Mindfulness training has benefits for both teachers and students in educational settings. It can help strengthen attention and concentration in students while reducing anxiety. For teachers, mindfulness increases responsiveness to students' needs and supports stress management. Research shows that mindfulness practices can change the brain by strengthening areas responsible for attention, emotional control, and problem solving. Specifically, mindfulness cultivates skills like observing experiences without judgment, detaching from negative thoughts, and increasing self-compassion.

1. Mindfulness in the
Classroom
Jaimi Winters

2. mind·ful·ness
ˈmīn(d)f(ə)lnəs/
noun
1. the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something.
"their mindfulness of the wider cinematic tradition"
2. a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present
moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings,
thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.

3. Why Adults Need Mindfulness
Training:
“It is easy to get swept away on a strong current of thoughts and
feelings. We lose ourselves, and we lose track of what’s actually
happening around us. We are obsessed with something that happened
in the past, or we are frantically agitated about something that might
happen in the future. We are no longer present. Such moments in
which we lose our way can do great harm. They make us forgetful and
unaware. We are prone to accidents. We can be flooded with feelings
of fear and aggression. Many people who have committed acts of
violence speak of being lost to themselves in that moment.”

4. Why Kids Need Mindfulness
Training:
"Regardless of race, education, or socioeconomic status, an alarming
number of children and adolescents are being diagnosed with ADHD,
depression, anxiety, obesity, eating disorders, and addictions, and
engaging in cutting and other self-destructive behaviors, including
suicide."

5. Mindfulness and the Brain
There is a lot of recent research about the neuroplasticity of the brain and
on the positive impact of mindfulness practices. According to Dr. Kirk
Strosahl and Dr. Patricia Robinson, "research indicates that brain training
involving mindfulness practices can strengthen areas of the brain
responsible for attention, emotional control, and problem solving… There
is even emerging evidence that mindfulness-based brain training produces
permanent structural changes in the brain.”

6. What are the benefits of mindfulness
in educational settings?
For Teachers:
Increases responsiveness to students' needs.
Supports stress management and stress reduction.
Enhances classroom climate.
For Students:
Strengthens attention and concentration.
Reduces anxiety before testing.
Improves classroom participation.
Enhances social and emotional learning.

7. Specifically, mindfulness training can help with:
Observing: Our typical reaction to stress is bottom-up attention, which "originates in the core structures of
the limbic system and evolved to help us scan for immediate threats to our survival." Mindfulness training allows
us to shift to top-down attention, which "originates in the insula, a higher-order brain structure, [and] allows you to
shift your attention inward so you can monitor and regulate how your body is reacting to stress," and helps to
"visualize and implement solutions to stress-producing problems."
Detachment: "If you get absorbed in a negative appraisal, like telling yourself that feeling angry isn't okay
because you should be positive... the neural circuitry responsible for exerting a calming influence isn't being
activated. This leaves the limbic system in a state of constant arousal... Acceptance of emotion without the need
to react... triggers PNS [parasympathetic nervous system] activation, which in turn reduces activity of the arousal
centers of the limbic system."
Self-Compassion: "Compassion-based mindfulness practice increases the density of gray matter in
certain areas of the brain... involved in learning and memory processes, as well as emotional control, self-
awareness, and perspective taking... It also appears that the experience of compassion for oneself and others
strengthens neural circuitry responsible for regulating the activity of the amygdala, the brain center involved in
producing negative emotions."

8. Resources Used
Jupiterimages Corporation, (2003). Young family waving from a boat.
[Image]. Available from http://www.discoveryeducation.com/
Discovery Education, . Close up Front View of Boy Reading Book
with Pictures. [Image]. Available from
http://www.discoveryeducation.com/
Discovery Education, . Wide Shot of Girl Smiling. [Image]. Available
from http://www.discoveryeducation.com/
IRC, (2005). Vermont, a home.. [Image]. Available from
http://www.discoveryeducation.com/
Paul Fuqua, (2005). Clouds, cumulus (2). [Image]. Available from
http://www.discoveryeducation.com/
Living, Learning, & Teaching with Mindful Awareness. (n.d.). Retrieved
November 26, 2015, from http://www.mindfulteachers.org/p/benefits-
of-mindfulness.html