HEALTHY FAMILY
Present, Not Tense
Mindful practices help make
back-to-school a bit less stressful
BY COURTNEY MCGEE
MINDFULNESS RESOURCES:
Free web/mobile apps
Stop, Breathe & Think: app
for youth, with meditations for
mindfulness and compassion
Calm: app for guided
meditation and relaxation
exercises Insight Timer: app with virtual
“bells” that help time and
support meditations
MindShift: app for teens to
learn coping skills for anxiety
Books ‘Fully Present’
by Susan Smalley & Diana
Winston ‘10% Happier’
by Dan Harris
‘Full Catastrophe Living’
by Jon Kabat-Zinn
‘Sitting Still Like
a Frog: Mindfulness
Exercises for Kids’
by Eline Snel
Websites mindfulschools.org
stillquietplace.com stressedteens.com
innerresourcesproject.com 36
Washington FAMILY
Coping in a challenging world
“Children and adults are experiencing
stress at unprecedented levels,” Kane says.

“Increasing stress may result in anger, anxi-
ety, depression and externalizing behaviors
as well as low self-esteem and self-confi-
dence.” Offering mindfulness techniques to
students, she says, “can not only increase
their focus and attention in the classroom,
but encourage them to become more aware
of their actions and their impact on others,
in particular the school community.”
SEPTEMBER 2019
We all let our emotions get the best of
us from time to time, and that can be over-
whelming. However, mindfulness “addresses
the core components of social-emotional
learning,” Kane explains. “Children can
become more skillful in navigating the chal-
lenges of life — whether that’s not being
chosen to be the line leader, not having a
friend to play with on the playground, an
upcoming test or the trials of puberty. Mind-
fulness gives children of all ages an opportu-
nity to slow down, so that they can see and
think more clearly.”
Choosing tune-in over time-out
In some mindful classrooms, Kane says,
the punitive “time-out” has evolved into a
“tune-in”— a space where students who feel
overwhelmed can listen to quiet music, use a
fidget device, lie down or mindfully draw as
a means of regaining composure and focus
so they can better return to learning.

“I have seen remarkable decreases in
self-criticism, negativity and aggressive
behaviors toward self and others” with
these techniques, she says. “But also subtle
changes — like the ability to not become
anxious when it’s time to transition or a
student taking three breaths when they start
to get emotional.”
Benefits in school and beyond
Kane works with local researchers and has
found in controlled trials that mindfulness
in schools has produced “reduced anxiety,
reduced rumination, an attenuated cortisol
response and less anger reactivity.”
Interestingly, they have also seen an
increase in Maryland School Assessment
(MSA) scores in middle school students.

Kane believes so strongly in the
importance of bringing mindfulness to
schools that she collaborated with Johns
Hopkins University to create a free web-
site (destressmonday.org/teachers-pro-
gram), which teachers can use to integrate
mindfulness into their classrooms as well
ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES PLUS/ANURAKPONG
A s summer’s end yields school-
time excitement, students and
families can feel pressure and
stress from the new routines and hectic
pace. It’s hard to remember to slow down
and be present, but what a tremendous
gift it can be, just to be able to focus on
what’s happening right now. Mindful
practice can help make that happen.

Mindfulness has become a buzzword in
recent years, but it is rooted in traditional
Buddhist practices and is far from a pass-
ing fad. Now, more and more schools are
employing mindful practices to provide
children with a toolkit for self-regulation
and awareness.

My son’s first-grade teacher made simple,
calming activities part of daily routines.

For example, they would hold up a finger in
front of their faces and pretend to “smell a
flower” (slow deep inhale) then “blow out
a candle” (slow complete exhale). Other
mindful practices such as taking inventory
of feelings or pausing before reacting in a
stressful situation became embedded in
the language and flow of the classroom. I
am glad those simple coping mechanisms
already feel natural to him.

So, what about the rest of us? I asked
mindfulness educator Tawanna Kane
with the Maryland-based Inner Resources
Project how all students (and parents)
can benefit from mindfulness meditation
and practices.