Mindful Schools

Submitted by Jonathan S. Kaplan, Ph.D.

Recently, I participated in a 2-day training in NYC offered by Mindful Schools, an organization devoted to teaching children about mindfulness.  Led by Megan Cowan and Kate Janke, the training reviewed a 16-session curriculum designed to introduce students to mindfulness while promoting social and emotional learning.  Both of the instructors were quite adept at adapting traditional practices and exercises in developmentally appropriate ways.  For example, many of us are familiar with the infamous raisin exercise in which one experiences one single raisin mindfully through all of our senses.  Demonstrating how to conduct this exercise with first graders, Kate playfully showed that a raisin can "talk" by squishing and squeaking it next to your ear.  What a wonderfully silly, memorable moment of mindfulness!  (Ed. note:  Too much alliteration for you?)

Already, Mindful Schools has introduced close to 10,000 children to the practice of mindfulness.  There are several other organizations and individuals on a similar mission, including MindUP, Inner Kids, and A Still Quiet Place.  If you're interested in helping children learn mindfulness, then I'd encourage you to check-out some of these programs.