Inquiry Blog #8

rswaile

I’ve now completed my 5 weeks of trying different mindfulness techniques. I enjoyed doing this more than I thought I would. I figured that by mid-week of every week I would lose motivation, but I didn’t. I was motivated through the whole week, each week. I was, however, surprised some weeks to see how my view on an approach changed between the first day doing it, and the last day doing it. Below I have ranked the mindfulness strategies that I thought benefited me most, and why, as well as which techniques I would use in a classroom environment.

Mindfulness for Myself:

  1. Body Scans:
    • These provided instant calmness for myself
    • The week was able to prove that body scans work for me when I’m upset or in a rough mindset
    • They are quick and simple, meaning that they can be done anywhere and whenever (often done in less than 5 minutes)
    • Body scans are self-paced so I can take as long or as short as I want on them and can chose how I move through them
  2. Guided Meditation
    • They were successful in calming me down, so much so that I could feel the physical effects to know it was happening (slowed breathing, clear mind, etc.)
    • Throughout the week there were very few times that my mind wandered during guided meditations (even then, it wasn’t wandering much)
    • Guided meditations were instantly calming in most cases (within a few minutes of the start of the audio)
    • One issue with this was that some audios were harder to be mindful during due to voice tone, speed, etc., so the audio chosen is important
  3. Colouring
    • My mind cleared a lot during colouring, but not as much as some of the other practices did
    • The level of difficulty in colouring sheet affects how mindful it was (harder ones made me a bit frustrated and bored, causing my mind to wander)
    • People can colour while doing other things (watching a show, listening to music or a podcast, maybe even cooking dinner) which makes it easier to incorporate into a busy day
  4. Yoga
    • I found that my mind wandered more than any of the previous techniques during yoga
    • I enjoyed doing it, but more for how it felt physically to do it (stretching feels good for the muscles) rather than how mindful I felt during it
    • If you are following a yoga video, like with guided meditations, the video that you choose matters
    • I preferred doing static, and slow yoga, over flow yoga
    • Yoga and stretching can also be done throughout the day (while watching TV, when going to sleep/winding down)
    • The only reason keeping it below colouring is because I enjoyed it for its feel rather than mindfulness ability
  5. Outdoor Walks
    • I don’t recall any days where walks cleared my mind anywhere close to as much as the other methods did
    • It can be time consuming depending on the type of walk you want to go on
    • You have to have enough time in your day to make this happen (I likely wouldn’t have had enough time if it wasn’t for reading break the week that I did walks)
    • One positive thing I will say though, is that going for walks in the summer and spring, when birds and flowers are out, may make this a more mindful activity

Mindfulness in the Classroom:

  1. Body Scans
    • Students can easily do this on their own
    • Body scans can be led by the teacher or an online audio which allows for this to be a group activity too when the class has high energy
    • They can be done wherever (classroom, hallway, recess, gym)
    • Body scans can be short, which means that a student can step out of the class for a minute or two to do one if they are overwhelmed
    • It can easily be adjusted to fit the student’s needs
  2. Guided Meditation
    • This is a great activity that students can do as a class together
    • It is a bit difficult to do individually as students would need some sort of device to play the audio
    • Guided meditations are effective in bringing energy levels down
    • There are varying lengths for audios, from 3 minutes to 15 minutes which allows for easier incorporation into a day’s schedule
  3. Colouring
    • I’ve seen students get really calm and focused in the past when they are colouring
    • Colouring sheets can be geared towards their interests
    • Colouring can be an activity to re-group them (start of the day or after recess)
    • A negative part of colouring in a classroom is that students will likely get upset or frustrated if they can’t finish their colouring sheet in the time given to them
  4. Outdoor Walks
    • Walks are a great way for students to get their energy out and re-group
    • There often isn’t time in the schedule to allow for walks
    • Students get very distracted and excited when with their friends which means they would likely not be practicing much mindfulness in the moment, but might be much more calm afterwards from this energy release (allowing students time to socialize with their friends like this is great, but if you are wanting mindfulness in the moment, this might not be the best option)
  5. Yoga
    • Yoga isn’t very practical in a classroom setting (time and especially space)
    • Students have varying abilities and may not be able to participate in this
    • Serves as a good option for a mind or body break in the day
    • I’ve observed children getting a bit silly with their friends when they are doing some yoga poses (eg. downward dog, table top, cobra)
    • The only thing keeping it last on the list is the space issue because it would be hard to do with limited space (unless you take it outside, or it only happens in a gym class)

As it turns out, what works for me is quite similar to the methods that would work in a classroom. I’m looking forward to trying out these methods in my classroom in the future to see if my rankings hold true, or whether the order completely changes.