A colleague at work sent me this link to an article in the Guardian on mindfulness, which gives a good account of the benefits, including a quote from a mindfulness teaching saying “People often say they notice how much of life passes them by. Suddenly they are noticing things in nature.. They are more present in what they do and they get a sense of appreciating more fully the life they are living.” Yes, how beautiful, I thought.
On 4th December 2013, another workshop, Introduction to Mindfulness for Educational Psychologists, was delivered. This time, in Lewisham to a group of about 20 participants. Feedback was greatly positive and there was a keen interest in doing further training, such as the 8-week MBSR course. For further information on training workshops, contact Holistic Education #mindfulness
This is an update on the training that I have been doing in different boroughs to introduce staff to mindfulness. So far, and unsurprisingly as this is an emerging field, the majority have little or no prior experience of mindfulness or other contemplative practices. Last Tuesday, I ran a 2 hour introductory workshop to a team in Southwark, London. The participants were engaged well in the practices. Even though they were unfamiliar to them, they gave it a go and were open and willing to share their experiences in the enquiry part of the activities. Overall, the feedback was positive and included comments such as “techniques that can be used were well explained” and the “benefits I felt from just ten minutes of this were immense”. I was especially delighted to read that the “tutor was very engaging”. It was a pleasure doing the workshop and I look forward to running the next one, a day’s workshop in Lewisham, London in December. Warm wishes, Bernadette
The weekend workshop, “Taoist Basic Practices”, by visiting Taoist master, Mantak Chia, Universal Healing Tao, was well attended. It covered a range of the Taoist Internal Alchemy Meditation and Chi Gung foundation practices for cultivating energy and well-being. I have attended his workshops in the past and it was refreshing to once again have that direct experience. It inspired my personal practice and will help develop how I include such approaches in the Beroca Integral Yoga system. It was highly recommended and I hope he visits again in 2014.
On Friday, 20 September, I ran a workshop for Educational Psychologists (EPs), an introduction to Using Mindfulness-Based Approaches in EP Practice. This was the third time I ran it this year and again, it was well attended. The day included:
Feedback was positive, and will help shape the next workshop (December 2013).
There was a keen interest in the Mindfulness-Based Attention Training (MBAT) intervention (initially developed as part of the doctoral research and later implemented in a special secondary setting). The next step is to develop a training programme so that others can run the MBAT intervention in schools. If you have an interest in this, please contact me.
Today I was at a workshop on Mindfulness-based Conversations (MBC) run by Sahaja Davis at the BPS Centre in London. It enabled us to explore the experience of mindfulness and bring that into the context of conversations, and from there to consider its application during work-based consultations. I enjoyed the unfolding experience from the context-setting introduction to the mindfulness practices, inspirational quotes and poetry. It’s not an easy task to break so much ground with a “mixed-ability” group of participants. And yet it was done – skilfully and authentically. Well done, Sahaja!
This Friday, I’ll be down in Brighton presenting at a conference for doctoral students, called Engaging with Methodology: Diversity, Questions and Challenges. This time the focus is on methodology used in the research, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) of children’s drawings of their experiences of mindfulness. Are you interested in using IPA in your research with children? Or using drawings to help children express themselves? Perhaps you have taught mindfulness to children and are interested in their experiences of this? If so, please get in contact. Best wishes, Bernadette
As part of the East London Consortium’s CPD network, on behalf on Hackney Educational Psychology Service, I will be running a workshop on Mindfulness-based Approaches in EP Practice, on 20th September 2013. It will be an introduction to mindfulness and the evidence base for using mindfulness-based approaches when working with children and young people. It intends to cover the research background to mindfulness and its use in school settings. There will be opportunities to explore the experience of mindfulness, through various mindfulness practices. If you are an Educational Psychologist and are interested in this workshop, please let me know. Best wishes, Bernadette.
The Mindfulness in Schools Project is growing from strength to strength. Its conference in London on 27 March 2013 was inspirational and I was delighted to be able to have attended it. To see some videos – including one of Jon Kabat-Zinn as key note speaker – and photos from the day, see the Mindfulness in Schools website.
I enjoyed the conference, and it was exciting to have a day’s workshop by John Kabat Zinn – and an opportunity to deepen into practice. It was a delight to talk about the research on children’s experiences of mindfulness, during the poster presentation session. Each day brought new gifts, inspiring talks, including one by Shauna Shapiro, and interesting conversations with other delegates. There was a sense of connection, community and celebration. An awareness of the depth of commitment and momentum in bringing mindfulness deeper into our own lives and in the work that we do in teaching mindfulness.
Holistic Education 