Mindfulness Resources for Educators

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This is a compilation of mindfulness resources for educators.
Just like any skill, mindfulness skills take time to develop. There is a reason it is called a practice. If you are going to teach mindfulness, I recommend having your own daily consistent mindfulness/meditation practice at home. The best way to do this is to commit to sitting for 15-30 minutes each day, paying attention to your breath, noticing when your mind starts to wander, and then gently bringing attention back to your breath. If your interested in beginning a practice and sitting and breathing just isn’t working for you, shoot me a message and I will send you my Short Sit practice.

When you are consistent with your own practice, you are better able to model mindfulness and speak from a place of authenticity. As we all know, kids can see right through us, sometimes. If we want them to buy in–we have to believe in what we are selling and use our own products!

If you haven’t explored your own quiet mind, confronted your own silent demons, or come face to face with your own humanness, it is impossible to guide others in exploring theirs. If you don’t have that intimate understanding of how anger, love, joy, fear, jealousy, greed, sadness, compassion, and contentment can arise, persist, manifest, fade away, and how they work–how can you expect to explain the whole thing to kids in a way that is meaningful and accessible?

Anyway–Here are just a few resources to help you on your journey! Feel free to contact me with questions!

Gratefully,

Jennifer

Calm–Free Lifetime Subscription

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Headspace–Free Annual Subscription

Headspace recently came out with their own FREE subscription for educators. Click the link to sign up.

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Mindful Brain Free Download

Here is The Mindful Brain free download courtesy of Teachers Pay Teachers.

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Sustainable Mindfulness

Cultivating Mindfulness for Educators Using Resources From The New York Times

How to Avoid A Poorly Designed School Mindfulness Program — Mindful Magazine

Making Mindfulness Work in Your School — Free webinar from Free Spirit by James Butler

Making the Case for Mindfulness in Your School or District — Free Spirit Publishing blog by James Butler

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Mindfulness Book List

An ongoing compilation of mindfulness books for youth and adults.

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Elementary

“Get Your Mind Ready with Mind Yeti”

“Just Breathe”

Secondary

“Youth Voices”: Mindfulness for Teens

“How Mindfulness Empowers Us”: Story of Two Wolves

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GoNoodle

GoNoodle is for the body and the mind.

Here is a link to a document that lists all the GoNoodle Mindfulness videos sorted by channel and with the length of each video.

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Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain

An Edutopia blog written by Elena Aguilar. “Zaretta Hammond’s new book, Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students, fills a huge gap in my bookshelf. Hoping to get it into your hands and onto your shelves, I decided to do a Q & A with the author.”

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Trauma-Informed Mindfulness Article

Nine Ways To Ensure Your Mindfulness Teaching Practice Is Trauma-Informed by Katrina Schwartz is a terrific resource. I highly recommend reading this article and following the advice offered.

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Mindful Life Project

Guided Mindfulness Activities in English & Spanish–Great for Secondary.

They also have a free app titled “Mindful Life Project.”