Mindfulness Helps Win the Race

 ****This was set to go out last week and then the full moon and eclipse took over and our students kept me busy. As you read the beginning of this blog keep in mind it was typed out last week and I didn't want to edit it. *****

Endurance 

We are simply trying to make it through Friday, a full moon, and a lunar eclipse. And then the final week before spring break. We are simply attempting to find endurance.

In 2018 studies found mindfulness trending up.

In 2020 Google Trends showed mindfulness had dropped by a 1/3.

Here we are in 2025 seeing more and more research showing us that mindfulness has more benefits beyond calming students, focusing brains, and helping to reduce stress.

Recent studies show that athletes who regularly practice mindfulness (one study used a baseline of at least 41.7 minutes a week) showed more endurance and less mental fatigue. 

If athletes gain endurance and reduce mental fatigue utilizing mindfulness, we too can use mindfulness to endure the week before spring break. We too can reduce our metal fatigue. We can also help our students do the same.

As I researched this topic I thought of Aesop's fable, The Tortoise and the Hare. This could almost be a story of mindful endurance verse distracted overconfidence. When we think we do not need mindfulness and become overconfident we allow distractions to control our brain and thus our actions. Yet when we mindfully keep pace and have a focus, we can accomplish our goals.

Think about ways you can use mindfulness to gain endurance. Think about how you can use it to help your students.

Here is a fun mindfulness that came to mind as I thought about the tortoise....

Have students hold out their hand, palm up. Ask them to imagine a tiny turtle on their hand. Share that like turtles we need to move slow with our breath. Have them a deep breath in. Then while breathing out slowly encourage them to imagine the tiny turtle slowly walking across the hand. 

Here is a mindful turtle coloring page which is free on TPT. 

After you teach your students the turtle breath give them the coloring page and allow some quiet mindfulness time. Encourage them to be the mindful tortoise and be slow and steady with their coloring. Encourage them to take time to be calm, quit, and color the very best they can.

Slow and Steady.... Mindful Endurance helps win the race.