12:10:10 Hi everyone want to thank and welcome Shelley Murphy, who will be presenting trauma sensitive mindfulness for classrooms today.
12:10:18 Shelly is a former classroom teacher and a lecturer and researcher here at Boise, she's extensive training in the science and practice of trauma sensitive mindfulness, and has been a mindfulness practitioner and educator for over 20 years, Shelley developed
12:10:33 and teaches the mindfulness and education course that Boise, and is the recipient of a mindful societies 2019 Michelle Siobhan spirit of Leadership Award for her work and research in the field.
12:10:45 Her book on mindfulness for children and classroom settings and beyond, fostering mindfulness, was published in 2019 and Shelley also leads our monthly mindfulness community of practice sessions, that's also part of the lazy wellness program and that's
12:11:01 every Mondays, or sorry, first Monday of every first or second lesson. So the final Monday actually was the last Monday of every month. Sorry.
12:11:12 So welcome Shelley, just also wanted to let everyone know that we are recording this session, and that there are a number of resources on our Boise wellness website, in case you ever feel overwhelmed or, or need help coping.
12:11:26 So I'll pass it over to Michelle, welcome.
12:11:29 Thank you area and thank you it's great to be back in the Boise wellness program community and offering this Lunch and Learn and I want to apologize on the offset for this leg.
12:11:43 I was just trying to work out those technical glitches I haven't had a lag in two years of teaching zoom online. And this is the first so my apologies for that and hopefully it corrects itself.
12:11:54 As we go through.
12:11:55 So as Aaron mentioned today the session is focused on trauma sensitive mindfulness, and I'm a trauma sensitive mindfulness teacher and practitioner. And I know many of you are mindfulness practice, practice mindfulness yourself have brought mindfulness
12:12:13 into the classroom or interested in doing so, this is a very big topic, and we have a very short period of time together but I wanted to introduce you to some of the aspects of trauma sensitive mindfulness that might help you in your own practice or if
12:12:28 you're thinking about, or do bring mindfulness, to others.
12:12:32 So I wanted to.
12:12:41 Hopefully there's no lag with our PowerPoint here. Okay, so far so good.
12:12:44 Okay.
12:12:46 So I wanted to start as a way to honor the land on which we're situated to share with you some writing by Richard Walker nice, who was from the Ojibwe nation and Northwestern first nation in Northwestern Ontario and he wrote one of my favorite books called
12:13:03 ambers one of Jim ways meditations, and he was just recently came out with another book called, what comes from SPIRIT and He practiced mindfulness and wrote so beautifully about it and so I thought for today i'd share another piece of this writing with
12:13:21 you.
12:13:23 He wrote, I spent part of last night tuning guitars after two weeks away slowly carefully consciously easing each string on five instruments closer to their perfect pitch.
12:13:36 I use the same tuner for each one. Then I played some music.
12:13:41 It struck me then how if we are tuned to the same standard. We are tuned to each other.
12:13:46 So if, as a human family we are tuned to unity, or harmony or love or any spiritual quality. the music we produce together becomes grander, just as a guitar played alone is not nearly nearly as majestic as one played in community.
12:14:04 One note is a vibration, changing a room. 1 million notes are energy, changing the planet so as I think about us coming together as a community to either you are committed to mindfulness yourself are interested in practicing or bringing mindfulness to
12:14:21 others.
12:14:22 And I think about the power of that, and the ripple effect. And so I think what Richard welcome is wrote really speaks to that around each one of us a note, and the opportunity to change the world around us and I don't say that lightly because I think
12:14:38 it's true, and possible so thank you for being here.
12:14:43 So I wanted to start with the pole and just get a sense of your experience in what you are bringing to this time together today.
12:14:52 So the first question is, what is your personal experience with mindfulness.
12:14:57 And the second one is what is your prior experience with introducing mindfulness to children, youth, or adults
12:15:06 moment to complete that.
12:15:45 Okay,
12:15:50 we've got most folks, I think we'll just wait a couple more seconds if anyone else wants to.
12:16:00 Okay.
12:16:03 So here we go.
12:16:06 So just getting a sense of.
12:16:10 We have a few folks who have not practiced mindfulness so this might be a bit more of an introduction.
12:16:15 26% of you've been practicing mindfulness for less than a year, over half of you've been practicing for more than years we have a lot of experienced practitioners in our room, and your prior experience with introducing mindfulness to youth.
12:16:30 Over half of you have not introduced mindfulness to others 17% currently or have recently taught mindfulness to others. 14% are currently teaching, or have recently taught mindfulness, to adults, and I used to teach.
12:16:45 Okay, so we have lot of expertise and experience in the room, and some, and, and an equal measures folks that have not brought mindfulness to others, and some folks who are new to mindfulness so thank you for that it gives me a sense of where you are
12:17:00 and where to land with more weight in certain areas of this time together today.
12:17:07 It's this is not an introduced introduction into mindfulness in general, because the focus is on mindfulness trauma sensitive mindfulness, but I will touch on some introductory aspects.
12:17:18 So I'll talk a little bit about what mindfulness is if anyone needs a reminder or if you're new to mindfulness, a little bit about stress trauma and mindfulness and that interconnection which is why we're here today.
12:17:30 And then some key considerations again this is a short time together but I think some fundamentals to think about, with your own practice, and if you're thinking about bringing mindfulness to others and then an invitation to practice.
12:17:44 And the reason why this is a topic, it's an area of ongoing learning for me, I'm trained in trauma sensitive mindfulness and I'm conducting research in the area as well is because and as a class former classroom teacher.
12:18:02 We know that in any space that we're in, whether that's with students with adults, there will be at least one person who has experienced actually a handful of people who have experienced chronic, and traumatic stress.
12:18:16 And I would argue in the research would really say at one point at any point, each one of us has experienced traumatic stress.
12:18:23 And we don't have to look far for that if we think about the last couple of years in the midst of the ongoing pandemic and the challenges that are the uncertainty around that and the changing goalpost of it.
12:18:37 That That in itself is an experience of ongoing traumatic stress. So none of us is immune.
12:18:46 And so thinking about our own practice, and how you know the assumption is that mindfulness, that mindfulness practice in general, is that we all have the capacity to practice mindfulness and benefit from it.
12:19:00 And the truth is that not everyone is at a place where they're able to practice mindfulness safely. Unless we introduce it in ways that are trauma sensitive because we want to be able to scaffold just for teachers in the room and educators, the way we
12:19:17 differentiate our instruction if we're teaching anything. We want to make sure that we're offering mindfulness, or practicing mindfulness in a way that meets our own needs.
12:19:22 When it comes to trauma, so we'll talk a little bit about that today.
12:19:27 So what is mindfulness, so in general and it's been defined in many ways mindfulness is our innate capacity to pay full unconscious attention to something in the moment it's the quality of presence we bring to everything that we do, and Jon Kabat Zinn,
12:19:43 who is the founder of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction which is an eight week program and he was one of the core people who brought mindfulness to the west, back in the 70s,
12:19:57 he defines mindfulness, as paying attention on purpose in the present moment, without judgment.
12:20:03 And so Bo and there are many different definitions my training starts from my very first introduction into mindfulness was through mindfulness based stress reduction in late 90s.
12:20:15 And there are many entry points to mindfulness and that's just one.
12:20:19 But I'll introduce just sort of an overarching quick definition mindfulness can be seen and understood as a state, a trade and a practice. So as a state it's non static it's something that we can tap into in and out of throughout the day and typically
12:20:36 we get there through practice so it's not a static state we cannot be in a, in a 24 hour state of mindfulness not even monks who have been practicing mindfulness for 50 years can do that.
12:20:50 So it's static, and we can cultivate it and I'll get into how we cultivate that when we talk about practice. So that's a state of mindfulness and typically we get into that, after we've practiced mindfulness, for 510 1520 minutes whatever length of time
12:21:05 we practice.
12:21:07 And there's traits of mindfulness and that's more of a disposition and it's less static it becomes a tendency for us. So it's our capacity or a tendency to be in mindful states.
12:21:19 And with however many of us are in the room we have a lovely large group today we're all going to have different trait mindfulness different levels of trade mindfulness and often it depends on if we practice mindfulness, how often we practice mindfulness.
12:21:35 So the traits of mindfulness can be cultivated through the next definition of mindfulness which is mindfulness practice and mindfulness practice is how we pursue states of mindfulness so if we practice mindfulness we might get into mindful state in the
12:21:51 moment.
12:21:53 But if we practice over a sustained period of time and there's lots of research, a lot of it coming, most of it coming from research on Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction which is a program of eight weeks, that the research shows that when we have an
12:22:06 ongoing regular practice of at least eight weeks or longer, that we can tap into traits of mindfulness, meaning we are more likely to have a predisposition to be mindful, to have the default state of mindfulness in our waking hours.
12:22:22 So there's the state trade and practice of mindfulness. So we're going to talk about today how the practice of mindfulness, so how we pursue those states and traits of mindfulness can how we can do that in trauma sensitive way so we can support the Safety
12:22:39 and stability of our own cells when we're practicing and others if we're bringing mindfulness to others.
12:22:46 So how we pursue mindfulness is through mindfulness practice and often we do this by focusing our attention on something it's often called an anchor, we call it an anchor because we choose something so oftentimes it's the breath and that's how most of
12:23:01 us are introduced to mindfulness it's not always comfortable for everyone and we'll get into that, why that is a little later, but an anchor can be a breath, it can be sounds, it can be the feeling of your feet on the ground.
12:23:15 It can be a mantra, and image. There are many entry points for practicing mindfulness and the anchor, is how we sustain our attention so if you see the image of the boat.
12:23:25 You think of a boat that's at the shore in the middle of an ocean, if the elements, get a little treacherous or the water gets wavy that boat will start to wander but never too far because the anchor will continuously and repeatedly.
12:23:40 Bring the boat back. That's the same thing with an anchor for attention remember practicing mindfulness so if you choose the breath to focus on so you might decide okay I'm going to practice mindfulness for five minutes, And I'm just going to notice my
12:23:55 breath as I breathe in, and I, as I breathe out, you'll notice very quickly within probably 20 seconds or so that your mind will wander.
12:24:05 That's the nature of the mind, you're not doing it wrong, you're actually doing it right. If your mind wanders because it will.
12:24:11 When you notice that your mind is wandered. That's the practice that's the Golden Nugget you notice I'm supposed to be practicing mindfulness supposed to be focusing on my breath, and you bring your attention back to your breath, or the sounds in the
12:24:25 room or a mantra or a visual.
12:24:28 It's that repeated redirection that changes the structure and function of the brain to make us more mindful to get us into that state of mindfulness after practice.
12:24:38 And over time, to have more treat mindfulness, meaning that we're more likely to default to be mindful, in the midst of our day.
12:24:47 And we did help with that because Harvard studies show that our mind wander 47% of the time of our waking hours, and that that mind wandering contributes to levels of greater unhappiness so it's really important to be able to cultivate those states of
12:25:04 mindfulness because we want to be able to be more present, because there's a whole host of benefits for doing that.
12:25:10 So that anchor for our attention is what is part of our mindfulness practice, and so is the mind wandering and I can't stress that enough. Because many people try mindfulness practice and say I'm terrible at it my mind wanders, and they give up, and I
12:25:25 want to remind you that distraction.
12:25:28 Your mind wandering away from your anchor is part of the practice and Sharon Salzberg who is a wonderful mindfulness teacher says that the healing of mindfulness practice is in the return.
12:25:41 Not in never having left meaning the healing is in the return over and over again. When you get distracted.
12:25:49 So the whole there are a whole host of benefits to mindfulness practice and here's a graph showing the number of studies that have been done. Each year over the years and in 2020 where we have the most up to date data.
12:26:01 There were 1100 and 53 studies alone. That year, have focused on mindfulness so there's an increase of course interest in mindfulness and in studying mindfulness on the right hand side is just a sliver of some of what the benefits are increases in attention
12:26:18 focus executive functioning increases and experiences of resilience and well being more empathy and perspective taking. I think this area of research is so exciting reductions and prejudice, age, and race bias increases in our ability to regulate our
12:26:36 emotions and our impulses reductions in stress and anxiety and reduction in post traumatic stress disorder symptoms so we know that mindfulness benefits in these myriad ways and mindfulness can actually help us manage our ongoing experiences of stress,
12:26:54 whether that's traumatic stress or post traumatic stress disorder.
12:27:00 But we also know that if it's not offered in trauma sensitive ways it can actually exacerbate traumatic stress and post traumatic stress disorder which is why it's so important to be that it's offered in ways that are trauma sensitive.
12:27:15 So I want to just dial back a little bit and talk about the mechanism of stress a little bit because I think this helps us to understand why mindfulness can be supportive and why trauma sensitive mindfulness is key.
12:27:28 So this is an image, and this comes from Daniel Siegel Pat again and can't remember. Andrew Levine, I think.
12:27:39 But Daniel Siegel coined the term window of tolerance so this is an image, within those dotted lines is an optimally working nervous system and throughout the day we experience what's called arousal activation or activation of our sympathetic nervous
12:27:55 system and that's basically our stress response and stress isn't in the nervous system actually doesn't know the difference between good stress and negative stress so bit stressed might be that you are energized for presentation so my nervous system was
12:28:09 getting energized in preparation for this Lunch and Learn might be energized for an assignment you're doing being prepared to teach. It's not necessarily bad it prepares us for performance or prepares us for optimal experiences.
12:28:25 So there's this, but there's also the stress that we experience negatively, and so both of those happened throughout the day, ongoing on and off all day.
12:28:35 So we had this activation of our sympathetic nervous system which is our stress response, or sometimes called fight or flight.
12:28:43 And then we have a settling, and the settling is our parasympathetic nervous system or what's often called rest and digest so we have this throughout the day, activation and calming activation and calming, that's an optimally working.
12:28:58 Nervous System.
12:28:58 Those dotted lines represent being in what's called our window of tolerance meaning, we have the tools and strategies and resources to be able to manage that stress throughout the day.
12:29:11 We are able to discharge the stress that we experience and we're equipped to be able to manage it.
12:29:19 What an end for all of us in the room there are over 40 of us in the room right now and there'll be many folks viewing this after the fact, for anyone viewing this.
12:29:29 We might be exposed to the same stress or, But experienced the stress in very different ways.
12:29:37 So that how we experience with stress and how it lands in our body can be a very personalized response, we may not be able to control the stressor. At the moment we certainly cannot control the paint we can do so in our own way, by masking by doing all
12:29:53 the things we know research is showing can can help us stay safe and help help others stay safe.
12:29:59 But in the bigger scheme of things we personally cannot control the pandemic.
12:30:04 And, but what we can do is control our response to it. And we're just wants to the stress of it.
12:30:11 And so, how we experience that stress. Depends on how we source we are to be able to discharge the stress and it's different for everyone.
12:30:21 And if we are not resourced if we don't have those coping strategies if we don't do mindfulness, or yoga or however it is mindfulness is not a panacea it's not for everyone.
12:30:32 Everyone has their own way of managing stress. If you have the resources to manage that stress, then you can often discharge or metabolize that stress we stay in those dotted lines you stay in your window of tolerance.
12:30:46 If you don't have the capacity to manage that stress we get outside of those lines, outside of our window of tolerance.
12:30:55 And if we have these ongoing experiences of stress, which we have over the last two years, we can easily get outside of so stress upon stress upon stress gets outside of what we're able to manage, even when we have these resources.
12:31:11 Sometimes it's beyond what we're able to manage.
12:31:14 So when we get outside of those lines, we're not able to manage the stress, we're less able to be focused we get more distracted. It's more difficult to have these interpersonal relationships with people in terms of having the capacity, not to be overwhelmed.
12:31:30 We are less able to, when we go into the stress response for were more reactive and responsive. There's a whole host and cascade of responses that happen when we get outside of our window of tolerance and one of those is a trauma.
12:31:49 So here's the continuum of our experience of stress. So in the very bottom, is this nonspecific experience of stress. And as I mentioned before, it doesn't, our nervous system doesn't recognize whether it's positive or negative stress and throughout the
12:32:04 the day we can have stress that's not necessarily landing negatively it's just preparing us for performance.
12:32:12 But then as we continue it as stress compounds. And we have experiences of stress over and over again, day after day after day, it can be experienced as traumatic stress and Pat, Oregon, who is an expert in trauma defines traumatic stress as any event
12:32:31 or series of events that is stressful enough to leave us feeling helpless terrified and profoundly unsafe and often that comes because we have a sense of a lack of safety and a lack of control, and every one of us in the room has likely based on what
12:32:46 research tells us, experienced traumatic stress, but we don't have to stay fixed there we experienced traumatic stress for a whole host of reasons but typically we were able to get past it over time.
12:32:59 If we have, we don't have the resources to do that or we experienced traumatic stress after traumatic stress, after traumatic stress. We can go into what is called post traumatic stress, which means that stress response response lands in our bodies and
12:33:15 stays with us for longer period of time.
12:33:18 And so if we aren't able to metabolize or discharge that you can go into a clinical diagnosis called post traumatic stress disorder and that's the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual defines stress it is experienced over a three month period or longer,
12:33:37 past the traumatic event. So there are a whole host of things that contribute to whether we can go into PTSD.
12:33:45 But when we're thinking about mindfulness and we know that mindfulness can actually mindfulness has been used in therapeutic and clinical settings to support and heal folks who have experienced post traumatic stress disorder and post traumatic stress
12:34:00 and traumatic stress.
12:34:03 And it has to be offered in ways that are trauma sensitive because we know from research, it can be highly triggering as well.
12:34:10 So mindfulness and the research really shows this that experiences of mindfulness practice, help us with emotion regulation help us to recognize our emotions to be able to manage our emotions, helps us to focus our attention meaning we're less likely
12:34:25 to be drawn down the rabbit hole, and sometimes when we're triggered into a stress response we might have a thought something that reminds us of something that was traumatic.
12:34:36 But being drawn into the rabbit hole of it is which was is what often takes us into triggering that traumatic stress again.
12:34:44 So mindfulness can help us bring our attention to where we want it to be and keep it there. So we know from research that mindfulness helps us heal from that traumatic stress experience.
12:34:56 And then body awareness, oftentimes trauma lands in the body. And so bringing awareness to how that stress is landing in our bodies can help to discharge it.
12:35:06 But we also know that if mindfulness is not offered in trauma sensitive ways it can trigger it because my because trauma is often experienced in the body, it can be uncomfortable for folks to be asked to bring attention to, sometimes their breath sometimes
12:35:23 their body in in ways that are not keeping trauma at the forefront while we do that.
12:35:30 So we can invite folks into practice and trauma sensitive ways to keep their safety and stability at the forefront, it doesn't mean that folks who have experienced traumatic stress, or who have experienced post traumatic stress or even currently in post
12:35:44 traumatic stress. It's not that they shouldn't practice mindfulness, it's that we need to be really to recognize the ways that we can invite ourselves into practice or others into practice in ways that make sure that safety and stability or kept at the
12:36:00 forefront.
12:36:01 So how do we do that and I am moving through this and lightning speed because we have very short time together I want to go over some of this, and then invite you into a trauma sensitive practice.
12:36:12 So the first way we do this is to begin with your own practice. And I've gone through multiple trainings and courses over the years for mindfulness, and each and every one of them.
12:36:23 The majority of the training I would say predominantly. The training is about cultivating our own practice.
12:36:30 The and we know from research that when we practice mindfulness ourselves. There's this ripple effect, if we're bringing mindfulness to others, or if we're teaching so so many of you in the room are educators.
12:36:43 The research shows if you didn't invite others to practice mindfulness if you didn't introduce mindfulness to others. Just your own practice has because you practice it offers an experience of ease and calm in your classroom.
12:36:58 And I like to think of us as the educators and our students, as this collective nervous system.
12:37:06 And for you at the helm, if you are present. If you're able to tap into states of calm if you're able to manage your stress. There's this ripple effect in the nervous system of the classroom so that your students are going to be able to tap into.
12:37:20 into a greater sense of ease and calm, even if you never introduced mindfulness to them.
12:37:26 So mindfulness practice must always start with our own practice.
12:37:40 It is.
12:37:40 I would say, professionally. It's a big misstep and I would say it's even unprofessional to bring mindfulness into settings. If you don't practice mindfulness yourself because having an understanding of mindfulness means that you can more skillfully support
12:37:49 others in their own mindfulness practice so begin with your own practice as a way to offer trauma sensitive mindfulness, and you're going to, you're more easily going to be attuned to the experiences of others practicing mindfulness.
12:38:03 If you have your own practice.
12:38:05 So, the other very big consideration for trauma sensitive mindfulness, though we know that mindfulness.
12:38:13 The research shows that mindfulness supports social emotional and cognitive development helps to build resilience and well being, for ourselves and for our students.
12:38:23 We need to pull back the lens and recognize that there are social conditions that negatively impact well being and resilience so thinking and recognizing and acknowledging the social impact of racism so social injustice, discrimination, all forms of social
12:38:44 injustice. And that and recognize that our world, if we're if we're an educator in the group that our role as teachers, is to our role is to as a teacher is to do equity work teaching work and equity work go tandem they are not separate and apart.
12:39:03 And so, Again, if you're introducing mindfulness in your classroom setting.
12:39:07 Making sure that equity and social justice are at the forefront means that you are offering opportunities for for trauma sensitive mindfulness.
12:39:17 So these are some general trauma sensitive considerations for the classroom. So again, as I said, identify and challenge unjust structures systems and policies, as part of your role.
12:39:30 Recognize that it can take time for students to trust students who are coming into the classroom having had traumatic experiences or adverse childhood experiences as it's called, or who are currently experiencing trauma, it can take a while for them to
12:39:46 build trust.
12:39:46 Know that you as the educator maybe the first experience they've had with stability and with caring and kindness and maybe even just an inkling of a feeling of safety.
12:39:59 Knowing that disruptive behavior in the classroom is telling us about students needs or unmet need. So, for some students, their behaviors are actually adaptive meaning those behaviors were set up to keep them safe in their household for example if it
12:40:14 wasn't safe to be in their household. So those same behaviors that show up in the classroom, can seem disruptive but actually it's actually adaptive they're thinking about ways and behaving in ways that may be kept kept them safe at home so maybe being
12:40:28 the clown at home to disrupt an abusive parent doesn't work as well in the classroom when they're clowning in the classroom, but in some ways it's been adaptive because it's helped to keep them safe in that's just one example, but to think about that.
12:40:43 And then to frame your understanding of the student instead of what's wrong with this student.
12:40:48 What happened to this student and how is their behavior adaptive.
12:40:53 And so not to accept the behavior but to work with the behavior and work with the student. So you can build safety and stability and then work towards behavior that's more conducive to the classroom.
12:41:03 And then giving students the opportunity to learn about their emotions their responses to manage them, and then to build the capacity to be able to manage their stress through strategies like mindfulness.
12:41:16 So here are some of those strategies that are trauma sensitive in terms of mindfulness specifically.
12:41:22 So letting it seems like very simple but letting students know how long a practice will last. So I've been in many spaces where teachers and have been invited into practice myself or someone will say, okay, we're going to practice.
12:41:33 Close your eyes and then they launched into a practice and, for me, the alarm bells go off I think how long am I going to be practicing is this two minutes is this five minutes is is 20 minutes it can be very unsettling, especially for someone who has
12:41:49 experienced trauma without, there's a lack of feeling of control and safety for this so simply saying this practice will be three minutes will be five minutes however long can is trauma sensitive eyes opened or closed, and I still continue to be in spaces
12:42:03 where someone who's leading practice they say Now close your eyes. When someone has experienced trauma can be very unsettling to close eye so we want to invite students, or anyone or for ourselves in practice to keep the eyes open, and maybe invite folks
12:42:18 to just lower their gaze or be unfocused but never compelling someone to close their eyes.
12:42:23 Finding a comfortable posture and a comfortable posture can be sitting, standing line down now this can be challenging for us in the classroom when we're thinking about what it's supposed to look like in a traditional classroom but we need to really widen
12:42:39 what the expectations are because not everyone feels comfortable sitting or sitting still, it can be very just regulating normalizing break so if someone's in the midst of practice, you can save the startup at the start and I'll invite you into a brief
12:42:53 practice where I'll model this. If you need to take break in the midst of practice, feel free to do that.
12:42:59 And that can be really freeing for someone who starts to feel really claustrophobic in practice, recognizing that the breath is not always neutral, I think, because the breath is often the entry point through which most people are introduced and invited
12:43:14 into practice it can seem like the message can be sent that the breath is neutral. the breath is not always neutral for everyone and because the respiratory system, through which we breathe is connected to our sympathetic so our breathing pattern or respiratory
12:43:30 system is connected to our sympathetic nervous system. Our fight or flight system.
12:43:35 So for anyone who's experienced trauma, not everyone but for many folks, focusing on their breathing can be to activating even triggering.
12:43:44 So the breath is not always neutral so you can still invite you can invite everyone into practicing by focusing on their breath but you want to give other entry points for practice different anchors.
12:43:57 So, the next point is front loading a choice of anchor so you might say, I'm going to invite you now to focus on your breathing for anyone who's not focused on your breathing you might focus on the sounds in the room.
12:44:08 So keeping your eyes closed or your eyes open and your gaze drop, and just notice the coming and going of sound. And when your mind wanders come back to focusing on the sound, or you might say, pick pick an object the tree out your window, something in
12:44:22 your room, keep focusing on that object as your anchor. And when you get distracted come back to it, or it can be a mantra. So the anchor doesn't have to be a breath.
12:44:33 It doesn't mean you're not going to invite folks into focusing on their breath, it just means you give options and choice and that's what's trauma sensitive.
12:44:43 Practice should be optional now when we're inviting mindful, inviting really young students into practice. We don't want to start off with the option because then students aren't even going to give it a try.
12:44:53 So we want to invite folks to try it. And then it'd be optional and what I found in my years because I brought mindfulness into my teaching when I was in the elementary teaching classroom is that when students have some trauma responses or they don't
12:45:08 first come to mindfulness, they often will, as they observe other students practicing and you as the educator practicing, they will eventually come to practice and often those students are the ones that end up needing it most track for signs of dysregulation
12:45:23 so this is about getting to know your students and dysregulation might be red in the face escalated breathing pattern, it can sometimes be tapping the ruler or getting dis regulate in terms of behavior, only you know your students, you'll get a sense
12:45:36 of what seems like dysregulation once you get to know them, fostering connection again that sense of safety and stability as much as you can as the teacher so important, personal boundaries, especially when folks are practicing mindfulness.
12:45:51 And if their eyes are closed, making sure that you're not even just tapping someone on the shoulder can be passed a personal boundary and can be uncomfortable especially for people who have experienced trauma, and then resourcing yourself for your students
12:46:04 with tools for grounding.
12:46:07 And this is one, this is the last tool I want to share with you because it's a big one, and for anyone who in the group who has recognized their own trauma and has had a challenging time with practice.
12:46:21 I teach mindfulness, to adults and two children I teach the courses airy mentioned, mindfulness and education theory and practice and as part of the course a big part of the course is ongoing personal practice and many graduate students over the years
12:46:35 when they've kept the log of their experience, and in feedback from teachers and anyone I brought mindfulness to is that, in the midst of practice sometimes there can be especially for new to practice.
12:46:48 It can be somewhat dysregulation just regulating to suddenly be in stillness, because our thoughts can just come racing at us and it can be very dis regulating, especially with experienced trauma.
12:46:59 So we want to give these tools to be able to be in practice.
12:47:05 Go out of practice and then come back in because if we don't have a feeling of safety and stability, we can't get into a state, or even traits of mindfulness because we don't have that sense of safety to do so.
12:47:16 So we do this through what's called inner resourcing and grounding.
12:47:21 So we have this outer resource experience so many people have outer resources so it might be being with a friend, it might be playing some soothing music for some people it might be going for a run going for a walk, yoga playing an instrument, listening
12:47:36 to a podcast. Those are outer resources that often we turn to for self care and promoting our well being.
12:47:43 This is talking about inner resourcing, so something you can do when you're turning inward at any time. It doesn't have to be in the midst of practice, but especially in the midst of practice.
12:47:54 And this is something that for example I'm part of a team at Toronto Sick Kids hospital, and we've been doing research on the benefits of mindfulness for children who are going through treatment for cancer, and ahead of inviting them into practice, we
12:48:09 invite them to find an inner resource because when someone's experiences, ongoing fear and trauma and pain. And the example of children who are experiencing treatment for cancer, it can be really tough to be in stillness and quiet and then focus on your
12:48:26 thoughts are focused on your anchor.
12:48:28 So they're invited to find an inner resource, so that if they're practicing mindfulness instead of just putting on the brake and leaving practice and then likely not coming back to it because it's too uncomfortable or just regulating they're invited to
12:48:41 put the brake temporarily on their practice. Turn to an inner resource and when there's a better sense of calm and stability, come back into practice so it's called pendulum swing, or tight trading, so that your pendulum swing so if you're imagining something
12:48:57 moving left and then right your pendulum getting out of practice to tap into a safety, a feeling of safety and stability, and then you come back in. So the research really shows especially for folks who have experienced trauma, this pendulum eating or
12:49:12 Thai trading meaning you're dipping your toe into practice and coming back out dipping in and again maybe a little longer and coming back out this inner resourcing is what helps folks to stay in practice and then come back to it over and over again, which
12:49:27 we know in the end helps us helps build resilience, and well being. So here's some examples of inner resourcing. So, in the midst of practice, you start to get really regulated, or there's a trigger you have a thought that's very triggering and brings
12:49:43 you to trauma.
12:49:44 You might stop for a moment instead of giving practice up all together, and bring a being to mind someone that brings a sense of ease and come to you you have a sense of safety and stability.
12:49:56 So that could be a religious figure. It could be a spiritual figure it can be a loved one, a parent, a best friend, a child. It could be a pet.
12:50:07 So, if you imagine a being being beside you, near you.
12:50:13 just for the moment and you bring their qualities into presence for you you imagine them beside you use all of your senses to imagine them being with you.
12:50:22 And oftentimes what happens is there's this sense of calming and then you might go into practice again and invite your students into practice again. So might be focusing on the breath or focusing on sound, and then maybe there's a trigger of trauma again
12:50:36 and you come back out.
12:50:38 And then you tap into that being again. So could be in a five minute practice you are in and out 20 times, it means the next time you come to practice or someone else comes to practice.
12:50:49 They might only need to penetrate and come out of practice 19 times and the next time 18 times. So you're building resilience you're building your capacity to be with what's challenging.
12:51:01 And I've been in spaces where folks have been in practice and I remember a few years ago someone raised their hand and said, when I focus on my breath.
12:51:11 I start to get a little panicky it's really uncomfortable to focus on my breath, and the mindfulness teacher said, stay with the breath, just really bring greater attention to the breath.
12:51:22 That's what's going to help you get through it.
12:51:24 And because I'm trauma sensitive trained I knew it's actually the opposite I had a conversation with that mindfulness teacher who wasn't trauma trained at the time.
12:51:34 It's actually the wrong thing to say because you don't want someone to actually,
12:51:40 you know, face the trauma, even further because it's too activating going into the breathing is actually going further into the trauma, taking that pendula eating out for the moment so what that teacher could have suggested was, if you start to go into
12:51:54 this panicky feeling. Take a break for a moment and try resourcing, and then come back in and then if you feel panicky again come back out. So that being the breath.
12:52:05 So it could be in for some people, for me, for example the breath. So just focusing on breathing slowing my breathing down for a few breath cycles that can be that can get us back into a state of calm, focusing on a neutral part of the body oftentimes
12:52:22 that's the feet or the hands for me, it can be the feet. If I'm out there and I'm out and about and I'm stressed I'll stop for the moment, and feel my feet on the ground that can be very grounding there's research around this.
12:52:36 This feet grounding for students with autism, by the way, hand on the heart when we put our hand on the heart you might be in spaces where you're practicing with someone they put their hand on the heart that can be really grounding a soothing image or
12:52:48 a favorite place. And so any one of these can be grounding in the moment and I'm going to share, so for your students you can share and ask them to think about these things to you don't necessarily have to get get into the truck trauma aspect of it.
12:53:13 But ask them about these, these different aspects have them practice it, and let them know if it gets really challenging even in the midst of the day, or in the midst of the practice they can practice doing this, I bring up favorite place because oftentimes
12:53:19 and I'm when I've been in spaces with teachers who are bringing mindfulness, they say, the favorite place is the favorite grounding technique for their students.
12:53:28 And so from fostering mindfulness, as we mentioned the book that I wrote.
12:53:32 There's a lesson on bringing to mind a favorite place where students are then that past even bring it to mind and then draw it.
12:53:39 It's one of those things you can use as an activity and then you know that everyone in your class has a favorite place that they can bring to mind, if they start to get activated so I'll give you the link to the book that's in if you're at a lazy, the
12:53:54 virtual, the, the book is available to you. The book is available to you.
12:54:01 the, the book is available to you. The book is available to you. So I want to invite you into a very brief practice and then have a couple of minutes left over for for q amp a, if that's okay with you.
12:54:10 Going to
12:54:14 help me I can invite you into practice this is just going to be for about three to four minutes and then I'll open it up to q amp a XIC Our time is coming to an end.
12:54:23 So this is a trauma sensitive mindfulness and I'm going to be modeling some of those strategies I talked about which is front loading choice invitation to have eyes opened or closed, telling you how long the practice last in the middle of it.
12:54:40 Okay, so I'm going to invite you into this practice which is around three to four minutes. Your eyes can be opened or closed and if you decide that your eyes open, you might want to drop your gaze just a little bit or have your eyes unfocused somewhat.
12:54:53 And if in the midst of practice, you need to take a break, or shift your attention, feel free to do that.
12:55:00 And so I'd love to invite you now to bring attention to your posture.
12:55:08 And again, finding whatever posture is comfortable for you and when I say posture I mean either sitting, standing line down,
12:55:18 just bringing attention to your body as it rests on the surface where you are.
12:55:28 And if it's comfortable for you. Just take a few deep intentional breaths in breathing in through your nose and exhaling through your mouth and if it's comfortable you might exhale a little longer than you.
12:55:45 Inhale, do that for a few breaths cycles, breathing into the nose and exhaling through the mouth.
12:56:02 now allow your breath to find its natural rhythm and pace.
12:56:10 And I'm going to invite you to bring your attention to your body.
12:56:15 As it rests on the surface where you are
12:56:21 just noticing the touch points
12:56:25 of your back, your glutes.
12:56:31 As your body rests on the chair floor. Count your bed.
12:56:40 You might notice your feet, as they make contact with the floor.
12:56:54 So now I'm going to invite you to shift your attention,
12:56:59 and to use the coming and going of sound as an anchor, or home base for your attention now, noticing the sounds that you hear.
12:57:23 And when your mind wanders and it will just note what's on your mind and come back to your anger.
12:57:31 and invite you one more time to switch your attention to your breath and if the breath is not comfortable for you, you might focus on the coming and going and sound or your body.
12:57:43 If the breath is comfortable, just noticing your breath as you breathe in and breathe out.
12:57:51 Not manipulating your breath just notice your breathing.
12:58:00 That might be the rise and fall of your belly, or chest.
12:58:13 and keeping your attention there for the next few breath cycles until I ring the bell.
12:58:19 And her practice completes.
12:58:46 Okay, so when you're ready opening your eyes and lifting your gaze.
12:58:53 And so that's a practice I often introduce at the very start of a mindfulness class or mindfulness training because it invites people to try out the different anchors especially if they're new to mindfulness, and then to get a sense of so you might tap
12:59:08 into what was most comfortable for you, they're focusing on your breath, focusing on your body as an anchor or home base or focusing on the sounds that you're here.
12:59:19 And again, there can be different anchor points the mantra, the visual feeling of your feet on the ground.
12:59:25 But offering choice so doesn't mean that you each time you introduce students to mindfulness that you have to introduce those three anchors. But when you first introduce mindfulness letting students know, and always reminding them, you have a choice.
12:59:39 I'm going to bring you through a mindfulness of breath, practice but at any point you might choose a different anchor if it's not comfortable for you to focus on the breath.
12:59:51 So, the time has gone really quickly what I want to see if it's in here to be I'm, put some, some resources in the chat for you One is a link to fostering mindfulness if you are currently at Boise the book is there for you.
13:00:09 Trauma sensitive mindfulness, which is a book by David 11 is also the book is there for you in the library. He is at the forefront of trauma sensitive mindfulness it's an excellent book I did my training with him, the courage to teach by Parker Palmer
13:00:23 which is a fantastic book for educators, which really talks about cultivating the teachers inner life as a starting point for being a skilled teacher, and then the inner work of racial justice by Rhonda McGee who talks about the importance of the intersection
13:00:39 of mindfulness and social justice, and then areas just thank you areas just put the link into the mindfulness community of practice that I hold every month and the final Monday of the month and we engage in an opening practice, a closing practice and
13:00:55 then we talk about some aspect of mindfulness in education, whether that's your practice or mindfulness in the classroom and it's a wonderful community where we learned within from each other.
13:01:06 It's mindful teachers who bring mindfulness into the classroom teacher candidates and even teacher educators so you are welcome to join in the next one is January 31.
13:01:17 So I'm sorry Shall I just wanted to also, if you do have a little bit of time, Madeline have asked a question I didn't know if you saw it in the chat.
13:01:32 And I just want to thank you for doing this session for us again, so, so happy to be here airy thank you for creating and facilitating the wellness program for Boise it's just such an honor to be here and to be a part of it.
13:01:49 So thank you.
13:01:49 So there is a question I'm happy to see.
13:01:57 So one of the questions was around other settings so yes the images that I have are sort of stock images so mindfulness can be practiced anywhere. And, in fact, many of the people who have been in my mindfulness courses and trainings and classes, they're
13:02:13 invited and when the weather is conducive to be outdoors practice mindfulness, anywhere, and through movement. You know I didn't even mention that movement, mindful movement, yoga, mindful walking movement can be really healing for folks who have experienced
13:02:30 trauma and for anyone who wants to practice mindfulness so there's so many different entry points for practicing mindfulness and in fostering mindfulness the book I wrote that's in the Boise library there's a whole chapter on mindful movement as an entry
13:02:43 point so thank you for that question Madeline.
13:02:47 If anyone else has any questions I'm happy to you can put them in the chat or you can unmute yourself.
13:03:08 So the recorded this recorded thank you for that question grace, this, this, as Eric mentioned this talk, presentation is recorded so you'll find it on the wellness website.
13:03:19 If you go back to the talk there the mindful educator, mindful teacher educator section, and under the description where my name is and where the description is of this.
13:03:30 Lunch and Learn you will eventually see the link to the recording and if you need to get in through your YouTube ID to see the recording and the transcript should be there as well, I believe.
13:03:43 Thank you for that question. I teach a course, the one course that I teach related to specifically to mindfulness is mindfulness and education theory and practice, it's a well being course it's called CTR 5042 and it's a 12 week course on the theory and
13:03:58 practice of mindfulness and education. I also teach courses in the empty program, the special education and mental health. mindfulness is a core part of that course as well.
13:04:09 And then the empty course literacy and mindfulness as part of that course as well. Thanks for that question. Theodora.
13:04:26 Any tips on engaging students in mind folks who may be reluctant to practice.
13:04:30 Yeah, so there are there, there will always be the students reluctant to practice because it's such a new and different experience especially in this world where students were children especially are used to being highly engaged in their attention switching
13:04:45 very swiftly from one thing to another. So it can be a very foreign and new and novel experience to be asked to focus on one thing for an extended period of time.
13:04:54 So what I will say depends on the age group you want to start off with very brief practices. So I would say, even just a couple of well for kindergarten grade one it might even be 30 seconds, fourth and fifth grade it might be two minutes, middle school,
13:05:09 high school, it might be four minutes you want to start off very small. And I often start off with not focusing on the breath or focusing on. I will play a sound or a piece of music and ask folks just to focus their attention on that.
13:05:23 So you're easing into more traditional mindfulness practices. And when students have the opportunity to recognize. Oh, it's not just all, because I think there's a lot of the strong images of people, eyes closed, fingers like this it's called the moon
13:05:38 Dre
13:05:41 pose and it's you know it's very it's not what we bring in what we bring into the school setting, mindfulness has its roots in in contemplative practices and in Buddhism.
13:05:50 And what we bring into the school setting is secular in nature. So we want to be able to disrupt some of those notions our students have about what they think mindfulness is from seeing it on TV or seeing it in, in media.
13:06:02 It's very different when we bring it into the classroom and there are different entry points and Mindy said or even adults who feel that even trying one minute sense and way out of the window of tolerance.
13:06:12 Yeah, so we want to be able to tap into the wisdom of people were thinking of bringing mindfulness to and if someone is saying, I don't have the capacity to do that now we need to honor that wisdom.
13:06:24 Everyone has their own understanding of what they're able to do.
13:06:27 And so if they recognize they're outside of the window and they can't try it, then I would, if, if it were me I would invite a one on one conversation, and to ask about their if there are ways that they can imagine that they would be willing to dip their
13:06:41 toe in if they are supported in a trauma sensitive way.
13:06:45 And I think this is why it's important that we have our own practice. If you're thinking about bringing mindfulness to others it's important to have some training around how to do this in a skillful way.
13:06:55 And to be able to invite others to think about how they can do it to keep their own safety and stability at the forefront we want to be able to have those conversations.
13:07:05 We're not unless we are trained that way we are not therapist, we're not counselor, so our, our expertise is not in trauma that way.
13:07:12 But we can learn how to bring in mindfulness in ways that is going to be isn't going to be triggering.
13:07:20 So that's a really important question Mindy thank you for bringing that up and I would say, honor the wisdom of folks who are saying I can't do that right now and then maybe offer an individual conversation to see if there's a way that they can put their
13:07:40 toe into it safely.