few moments to end this practice by gently wiggling your fingers and toes and then blinking your eyes open.

RESILIENCE

Resilient people are hopeful, grateful and practice critical thinking in an intentional way. Resilience pushes you to grow through adversity and trauma, and can be cultivated using mindfulness practices. It is imperative to have the capacity to stay mindful in times of great stress and anxiety. The ability to accept responsibility, sustain motivation and let go of numbing behaviors towards pain are the skills and emotional practice we need to lean into discomfort. These mindfulness practices create space between perception and reaction, allowing for an Sound of the dangers of numbing or not taking responsibility for difficult emotions as we develop the ability to move through challenging experiences.

Think of mindfulness as a directive to Pay Attention. For the things we hope and dream to happen, paying attention is an essential requirement. Often when things do not go well, it is because we were not paying attention to what we were doing, saying or thinking. When difficulties or difficult emotions wash over us, our bodies react with our natural instincts to avoid discomfort. Mindfulness is paying attention to what we are doing, saying and thinking during times of stress or anxiety. When we pay attention, we can better take responsibility for what is happening and stay motivated to move toward what we want for ourselves.

Mindful Breathing Activity

Square Breath

The next time you experience a difficult emotion, say to yourself “pay attention” and practice the square breath to intentional attention. As you breathe, draw a square on one palm with the finger of your opposite hand. Breathe in slowly through your nose as you draw the first line of your square. Breathe out slowly through your nose or mouth as you draw the second line of your square. Breathe in slowly again as you draw the third line. Breathe out slowly as you draw your last line, connecting your square. Practice several rounds of square breathing. Notice and discuss how you feel. You can also visualize your square in your mind, trace a sticky note on your desk, or use mindful movement to walk a square taped on the floor.

Then set a time (one minute, one hour, the rest of the school day, etc) and pay attention to what you are doing, saying or thinking before you take action.

Attitude of Gratitude

Gratitude ignites positive effects in the brain and body. When we practice gratitude, the parasympathetic part of our brain engages, calming our nervous system. The antidepressant Wellbutrin stimulates the production of dopamine in your gray matter. But so does saying thanks; when practicing gratitude, an area of our brain stem releases dopamine. Dopamine is a critical factor in engaging feelings of motivation. This encourages a brain ready to learn.

Ditto for the antidepressant Prozac, which stimulates the production of serotonin. When we are actively being thankful, our anterior cingulate cortex releases more serotonin. More gratitude equals more of these neurotransmitters. More neurotransmitters mean more contentment.

Gratitude is mindful when we practice it as a way of thinking that acknowledges our connection to others and ourselves in a compassionate way. Gratitude is one of the easiest ways to feel happier. The word happy comes from an Old Norse word meaning lucky. This is a misnomer because happiness isn’t about luck. It’s a skill and one that can be cultivated. When people report feeling happy, their brains are releasing dopamine and serotonin. So it stands to reason that adopting practices that also cause the brain to release these hormones will leave us feeling more satisfied with our lives.

Gratitude Journal

Write or draw the things for which you are grateful. Be mindful to share things that will resonate with students from all walks of life.

Lesson Plan Options: Gratitude Journal

Choose a consistent time to practice each day. Remember that in mindfulness practices, consistency is key. (Perhaps after lunch or before leaving school for the day, etc.).
Ask each student to write a list of five things (or more) about that day for which they are grateful. Ask that one of the five things involve another person.
Set an age-appropriate length of time to keep the journal (one week, two weeks, the entire semester).
Know that some days there will be exciting things to write down whereas other days will just be simple joys.

Dealing With Difficult Emotions

5, 4, 3, 2, 1

This is a grounding exercise that will help students cope in times of stress. It takes you through your five senses to help ground you in the present.

Take a deep breath and close your eyes or gaze downward. Now tell me 5 things you hear.

Open your eyes and tell me 5 things you see.

Tell me 5 things you feel.

Great. Now take a deep breath and close your eyes or gaze downward. Tell me 4 things you hear….

Continue until you’ve counted down to one. Younger students might start with 3 instead of 5.

SHARED LANGUAGE

Acceptance: A state of being in non-judgmental acknowledgement of the moment.

Amygdala: Part of the limbic system that encodes emotional messages in the brain. Considered the smoke alarm of the brain.

Awareness: A state of being consciously mindful.

Body Scan: To be aware of the different parts of your body and allow yourself to experience how each part feels without judgment.

Consistency: Steadfast adherence to a mindfulness practice.

Compassion: A feeling of sympathy for someone’s misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.

Cortisol: A steroid hormone associated with stress.

Curiosity: An inquisitive desire to learn or know about a moment.

Deep Breathing: Belly breathing with mindful attention. This is the foundational practice of The Be Project.

Empathy: The vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts or attitudes of another person.

Focus: The ability to concentrate on a single thing.

Gratitude: The feeling of being thankful.

Hippocampus: The part of the brain where memories are stored and retrieved. The hippocampus is also part of the limbic system. Think of it as the librarian.

Hope: The feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best.

Limbic System: A collection of brain structures that control emotions and behavior.

Locus of Control: The idea that we have control over our lives and can influence events and their outcomes.

Mindfulness: A state where one focuses their full attention only on the present, experiencing thoughts, feelings and sensations but not judging them.

Mirror Neuron: A neuron that fires both when a person acts and when the observer performs the same action. Thus, the neuron “mirrors” the behavior of the other, as though the observer were itself acting. Connected to feelings of empathy.

Neuron: Brain cell.

Neurosculpting: The brain’s ability to restructure its neural network based on new information.

Optimism: A tendency to look on the more favorable side of events and expect the best outcome.

Prefrontal Cortex: A part of the brain used in higher-level reasoning, decision-making and cognition. Our brain’s thinking center or the smart one.

Radical Acceptance: Acknowledging and accepting your current reality (but remember that acceptance is not the same as approval).

Resilience: The emotional ability to recover quickly from problems.

Self-Talk: What we say to ourselves (out loud or silently) as we go about our day.

Trauma: An experience that produces psychological injury or pain.

BE calm.

BE kind.

BE project.

@BEprojectky

The Four Pillars of the BE Project:

THE BRAIN

By learning how our brains respond to stress, we use mindful breathing to quiet down the amygdala and activate the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex.

DEVELOPING AWARENESS

Mindful breathing fosters emotional and social competence, bolstering both our relationship with others as well as our relationship to ourselves. This leads to emotional self-regulation and empathy.

FINDING FOCUS

We can prime our brain for calm, clear decision-making using mindful breathing. This also sets the stage for long-term memory learning.

CULTIVATING RESILIENCE

PROGRAM DESIGN

Trauma

Social Emotional Learning

“Learning is possible only after students’ social, emotional and physical needs have been met. When those needs are met, students are more likely to succeed in school.”

~Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development Task Force (2002)

Find out more about SEL at https://casel.org/

THE BRAIN

What exactly IS mindfulness?

Understanding How Breathing Affects Our Brains and Bodies

A mindfulness practice requires:

Consistency

Acceptance

Non-Judgment

Curiosity

Mindfulness lengthens the space between a knee-jerk reaction and a mindful response. It describes a neural process, a state of being for your nervous system.

The Mindful Brain

In your brain, there are three major mindfulness players:

The amygdala (our “smoke alarm”)
The prefrontal cortex (the “smart one”)
The hippocampus (our “librarian”)

How Breathing Affects the Brain

Breathe through your nose and down into your belly.

Other Key Points to Understand:

Limbic System

Cortisol

Sensory Overload

Mindfulness Activities for Teachers

Know the Parts of the Brain

Label the parts of the brain and discuss their functions.

The amygdala (our “smoke alarm”)

The prefrontal cortex (the “smart one”)

The hippocampus (our “librarian”)

The Animals In Your Brain

Hold up your fist and tell your students, “This is your animal brain” (notice how your fist looks like a brain)! The wrist represents the brain stem, which controls the flow of messages between the brain and the rest of your body. The knuckles of the hand represent the prefrontal cortex, or the smart one. If you open the hand, the thumb represents the amygdala, or animal brain. You can no longer see (or access) your thinking center.

When an animal senses danger, what does he do?

He can run. (flee)

He can hide. (freeze)

He can fight. (fight)

He can totally shut down. (fold)

These reactions represent a firing amygdala. The take-away? When my animal brain senses danger, I can’t think.

So how do we calm the animal brain down? Mindful breathing (you knew that one)! If the animal brain feels safe, he’ll just rest quietly inside the brain, allowing us to think, reason and remember.

You can also use your thumb to represent the animal brain (see photos below).

Another Way to Tell the Story (Perfect for Younger Students)

You’ll need an owl, elephant and dog puppet or stuffed animal for this activity. Here’s a script:

Deep in the center of our brain is the amygdala. It acts like a Guard Dog that keeps us safe from dangers. Guard Dog might hide, or run or fight, depending on the situation. For example, if it starts to storm, Guard Dog runs to get away form the lightning. If it sees a snake, it gets still until the snake slithers past. If that snake strikes at Guard Dog, he can fight to protect himself.

But Guard Dog isn’t very well trained. He sometimes barks to warn us about things that aren’t really dangerous, like worries. Sometimes he barks because we are too excited, tired or hungry.

When Guard Dog barks loudly about things that really aren’t dangerous, it’s hard for the other parts of the brain to work – especially the hippocampus. The hippocampus is Memory Elephant. Have you ever heard someone say that an elephant never forgets? Memory Elephant has great big ears to hear and help us remember things. The elephant in our brain remembers how to ride a bike and all the words to our favourite song.

But Memory Elephant does NOT like it when Guard Dog barks! If Guard Dog is barking, Memory Elephant gets scared and confused. He trembles when he’s scared and then we forget all the important stuff we are trying to remember.

But Memory Elephant has a best friend named Wise Owl. Wise Owl is the prefrontal cortex in our brain, the smartest part of our brain. Wise Owl helps us do things like think, reason, focus, solve math problems, make friends and understand what we’re reading.

Wise Owl has another important job. It’s his job to calm down Guard Dog when he’s barking for no reason.

We wake up Wise Owl with a Mindful Minute. When we breathe mindfully for a minute or two, Wise Owl opens her big eyes. She sees that Guard Dog is not barking about anything really dangerous. She spreads her beautiful soft wings and strokes the Guard Dog so he calms down and stops barking. Wise Owl strokes Memory Elephant’s trunk so he calms down too. Then Memory Elephant can open up its listening ears and remember everything he has learned.

Buddy Breathing

This is performed lying down, with legs bent and feet resting on the floor. Place your animal buddy (or hand) on the belly. Notice the movement of the buddy or hand as you breathe. Your animal buddy rises as you breathe in and falls as you breathe out. It only takes a minute or two of breathing in this way to calm our animal brain down!

This is a great practice to use both at school and at home. Remind kids that belly breathing is available to them anytime their animal brain feels scared, worried or angry!

DEVELOPING AWARENESS

The Mindful Minute

Teachers can start with this script, then let the words come naturally when they feel confident or adjust slightly for the appropriate age of their students.

Sit up tall in your chair and place your feet on the floor. Rest your hands on your knees. Close your eyes or rest your gaze gently on the floor.

(Short Pause)

(Short Pause).

Keep breathing like this. Let your breath be soft and relaxed. If you start thinking about other things, it doesn’t matter. Just come back to watching your breath come and go. That’s it.

(Short Pause, then ring chime)

Continue in this way for at least one minute.

Other Mindful Minute Exercises for the Classroom

Square Breathing to cultivate calm

Hoberman Ball Breath to cultivate awareness

Counting the Breath to cultivate focus

Pinwheel Breath to cultivate awareness

Candle Breath to cultivate lung strength

Back to Back Breath to cultivate body awareness

Buddy Breath to cultivate a personal practice

Energizing Breath to cultivate energy

For this breath, we’ll breath in through the nose, but out through the mouth. On the inhale, take four small, quick sniffs of air through the nose, then open the mouth and breathe out ahhhhhh in one lone, forceful breath. The pattern is sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, ahhhhh… sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, ahhhhh… sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, ahhhhh. Take ten rounds of the energizing breath and then allow the breath to move back into a more natural rhythm. Notice how alert you feel!

Sound

Basic Mindful Listening
Do this with eyes open or closed. Try it with eyes open at first, then do it again, explaining that if we close our eyes, we might hear the chime better.

Remember that closing eyes for any mindfulness practice is always a choice.

I’m going to ring the chime. Listen to the sound it makes until you can’t hear it anymore. When the sound stops, raise one finger (or open your eyes).

Counting Breaths with the Chime
Ring the chime with enthusiasm, so the note is sustained long enough to take a few breaths.

How many breaths did you take? Does the number change after you repeat this a few times?

Mindful Movement with the Chime

This works indoors or out.

Mind Jar

Use a mind jar to demonstrate how intentional focus leaves us feeling calm. Scientists believe humans have between 35 and 48 thoughts per minute, per person.

Want to make mind jars for your classroom? Grab some cheap plastic bottles with lids. Fill with hot water and glitter glue. Then hot glue the lid on tightly and voila!

Body Scan

Here’s a script you can use to get started:

Take a few moments to end this practice by gently wiggling your fingers and toes and then blinking your eyes open.

Feelings Journal

Keep a Feelings Journal to connect with physical sensation, emotions and thoughts. You may write or draw this journal, using it to describe what you feel in your mind, heart and body. This works best directly after another mindfulness activity. Here are some examples to get you started.

In my mind…I am worrying about today’s math test.

In my heart…I feel nervous.

In my body…I feel butterflies in my belly.

In my mind…I am thinking about hanging out with my friends this weekend.

In my heart…annoyed that school isn’t over yet.

In my body…I feel my heart beating fast and my leg bouncing.

There is No Them: Developing Empathy

Empathy is the understanding of how another person feels. The first step in developing empathy is learning to recognize your own feelings and how you express them with your body and behavior. You can then learn to recognize how others are expressing their feelings. When you are able to recognize how others express their feelings, you can then identify with times where you have felt similarly or imagine what it might be like to feel what they are feeling. This is empathy.

This mindfulness activity is based on loving-kindness, a practice for building awareness and compassionate communication. This practice can be done sitting or lying down; you just need to be comfortable without falling asleep.

Here’s a script to get you started:

Begin by feeling the breath come into and out of your body. Simply notice the breath wherever you feel it as you inhale and exhale, inhale and exhale.

Now feel the space of your heart in the middle of your chest. There is no need to do anything special. Just notice what you feel.

We are going to practice a friendliness meditation by silently repeating well wishes for ourselves and for other people. As you silently repeat the well wishes, imagine that you are dropping them into the space of your heart (just like you would drop a coin into a wishing well) and notice what it feels like. Today, we will practice by using a few phrases that I will tell you. When you do this practice on your own, you can use these or make up your own.

We’ll begin with ourselves. See yourself in your mind. Let’s silently send ourselves some good thoughts. Remember, we just repeat these inside our mind, like we are dropping them into the wishing well of our heart. There is no need to say them out loud.

May I be happy.

May I be healthy.

May I be peaceful.

May I be safe.

Just notice what it feels like to send these good thoughts to yourself.

May I be happy.

May I be healthy.

May I be peaceful.

May I be safe.

Now, instead of sending these good thoughts to ourselves, we will send them to someone close to us, someone we love very much. Think of someone who you care about that it would be easy to send these good thoughts to. This could be a person who takes care of you, a close friend or even a special pet. See them clearly in your mind. Now, just like before, we will silently send these good wishes to them.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be peaceful.

May you be safe.

Imagine that your special person or pet could feel these good thoughts coming from you. Notice what this feels like in your heart.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be peaceful.

May you be safe.

Now, let the image of this special person fade and bring to mind someone you don’t know very well. For example, this could be someone you see in the hallways at school but have never talked to or a person you recognize from your neighborhood. Know that this person, just like you, wants to be happy and safe in their life. Just like you, this person feels joy, sadness and fear. Let’s see what it feels like now to send these same wishes for peace and happiness to this person whom you don’t know very well.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be peaceful.

May you be safe.

Now bring to mind someone who is challenging for you. This could be someone you have had a disagreement with or whom you don’t particularly like for some reason. Know that this person too feels the same kinds of feelings that you feel and longs to be happy. We’ll send good wishes to that person now. If at any time this feels uncomfortable, simply go back to sending the well wishes to yourself again, like we did at the beginning.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be peaceful.

May you be safe.

Finally, let’s send the thoughts of kindness and goodwill to all people everywhere. Those we know and those we don’t. Those we like and those we don’t. What would the world be like if all people everywhere were able to be peaceful, happy and free?

May we all be happy.

May we all be healthy.

May we all be peaceful.

May we all be safe.

To close our practice, simply come back to mindfully watching your breath come into and out of the body as you inhale and exhale until you hear the bell.

Additional Activities to Develop Empathy

Go for a Story Walk (Elementary)

Look through picture books that show characters expressing a variety of emotions. Pick an image that shows a character feeling a way that they have felt at some time too. Now discuss the following questions:

How does this character feel? How do you know?
When have you felt this way? In order to be trauma-sensitive, make it optional for students to share their responses to this question.
What has helped you when you have felt this way in the past?
What could you do if you see someone else feeling this way?

I Feel, I Act (Middle and High School)

Role-play various situational responses in small groups. Each group gets a dilemma (i.e. someone bumps into you in the lunchroom and you drop your tray of food). Now each person gets a piece of paper with a scenario on it (i.e. you didn’t eat breakfast and you don’t have any more lunch money; you’re excited to hang out with your best friend after school; someone called you a name in the hall and you felt embarrassed). Act out how you would respond to the dilemma based on their specific scenario.

Discuss. How did the situations and feelings of the various characters influence how you responded? Can you think of any real-life situations where someone’s feelings could influence how differently you respond to a challenge?

THINK! Before You Speak

Younger students will enjoy the book My Mouth is a Volcano by Julia Cook, c2006. Older students can simply discuss times when they erupted and said something to someone they later regretted.

What does it feel like when you are about to erupt? Can we start to notice those sensations before we say hurtful things? Our mindfulness practice helps to lengthen the space between a stimulus and response. In that space, we have a moment to ask ourselves if the thought is true, helpful, inspiring, necessary and kind. We all want to THINK before we speak!

T – is it True?
H – is it Helpful?
I – is it Inspiring?
N – is it Necessary?
K – is it Kind?

Mindful Listening

Don’t we all sometimes feels like we aren’t being heard? We can cultivate compassionate communication through mindful listening. Pair up with a friend. Ask them a question, and then give them 3 minutes to answer. You can smile and nod, but not speak until the time is up. If they finish before the time is over, sit in silence until it’s time to switch. You should have an opportunity to be both the speaker and the listener.

When both people have had an opportunity to speak, return to the large group to discuss (or reflect in a journal).

Was it hard or easy to speak for 3 minutes?

Was it hard or easy to listen for 3 minutes?

Try it again, but don’t use a timer. Just choose a question and let the conversation flow naturally. There are no wrong answers! We’re just trying to practice listening well.

Do you still feel as if you’re being heard?

Is it harder not to interrupt?

Here are some questions to get started:

What do you wish you knew more about?

What’s the coolest place you’ve ever been?

What’s the best way to start the day?

What’s the luckiest thing to ever happen to you?

What’s your favorite piece of clothing and why?

Tell me about a pet/favorite toy you have/had.

If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

What’s the most amazing adventure you can go on?

FOCUS

A recent study concluded that the average human attention span has dwindled from 12 seconds to 8 seconds in less than a decade. For perspective, a goldfish will stare at something outside of its bowl for 9 straight seconds before swimming off. Clearly, we need more focus in our lives!

Our practice can extend past breathing exercises. Anything we do can be done mindfully. This pillar focuses (see what I did there?) on using the senses to improve our attention and concentration.

Mindful Eating

Let’s pretend we are scientists discovering food for the very first time. You can give each student a small orange section or piece of chocolate to practice eating with intention. Really examine it before you eat it. Feel it. Is it warm or cold? Is it smooth or rough or sticky? Look closely at your food. What do you notice? Now smell it. Are there any sounds about, maybe the crinkle of the Hershey’s kiss wrapper or the sound of the orange being peeled? Now, place the piece of food on your tongue, but don’t chew on it yet. Just leave it on your tongue and notice how it feels in your mouth. Now eat it, but continue to notice the sensations.

Now discuss or write about the experience.

How was this eating experience different from your typical experience?
Were there any additional sensations you noticed that you don’t typically notice when eating?
How did your focus affect your eating experience?
Could you apply this deep level of focus to other parts of your life, such as reading, listening to a friend, playing a video game or on the ball field?

Comparing and contrasting this mindful eating experience with your typical eating experience will foster focus too. Use a Venn Diagram (like the one on the next page) to chart some similarities and differences.

*Body gets nutrition

*Taste the food

*Eventually full

Slow Down, Look Around: Mindful Transitions

You know how hard it can be to calm your students down during and following transitions! Add some mindful walking to your hallway routine to keep everyone calm and focused. It’s a nice break for everyone to slow down and look around! If it’s possible, allow kids to shed their shoes so they can really feel their feet on the floor.

Can you line up your class without making a sound? As you find your place in line, look down at your feet and you feel yourself standing. Take three deep breaths. Notice how still your feet can be, but let your belly move with your breath. Now look slowly around the room (or hall) without speaking. Now we’re ready to move on with our day.

Change It Up: Specific Options for the Senses

Rainbow Walk (Vision)

Take a walk and look for something red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Keep going through the colors, in order, until the end of your walk.

Sound Walk (Hearing)

Take a walk and mentally list all the different sounds that you hear.

Let the Nose Lead You (Smelling):

Take a walk and mentally list all the different aromas that you notice. Observe any reactions to what you smell. Dis the smell of the lunchroom make your stomach growl? Did you wrinkle your nose when you smelled something unpleasant? What happened when you smelled something enticing?

Mindful Movement

Here are some easy ways to include mindful movement in the classroom. You don’t need any special equipment or a lot of room. For a deeper dive into mindful movement, check out Stories, Songs, and Stretches! Creating Playful Storytimes with Yoga and Movement, by Katie Scherrer, published by the American Library Association, 2017!

STANDING POSE

To Come into Pose
Simply come to standing with the feet close together and flat on the floor with all ten toes facing forward. Arms hang gently down by your sides and the spine is tall (see image).

For Extended Mountain Variation: From Standing Pose, lift the arms alongside the head, palms facing each other and thumbs facing behind you (see image).

For Crescent Moon Variation: From Extended Mountain, bring the hands together above the head. Keep both feet flat on the ground and bend over to one side, making a crescent moon shape. Come back to the middle and try the same shape on the other side.

For Star Twist Variation: From Standing Pose, move your feet apart to make a wider stance. Extend your arms out to the sides, directly from the shoulders. Now the head, hands and feet make five points, like a star. Fold forward, touching one hand to the opposite foot. Come back up to center and try this twist on the other side.

CHAIR

To Come into Pose
Begin in Standing Pose. Bend the knees and send the hips down behind you, as though you were sitting in an invisible chair. Sweep the arms up into the air as you hold the pose (see image).

FORWARD FOLD

To Come into Pose
Begin in Standing Pose with both feet flat on the floor and toes facing the same direction. Make a slight bend in the knees and fold forward, bringing the hands to the ground on either side of the feet (see image).

LUNGE

To Come into Pose
From Standing Pose, fold forward and place the hands on the ground. Take a big step back with one leg. Bend the front knee. The back leg is extended long, with the knee off the ground, the toes on the ground and the heel up. Lift the arms off the ground and into the air alongside the head with the palms facing each other (see image).

TREE

To Come into Pose
Begin in Standing Pose with both feet flat on the floor. Keep one leg strong, with the foot flat on the floor, as you come up on the toes of the other foot. Then turn that knee out to the corresponding side (i.e. if you are on the toes of the left foot, now turn the left knee out to the left side).

Pick up the foot and place it on the standing leg, either above or below the knee, but not on the knee (see image). Hands can be on the hips or out to the sides to help balance. This pose requires a lot of balance. Encourage students to move slowly, to stand near a wall or place a hand on the desk for support and to look at something on the ground in front of them that’s not moving. If they wobble or fall, that’s ok! Encourage them to come back and try again when they are ready and to enjoy the process rather than trying to balance perfectly. Remember to do both sides.

What if the Hokey Pokey IS What it’s all About?!

This is a Mindful Movement practice for those times you are feeling too lethargic. Find the basic Standing Pose. Shake one hand for eight counts. Shake the other hand for 8 counts. Now the shoulders, the hips, one foot, the other feet, the head. Now shake the whole body as hard as you can for 8 counts. The class can chant together, “1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8”!

RESILIENCE

Mindful Breathing Activity

Square Breath

Then set a time (one minute, one hour, the rest of the school day, etc) and pay attention to what you are doing, saying or thinking before you take action.

Attitude of Gratitude

Gratitude Journal

Write or draw the things for which you are grateful. Be mindful to share things that will resonate with students from all walks of life.

Lesson Plan Options: Gratitude Journal

Choose a consistent time to practice each day. Remember that in mindfulness practices, consistency is key. (Perhaps after lunch or before leaving school for the day, etc.).
Ask each student to write a list of five things (or more) about that day for which they are grateful. Ask that one of the five things involve another person.
Set an age-appropriate length of time to keep the journal (one week, two weeks, the entire semester).
Know that some days there will be exciting things to write down whereas other days will just be simple joys.

Dealing with Difficult Emotions

We naturally experience a wide range of emotions throughout the course of each day. We tend to praise and embrace the more positive emotions while unintentionally failing to address the difficult emotions properly. It is pertinent to our students’ emotional and mental development that we provide them with the vocabulary to identify the more difficult emotions, as well as space to experience and coping skills to handle them.

Write the following words on the board.

Happy

Anxious

Afraid

Guilty

Sad

Mean

Frustrated

Nervous

Jealous

Confused

Annoyed

Joyful

Grumpy

Cheerful

Angry

Confident

Embarrassed

Surprised

Tired

Bored

Sorry

Disgusted

Frightened

Excited

Shy

Proud

Worried

Have each student write down each emotion they are currently feeling and label it from 1-5. For example, under “angry,” a 1 might be simply annoyed while 5 would be boiling hot mad.

Discussion or Journal Questions:

Do you ever have mood swings? Describe them.
What are some things you shouldn’t do when you are feeling very emotional?
Have you ever been confused about your feelings?
Is it important to understand what you are feeling? Why? What can happen if you don’t?
Is it okay to sometimes feel sad? Why or why not?
When you are really down, sad or angry, what do you do?
Should we stop and think about how we want to express our emotions? Why or why not?
Do you think your moods sometimes affect the way you make choices? In what way?

It’s great to perform a mindful minute following any discussion of difficult emotions. You control your breath. It’s empowering for all students and staff to remember this!

5, 4, 3, 2, 1

This is a grounding exercise that will help students cope in times of stress. It takes you through your five senses to help ground you in the present.

Take a deep breath and close your eyes or gaze downward. Now tell me 5 things you hear.

Open your eyes and tell me 5 things you see.

Tell me 5 things you feel.

Great. Now take a deep breath and close your eyes or gaze downward. Tell me 4 things you hear….

Continue until you’ve counted down to one. Younger students might start with 3 instead of 5.

Legs Up to Wind Down

Try the Legs Up Pose:

Restorative postures like this one slow the heart rate, slow the breath rate and relax the muscles. This position lowers blood pressure and reduces brain arousal associated with a firing amygdala.

Sit on the floor, close to and facing a chair. Lie on your back and elevate your legs with the knees bent. Place the back of your calves so that they are entirely supported on the chair seat. Now rest and breathe! Keep bringing your attention back to the breath (suggested time to stay here is about three minutes for grades K-3 and up to five minutes for grades 4-12). When you’re done, hug the knees into the chest and rock side-to-side, roll onto the right side into a fetal position and press up to a seated position.

Book Bridge

Most students carry a lot of tension in their shoulders from sitting at a desk all day (not to mention carrying around heavy backpacks)! The book bridge is a great way to relax tightness in the upper back and shoulders.

Grab a few thick, from textbooks. Lie down on the floor with your legs bent and your feet feet on the floor. Lift your hips and slide the textbooks under your sacrum (tailbone), then release the weight of the hips onto the books. Let the arms rest comfortably by your side. You can add or remove books to find the perfect height for your body.

Rest here for several minutes, breathing through the nose and into the belly. When you’re ready to come out of the book bridge, lift the hips and remove the books. Then hug the knees into the chest and rock side to side. Roll onto your side and rest there for a few breaths before sitting up.

Desk Rest

Do you have more students than you have space? Try the desk rest pose.

Rest your elbows on your desk. “Butterfly” the hands by bringing the inner edges of your hands together. Lean forward and rest your forehead in the palms of the hands. Try to release the weight of the head and neck completely. You may close your eyes if you like. Rest here for several minutes, breathing through the nose and into the belly.

Your Mindfulness Practice

You cannot teach mindfulness well if you do not practice it yourself! Set a mindfulness goal for your personal practice.

My Mindfulness Goal for Myself

My Mindfulness Goal for my Classroom

Connections to Kentucky Standards

Kentucky Department of Education

On Health Education/Practical Living

Health education provides students with opportunities to acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary for making health-promoting decisions, achieving health literacy, adopting health-enhancing behaviors, and promoting the health of others. Comprehensive school health education includes courses of study (curricula) for students in pre-K through grade 12 that address a variety of topics such as alcohol and other drug use and abuse, healthy eating/nutrition, mental and emotional health, personal health and wellness, physical activity, safety and injury prevention, sexual health, tobacco use, and violence prevention. Health education curricula should address the National Health Education Standards (NHES) and incorporate the characteristics of an effective health education curriculum. Health education assists students in living healthier lives. Qualified, trained teachers teach health education.

In Kentucky schools, we will deliver classroom instruction that addresses the physical, mental, emotional, and social dimensions of health; develops health knowledge, attitudes, and skills; and is tailored to each age level. It will motivate and assist students to maintain and improve their health, prevent disease, and reduce health-related risk behaviors.

National Health Education Standards:

Students will comprehend concepts related to health promotion and disease prevention to enhance health.

Students will analyze the influence of family, peers, culture, media, technology, and other factors on health behaviors.

Students will demonstrate the ability to access valid information, products, and services to enhance health.

Students will demonstrate the ability to use interpersonal communication skills to enhance health and avoid or reduce health risks.

Students will demonstrate the ability to use decision-making skills to enhance health.

Students will demonstrate the ability to use goal-setting skills to enhance health.

Students will demonstrate the ability to practice health-enhancing behaviors and avoid or reduce health risks.

Students will demonstrate the ability to advocate for personal, family, and community health.

SHARED LANGUAGE

Acceptance: A state of being in non-judgmental acknowledgement of the moment.

Amygdala: Part of the limbic system that encodes emotional messages in the brain. Considered the smoke alarm of the brain.

Awareness: A state of being consciously mindful.

Body Scan: To be aware of the different parts of your body and allow yourself to experience how each part feels without judgment.

Consistency: Steadfast adherence to a mindfulness practice.

Compassion: A feeling of sympathy for someone’s misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.

Cortisol: A steroid hormone associated with stress.

Curiosity: An inquisitive desire to learn or know about a moment.

Deep Breathing: Belly breathing with mindful attention. This is the foundational practice of The Be Project.

Empathy: The vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts or attitudes of another person.

Focus: The ability to concentrate on a single thing.

Gratitude: The feeling of being thankful.

Hippocampus: The part of the brain where memories are stored and retrieved. The hippocampus is also part of the limbic system. Think of it as the librarian.

Hope: The feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best.

Limbic System: A collection of brain structures that control emotions and behavior.

Locus of Control: The idea that we have control over our lives and can influence events and their outcomes.

Mindfulness: A state where one focuses their full attention only on the present, experiencing thoughts, feelings and sensations but not judging them.

Neuron: Brain cell.

Neurosculpting: The brain’s ability to restructure its neural network based on new information.

Optimism: A tendency to look on the more favorable side of events and expect the best outcome.

Prefrontal Cortex: A part of the brain used in higher-level reasoning, decision-making and cognition. Our brain’s thinking center or the smart one.

Radical Acceptance: Acknowledging and accepting your current reality (but remember that acceptance is not the same as approval).

Resilience: The emotional ability to recover quickly from problems.

Self-Talk: What we say to ourselves (out loud or silently) as we go about our day.

Trauma: An experience that produces psychological injury or pain.

Additional Resources:

Stories, Songs, and Stretches! Creating Playful Storytimes with Yoga and Movement, by Katie Scherrer, American Library Association, 2017
Mindful Games Activity Cards: 55 Fun Ways to Share Mindfulness with Kids and Teens by Susan Kaiser Greenland and Annaka Harris, 2017

Sitting Still LIke a Frog: Mindfulness Exercises for Kids (and their parents) by Eline Snel 2013 (includes CD of guided mindfulness exercises)

The Monster Under Your Bed Is Just a Story in Your Head by Lisa Wimberger 2017

Your Fantastic Elastic Brain: Stretch It, Shape It by JoAnn Deak, Ph.D. 2010

Listening To My Body by Gabi Garcia 2016

Master of Mindfulness: How To Be Your Own Superhero in Times of Stress by Laurie Grossman, Angelina Alvarez, and Mr. Musumeci’s 5th Grade Class 2016
Puppy Mind by Andrew Jordan Nance 2016

The Lemonade Hurricane: A Story of Mindfulness and Meditation by Licia Morelli 2015

The Feelings Book by Todd Parr, 2000

Body Scan from Still Quiet Place: Mindfulness for Young Children by Amy Saltzman, MD.

What Do I Feel from Breathe In: Children’s Songs for Mindfulness and Awareness by Lianne Bassin, 2014

Ish by Peter Reynolds, 2004

Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell, 2001

My Friend Maggie by Hannah Harrison, 2016

Whoever You Are by Mem Fox, 2006

The Peace Book by Todd Parr, 2009
Loving Kindness from Still Quiet Place: Mindfulness for Young Children by Amy Saltzman, MD.

Yoga 4 Classrooms card deck by Lisa Flynn

Gracias/Thanks by Pat Mora, 2009

Building Emotional Intelligence: Techniques to Cultivate Inner Strength in Children by Linda Lantieri, 2014

My Mouth is a Volcano by Julia Cook, 2006

The BE Project Team

Kara Davies received her BA in Arts Administration from the University of Kentucky, her MBA from Edinburgh Napier University and her MAT from Georgetown College. She is currently enrolled in the doctoral program in Educational Leadership at Morehead State University. Kara previously worked as the Director of Exhibits at the Explorium of Lexington, designing hands-on educational exhibitions for children and families utilizing a multiple intelligences approach. She then moved to Edinburgh Scotland where she obtained her MBA and went on to manage The Music Box, a music and performing arts center at Stevenson College Edinburgh. Upon her return to the U.S, she realized that it was her life ambition to work within education for change. She utilizes her leadership skills and experience in the arts to work with disadvantaged youth throughout the district. As a practitioner of mindfulness and yoga, she is passionate about the power of mindfulness to transform lives. She is currently the Principal at Clark County Preschool in Winchester and holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership.

Allison Nelson is an alumnus of Eastern Kentucky University who has obtained a B.S. in Psychology, M.S. in General Psychology and Psy.S. in School Psychology. Allison began her career working in the rural district of Pike County and now services Clark County Public Schools. She has been employed as a Certified School Psychologist in the state of Kentucky for seven years and works with student grades Pre-K to 12th. Through her practice in School Psychology, Allison works with students in individual and group settings to address educational, behavioral and mental health concerns. She has also provided and coordinated mentoring services in the school system for at-risk youth. Allison is trained in Safe Crisis Management techniques and is involved in conducting Threat Assessments for youth in crisis within the district. As a daily practice, Allison actively utilizes mindfulness on a personal and professional level and she believes that mindfulness is a useful tool that is universally beneficial for children and adults.

Cindy Reed is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, a certified Yoga and Mindfulness instructor and a Certified Daring Way™ Facilitator. After graduating Cum Laude from the University of Kentucky with a Masters Degree in Social Work, she began work at a Community Mental Health Center in Appalachia, eventually serving as Program Director and Clinical Coordinator. Her early training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy led her to pursue a deeper understanding of mindfulness strategies. As a result, Cindy became immersed in the world of Hatha Yoga and studied with renowned teachers Angela Farmer and Judith Lasater. She has been teaching Mindfulness-based Yoga and Meditation classes in addition to her Psychotherapy practice since 2003. Cindy is a Certified Facilitator of The Daring Way™ based on the research of Brené Brown. Currently, Cindy is a clinician at The Bluegrass Rape Crisis Center and has a private practice providing coaching services, Brené Brown workshops and consultation. In addition, Cindy offers Mindfulness-based Yoga and Meditation classes to the general public in Lexington, Winchester and Richmond, Kentucky.

Erin Smith, ERYT, CNT, MLS, is the owner of the OM place, a yoga & mindfulness studio, the author of Sensible Wellness for Women and the online host of a yoga & mindfulness channel for VHX. She holds a B.A. in Elementary Education from Centre College and an MLIS from the University of Kentucky. She spent over a decade teaching at the elementary level before opening the OM place. She is a therapeutic yoga teacher with over 500 hours of training and is a Certified Nutritional Therapist through the Health Sciences Academy. She currently specializes in holistic rehabilitation for joint replacement surgeries, leading yoga teacher training programs and facilitating mindfulness workshops for groups of 4 to 400. She has studied and shared the art of mindfulness for over 40 years.

BE calm.

BE kind.

BE project.

@BEprojectky

The Four Pillars of the BE Project:

THE BRAIN

By learning how our brains respond to stress, we use mindful breathing to quiet down the amygdala and activate the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex.

DEVELOPING AWARENESS

Mindful breathing fosters emotional and social competence, bolstering both our relationship with others as well as our relationship to ourselves. This leads to emotional self-regulation and empathy.

FINDING FOCUS

We can prime our brain for calm, clear decision-making using mindful breathing. This also sets the stage for long-term memory learning.

CULTIVATING RESILIENCE

PROGRAM DESIGN

Trauma

Social Emotional Learning

“Learning is possible only after students’ social, emotional and physical needs have been met. When those needs are met, students are more likely to succeed in school.”

~Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development Task Force (2002)

Find out more about SEL at https://casel.org/

THE BRAIN

What exactly IS mindfulness?

Understanding How Breathing Affects Our Brains and Bodies

A mindfulness practice requires:

Consistency

Acceptance

Non-Judgment

Curiosity

Mindfulness lengthens the space between a knee-jerk reaction and a mindful response. It describes a neural process, a state of being for your nervous system.

The Mindful Brain

In your brain, there are three major mindfulness players:

The amygdala (our “smoke alarm”)
The prefrontal cortex (the “smart one”)
The hippocampus (our “librarian”)

How Breathing Affects the Brain

Breathe through your nose and down into your belly.

Other Key Points to Understand:

Limbic System

Cortisol

Sensory Overload

Mindfulness Activities for Teachers

Know the Parts of the Brain

Label the parts of the brain and discuss their functions.

The amygdala (our “smoke alarm”)

The prefrontal cortex (the “smart one”)

The hippocampus (our “librarian”)

The Animals In Your Brain

When an animal senses danger, what does he do?

He can run. (flee)

He can hide. (freeze)

He can fight. (fight)

He can totally shut down. (fold)

These reactions represent a firing amygdala. The take-away? When my animal brain senses danger, I can’t think.

You can also use your thumb to represent the animal brain (see photos below).

Another Way to Tell the Story (Perfect for Younger Students)

You’ll need an owl, elephant and dog puppet or stuffed animal for this activity. Here’s a script:

But Guard Dog isn’t very well trained. He sometimes barks to warn us about things that aren’t really dangerous, like worries. Sometimes he barks because we are too excited, tired or hungry.

Wise Owl has another important job. It’s his job to calm down Guard Dog when he’s barking for no reason.

Buddy Breathing

This is a great practice to use both at school and at home. Remind kids that belly breathing is available to them anytime their animal brain feels scared, worried or angry!

DEVELOPING AWARENESS

The Mindful Minute

Teachers can start with this script, then let the words come naturally when they feel confident or adjust slightly for the appropriate age of their students.

Sit up tall in your chair and place your feet on the floor. Rest your hands on your knees. Close your eyes or rest your gaze gently on the floor.

(Short Pause)

(Short Pause).

Keep breathing like this. Let your breath be soft and relaxed. If you start thinking about other things, it doesn’t matter. Just come back to watching your breath come and go. That’s it.

(Short Pause, then ring chime)

Continue in this way for at least one minute.

Other Mindful Minute Exercises for the Classroom

Square Breathing to cultivate calm

Hoberman Ball Breath to cultivate awareness

Counting the Breath to cultivate focus

Pinwheel Breath to cultivate awareness

Candle Breath to cultivate lung strength

Back to Back Breath to cultivate body awareness

Buddy Breath to cultivate a personal practice

Energizing Breath to cultivate energy

For this breath, we’ll breath in through the nose, but out through the mouth. On the inhale, take four small, quick sniffs of air through the nose, then open the mouth and breathe out ahhhhhh in one lone, forceful breath. The pattern is sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, ahhhhh… sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, ahhhhh… sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, ahhhhh. Take ten rounds of the energizing breath and then allow the breath to move back into a more natural rhythm. Notice how alert you feel!

Sound

Basic Mindful Listening
Do this with eyes open or closed. Try it with eyes open at first, then do it again, explaining that if we close our eyes, we might hear the chime better.

Remember that closing eyes for any mindfulness practice is always a choice.

I’m going to ring the chime. Listen to the sound it makes until you can’t hear it anymore. When the sound stops, raise one finger (or open your eyes).

Counting Breaths with the Chime
Ring the chime with enthusiasm, so the note is sustained long enough to take a few breaths.

How many breaths did you take? Does the number change after you repeat this a few times?

Mindful Movement with the Chime

This works indoors or out.

Mind Jar

Use a mind jar to demonstrate how intentional focus leaves us feeling calm. Scientists believe humans have between 35 and 48 thoughts per minute, per person.

Want to make mind jars for your classroom? Grab some cheap plastic bottles with lids. Fill with hot water and glitter glue. Then hot glue the lid on tightly and voila!

Body Scan

Here’s a script you can use to get started:

Take a few moments to end this practice by gently wiggling your fingers and toes and then blinking your eyes open.

Feelings Journal

In my mind…I am worrying about today’s math test.

In my heart…I feel nervous.

In my body…I feel butterflies in my belly.

In my mind…I am thinking about hanging out with my friends this weekend.

In my heart…annoyed that school isn’t over yet.

In my body…I feel my heart beating fast and my leg bouncing.

There is No Them: Developing Empathy

Here’s a script to get you started:

Begin by feeling the breath come into and out of your body. Simply notice the breath wherever you feel it as you inhale and exhale, inhale and exhale.

Now feel the space of your heart in the middle of your chest. There is no need to do anything special. Just notice what you feel.

May I be happy.

May I be healthy.

May I be peaceful.

May I be safe.

Just notice what it feels like to send these good thoughts to yourself.

May I be happy.

May I be healthy.

May I be peaceful.

May I be safe.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be peaceful.

May you be safe.

Imagine that your special person or pet could feel these good thoughts coming from you. Notice what this feels like in your heart.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be peaceful.

May you be safe.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be peaceful.

May you be safe.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be peaceful.

May you be safe.

May we all be happy.

May we all be healthy.

May we all be peaceful.

May we all be safe.

To close our practice, simply come back to mindfully watching your breath come into and out of the body as you inhale and exhale until you hear the bell.

Additional Activities to Develop Empathy

Go for a Story Walk (Elementary)

How does this character feel? How do you know?
When have you felt this way? In order to be trauma-sensitive, make it optional for students to share their responses to this question.
What has helped you when you have felt this way in the past?
What could you do if you see someone else feeling this way?

I Feel, I Act (Middle and High School)

THINK! Before You Speak

Younger students will enjoy the book My Mouth is a Volcano by Julia Cook, c2006. Older students can simply discuss times when they erupted and said something to someone they later regretted.

T – is it True?
H – is it Helpful?
I – is it Inspiring?
N – is it Necessary?
K – is it Kind?

Mindful Listening

When both people have had an opportunity to speak, return to the large group to discuss (or reflect in a journal).

Was it hard or easy to speak for 3 minutes?

Was it hard or easy to listen for 3 minutes?

Try it again, but don’t use a timer. Just choose a question and let the conversation flow naturally. There are no wrong answers! We’re just trying to practice listening well.

Do you still feel as if you’re being heard?

Is it harder not to interrupt?

Here are some questions to get started:

What do you wish you knew more about?

What’s the coolest place you’ve ever been?

What’s the best way to start the day?

What’s the luckiest thing to ever happen to you?

What’s your favorite piece of clothing and why?

Tell me about a pet/favorite toy you have/had.

If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

What’s the most amazing adventure you can go on?

FOCUS

Our practice can extend past breathing exercises. Anything we do can be done mindfully. This pillar focuses (see what I did there?) on using the senses to improve our attention and concentration.

Mindful Eating

Now discuss or write about the experience.

How was this eating experience different from your typical experience?
Were there any additional sensations you noticed that you don’t typically notice when eating?
How did your focus affect your eating experience?
Could you apply this deep level of focus to other parts of your life, such as reading, listening to a friend, playing a video game or on the ball field?

*Body gets nutrition

*Taste the food

*Eventually full

Slow Down, Look Around: Mindful Transitions

Change It Up: Specific Options for the Senses

Rainbow Walk (Vision)

Take a walk and look for something red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Keep going through the colors, in order, until the end of your walk.

Sound Walk (Hearing)

Take a walk and mentally list all the different sounds that you hear.

Let the Nose Lead You (Smelling):

Mindful Movement

STANDING POSE

For Extended Mountain Variation: From Standing Pose, lift the arms alongside the head, palms facing each other and thumbs facing behind you (see image).

CHAIR

FORWARD FOLD

LUNGE

TREE

What if the Hokey Pokey IS What it’s all About?!

RESILIENCE

Mindful Breathing Activity

Square Breath

Then set a time (one minute, one hour, the rest of the school day, etc) and pay attention to what you are doing, saying or thinking before you take action.

Attitude of Gratitude

Gratitude Journal

Write or draw the things for which you are grateful. Be mindful to share things that will resonate with students from all walks of life.

Lesson Plan Options: Gratitude Journal

Choose a consistent time to practice each day. Remember that in mindfulness practices, consistency is key. (Perhaps after lunch or before leaving school for the day, etc.).
Ask each student to write a list of five things (or more) about that day for which they are grateful. Ask that one of the five things involve another person.
Set an age-appropriate length of time to keep the journal (one week, two weeks, the entire semester).
Know that some days there will be exciting things to write down whereas other days will just be simple joys.

Dealing with Difficult Emotions

Write the following words on the board.

Happy

Anxious

Afraid

Guilty

Sad

Mean

Frustrated

Nervous

Jealous

Confused

Annoyed

Joyful

Grumpy

Cheerful

Angry

Confident

Embarrassed

Surprised

Tired

Bored

Sorry

Disgusted

Frightened

Excited

Shy

Proud

Worried

Have each student write down each emotion they are currently feeling and label it from 1-5. For example, under “angry,” a 1 might be simply annoyed while 5 would be boiling hot mad.

Discussion or Journal Questions:

Do you ever have mood swings? Describe them.
What are some things you shouldn’t do when you are feeling very emotional?
Have you ever been confused about your feelings?
Is it important to understand what you are feeling? Why? What can happen if you don’t?
Is it okay to sometimes feel sad? Why or why not?
When you are really down, sad or angry, what do you do?
Should we stop and think about how we want to express our emotions? Why or why not?
Do you think your moods sometimes affect the way you make choices? In what way?