Tough times call for tough people. Not only do we need some tough immune systems, we need tough minds.
Being quarantined at home and being asked to practice social distancing can have detrimental effects on our mental health. While social introverts rejoice and feel validated, many others are feeling alone and question how to spend their days.
There are several ways we can continue our mindfulness lifestyle and strengthen our mental resilience.
I have been working to follow posts from others, listening to podcasts, and do some researching to be able to provide resources to strengthen us all.
Please take some time to explore and add in the comments any you have.
During this time of global shut down, many zoo, museums, and national parks are putting together online options. This link below takes you on a journey through calming art around the world. Zen Art
Josh Gad, or as our children know him Olaf, is taking time to read nightly to children. Story time with Olaf
A variety of stories read by different celebrities. Storyline Online
Daily Yoga classes, each day focuses on a different age group Bee You Yoga
Here is a link that has previously been shared, but worth sharing again. Animals provide a great sense of calm, entertainment, and education. EarthCam - Animals
If the weather isn't cooperating and allowing for some outside time, here is a link to take virtual tours of 30 national parks. National Parks
Don't forget mindfulness is about the present moment. Fully experiencing the here and now. A fun way to immerse yourself in some Disney World rides is in the link below. Take a ride and fully commit to being present and see how great the experience can feel. Disney Rides
I have included a YouTube video of sounds of rain, as a nice back drop to this post.
This week we will talk about Tara Brach's acronym RAIN and mindful self compassion.
Tara adapted her RAIN from the work of Michele McDonald. Both follow the same RAI but vary when it comes to the N. Both have a beautiful way to look at the mindful practice of self compassion.
R: Recognize what is going on A: Allow the experience to be there, just as it is I: Investigate with interest and care N:(McDonald)Non-Identification, have the thought or feeling but not be it (Brach)Nurture with self-compassion
Brach shares that you can use RAIN as a stand-alone meditation or you can move through the steps whenever challenging feelings arise.
As I researched this topic and explored utilizing RAIN, I took time to relate it back to our basic definition of mindfulness.
At the beginning of the school year we started our mindful journey with the definition, "Paying attention, on purpose, without judgment."
Looking at RAIN you can begin to see connections to our definition.
R: Recognize or Pay Attention
A: Allow or With Out Judgement, simply accepting the feeling as being present
I: Investigate or On Purpose, having the intention of being with your feeling and understanding it
N: Non-Identification/Nurture- to me this last part is simply what we are striving to help ourselves and students achieve with the practice of mindfulness, the ability to have self-compassion and accept our feelings without becoming them.
Understanding each part of RAIN can help us explore and utilize it when it is needed.
R: Recognize What's Going On
This simply means to consciously acknowledge, in the present moment, the thoughts and feelings that are present and affecting you.
A: Allow the Experience to be There, Just as It Is
This means that you allow the feelings, thoughts, and emotions to be present without judgement and without trying to fix them.
As I explored the A, I thought about The Beatles song, Let It Be. Some of the lyrics really connected to mindfulness for me. The lyrics repeat over and over in various ways that in times of trouble find words of wisdom, let it be. "And when the brokenhearted people living in the world agree, there will be an answer, let it be." "And when the night is cloudy, there is still a light that shines on me, shine on until tomorrow, let it be."
The A in RAIN teaches us to feel our emotions and let them be. Mindfulness is our light, shinning until tomorrow. We can accept the feelings as real, present, and ours. We do not need to reject the feelings because we are sacred, angry, or confused. Mindfulness is teaching us to allow them to exist without judging them. As we move into the I of rain we can then investigate and begin to understand their presence in our lives.
I: Investigate with Interest and Care and Kindness
After we take time to recognize what emotions are arising within us, then we can take time to deepen our attention and explore or investigate. We can take time to get to know our feelings and truly understand them. Brach shares that we can begin to ask ourselves the questions, What emotion wants my attention? How am I experiencing the emotions in my body? What do I need?
Again, as we did with A, we are making sure to explore and investigate without judgement. Our emotions exist within us for a reason. To promote a more accepting self-view we need to ensure that we engage our feelings without judgement.
N: Nurture with Self-Compassion and Loving Awareness/ Non-Identification
Mindfulness brings us here, to our response. What do we need? What do our students need? What emotion have we explored and where did we feel it in our bodies? What nurturing does our body need if those feelings were not positive? This is where we rest and sense our feelings but do not become them. We can feel our anger, but not become it. We can feel our sadness, but not become it. We can then work on the healing feelings we need to invite into our bodies. Do we need reassurance? Forgiveness? Acceptance? Friendship? Love? Kindness? Compassion? Understanding? Think about what your students need. How can you help them work through RAI to get to N.
How can you help your students experience being in RAIN?
Try this week to take one letter a day to explore RAIN. Experience one RAIN drop of knowledge a day. Then on Friday, let it pour down RAIN. Take a few minutes to immerse your class in a healing RAIN shower.
This last link again reflects on Brach's RAIN and includes a mindful meditation practice you can utilize with your students once you have explored RAIN.
What level is the stress response of your students?
Dr. Robert Sapolsky wrote a book entitled; Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: Stress and Health, in this book he shares insight regarding human stress and health. Dr. Sapolsky shares that for animals, such as a zebra, stress response hormones are only turned on for a short time. His example is a lion chasing a zebra. The zebra turns on its stress hormones only during the chase. Once the zebra is safe the hormones are shut off. The typical time for the animal to run it’s stress hormones is a few seconds or minutes at a time.
In contrast, humans turn on stress hormones for any number of things which may be reasonable or even unreasonable. Humans then leave those stress responses turned on for hours, days, weeks, months, and for some years at a time. When we leave our stress hormones turned on our bodies turn off other hormones, such as growth hormones.
If we think about this information in relations to our students, after we are done stressing about what we are doing to our own bodies, we can begin to reflect more deeply on the need to engage in mindfulness.
Remember our statistic about mindfulness reducing teacher stress by 43%?
The website Mindworks.org reports that scientific research shows a mindfulness practice conducted for a few minutes, once a day, helps students be better able to cope with stress.
Many of our students turn on their stress response hormones as soon as they wake up in the morning. Many of our students live each day with stress hormones on daily.
Dr. Sapolsky shares in his lectures, which you can watch online, that history is full of examples of people who are considered abnormally small for non-genetic reasons. His example, that he states he finds over and over again in books is JM Berrie, the author of Peter Pan. JM came from a family of tall men and yet he reached only about 5'2". As a child JM's younger brother died. The son that died was the favorite child of JM's mother. Biographies of JM share that for the rest of his childhood JM's mother stayed in bed in a state of depression. When JM would visit her, she would make comments that she hoped her favorite son had returned, however when she saw who it was she would then say, "oh it's only you."
Imagine being addressed by someone who cares, not with your name, not with an endearing nickname, but with "oh it's only you."
This has me reflecting on the email shared by Mrs. Dixon. In case you don't remember I have included the image she had in her weekly email.
I have made it my mindful task this week to not only say "good morning friend", but to say a student's name. I want them to know I care. I want to mindfully reduce stress and help their bodies and minds be ready to grow.
A great mindfulness to reduce stress is our Butterfly Relaxation, which is a card I have in my mindfulness library. Inner Explorer also has several relaxation meditation sessions. Try one this week. With parent teacher conferences we need some stress reduction too.
I have found some other helpful resources I would like to share.
Rachael Kable also has a podcast called The Mindful Kind. #129 is called Mindfulness for Stress Prevention.
I encourage us all to take some time this week to have at least one mindfulness session focused on stress reduction. It can be as simple as turning down the lights, having on calming music, and reviewing butterfly breathing, spider man breathing, mountain breathing, and statue breathing. Another good stress reduction breathing is Pink Bubble Breathing. This is another breathing technique from my activity cards. You can teach your students to place stress into the bubble, while doing deep breathing, and release the bubble and let the stress float away.
