Over 5,000 teachers in the UK have been trained to teach mindfulness, according to the Mindfulness Initiative, and that number is growing all the time.
It’s a meditation technique being used to help pupils improve their mental well-being.
Tallulah Berry went to visit one primary school in London to find out from the pupils themselves how it makes them feel.
Video Journalist: Hannah Gelbart
httpss://youtu.be/iBpEYa74w2Y
Close your eyes and breathe: schools sign up for mindfulness
The Guardian, Rob Walker, October 23, 2016
It’s Wednesday morning and the children from year 5 at St John the Baptist primary school in Brighton are chatting noisily at their desks. A bell chimes and the chatter stops. Thirty children close their eyes and place a hand across their chest, breathing in and out slowly. It’s as if they’ve been hypnotized.
“If your mind wanders away, let’s notice where it goes,” says Kerstin Andlaw, in a soothing voice. “Then bring your attention back to your breathing.”
The pupils are practising mindfulness, a way of making them stop, relax and “be”. Classes like this used to be the preserve of independent schools, but this year more state than private schools have signed up to mindfulness classes, both at secondary and primary level. According to the Mindfulness in Schools Project, there are 1,350 teachers being trained in the technique this year, double the number taught last year and up from 90 in 2011. Nationally, more than 4,000 teachers are now qualified.
“Where did your mind go?” asks Andlaw. Angel was thinking about her mum going into hospital that day for an operation. Jose is looking forward to his sister’s birthday party at the weekend. Daniel’s mind is on lunch.
“Were you able to let those thoughts go and come back to your breath?” asks the teacher. They all nod confidently.
https://themindfulnessinitiative.org.uk
The Mindfulness Initiative is a policy institute that grew out of a program of mindfulness teaching in the UK Parliament.
They work with politicians around the world who practice mindfulness and help them to make capacities of heart and mind serious considerations of public policy.
As of January 2017, 145 British MPs and peers, and 250 staff, have completed an adapted 8-week Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy course in Westminster.
In 2013 they began presenting the scientific evidence on mindfulness to ministers, MPs and senior policy advisors.
Mindful Nation UK inquiry
The Mindfulness Initiative helped the Mindfulness All Party Parliamentary Group (MAAPG) carry out an inquiry into how mindfulness could be incorporated into UK services and institutions.
Bringing together scientists, practitioners, commissioners of services and policymakers together in a series of Parliamentary events, the Mindful Nation inquiry held eight hearings on topics including the workplace, mental health, education, criminal justice, and pain management.
Working papers from these discussions served as the foundation for the Mindful Nation UK report, which summarizes evidence-based recommendations. The report was launched in parliament on October 20th, 2015.
Key policy implications addressed in the report are:
Education
Can mindfulness in schools influence classroom behavior, attention and focus, help raise educational standards, and develop young people’s tools for well-being?
Healthcare
Can mindfulness reduce the incidence of mental health problems such as depression, as well as help tackle long-term health conditions and improve public health?
Work
Can mindfulness be a way to reduce stress and anxiety – and develop resilience, emotional intelligence and creativity – in the workplace?
Criminal Justice
Can mindfulness be a way to tackle depression, anxiety, stress in the criminal justice system?
Teaching standards
There is currently no formal accreditation process for mindfulness teachers. As interest in training grows, how can people be pointed towards good mindfulness teachers?
Is it for everyone?
Mindfulness is best considered an inherent human capacity akin to language acquisition; a capacity that enables people to focus on what they experience in the moment, inside themselves as well as in their environment, with an attitude of openness, curiosity and care.
We are all somewhat mindful some of the time, but we can choose to cultivate this faculty and refine it to ever-greater degrees through ‘mindfulness practice’.
Many people are helped by mindfulness practice, in a multitude of ways. But it would be misleading to claim therefore that mindfulness training is a panacea.
Every person faces a unique set of circumstances and challenges and, as we might reasonably expect, research has shown from the outset that the effectiveness of mindfulness differs with the individual.
(Drafted in collaboration with the Oxford Mindfulness Centre)
