Mindfulness

I have been trying something different after the lunch play time. We have always done resting after lunch as children come back into the classroom after their big play.

Last week, some children saw a photo of a child meditating and they pretended to meditate. Then, I thought maybe we could do a meditating session in the classroom.

So one day last week, I put on a piece of meditation music, and sat on the floor with my hands on my knees just like the photo they saw. Before I even say what we were going to do, one boy called out and said "Meditating!"
We sat in a circle and stayed silent. We listened to the music.

I talked about feeling quiet inside us, and relaxing our body. We talked about seeing ourselves in a positive lens. We say to ourselves "I can do it." "I keep trying." "I am giving it a go." 

I talked about a situation that I saw that day in the swimming session where a boy said "I can do it!" after trying so long to achieve his trick. 

In order to develop children's resilience, they need to view themselves in a positive way. When something is challenging or difficult, it is important to keep trying and perhaps try in a different way. We can take a break and come back to it so we can see things so it might give a different perception. 

After our meditation, we moved on to a writing session, and I felt that the children showed great focus and worked very hard. I wondered if meditation had something to do with it!?