Amplifying Our Voice: Leading Boldly for Our Students, Our Professions, and Our Union

The Science and Art of Mindfulness to Cultivate Understanding, Respect, and Academic Success

Phe X. Bach, Ed.D.

C. Mindfulness LLC and CTA/Stanford Instructional Leadership Corps.

Michelle Benedict, M.Ed.

Be Mindful, Denver, CO

COMPETENCY: ADVOCACY

• NEA Leadership Competency progression level(s).

• Level 1: Foundational and

• Level 2: Mobilizing & Power Building

• The NEA Leadership Competency themes within the competency that your presentation is designed to address.• - Utilizes best practices in advocacy and political efforts

• - Example: Leads public education policy reform

The NEA Strategic Goal and NEA Organizational Priority addresses:

• NEA Strategic Goal

-advancing opportunities that will identify, organize, and engage new and early careereducators; amplify the voices of all educators, support our members’ professionalgrowth, and promote social justice for our students, communities and our nation;

-securing a pro-public education environment for students, educators, and families; and

-building the capacity of the local, state and national union to ensure the success ofpublic education.

• NEA Organizational Priorities

-Early Career Educator-Racial Justice in Education-My School, My Voice-Supporting Professional Excellence

Session OutcomesWhat you will be learning today:

• Introduction to Mindfulness & Neuroscience

• Neurorestorative Exercises

• Mindful Eating and the Vagus Nerve

• Classroom Modifications for Self-Regulation

• Practicing Gratitude

Neurons Brain Mirror Neurons

Mindful Breathing Mindful Listening Body Scanning

Mindful Eating Mindful WalkingMindful Art

Compassion Empathy Kindness Gratitude

• Aware of something that

may be important. (Merriam-

Webster Dictionary)

• Conscious or aware of

something; Inclined or

willing to do something. (Oxford Dictionary)

Mindful (ˈmīn(d) - fəl)

Mindfulness Practices:

... exercises to train the brain to be more mindful; to

improve attention (awareness) and emotional

regulation (response).

Empirically Supported Benefits of Mindfulness

• Reduced rumination

• Stress reduction

• Increased working memory

• Focus

• Less emotional reactivity

• More cognitive flexibility

• Relationship satisfaction

• Increased emotional intelligence

and social connectedness

• Increased morality

• Increased fear modulation

• Increased immune function

• Improvement to overall well-being

• Increase information processing

speed

• Decreased mind wandering

• Decreased blood pressure

• Increased empathy/compassion

• Decreased anxiety

• Enhanced self-insight

Why Mindfulness in Schools?

Proactive practice of mindfulness

in schools benefits students by

creating a culture of:

• prosocial behavior

• emotional regulation

• academic achievement

Mindfulness Benefits for Students

• Attention2

• Executive function –

including cognitive

flexibility3

• Grades (preliminary

evidence)3

• Emotion regulation2

• Behavior in school2

• Empathy and

perspective-taking1

• Social skills1

• Test anxiety4

• Stress4

• Post-traumatic

symptoms4

• Depression4

Enhancing children's self-regulatory abilitiesShowed significant improvements in executive functioning skills and significant reductions were found in aggression and social problems.Alison E. Parker et al. Advances in School Mental Health Promotion, 27 Jun 2014

Results showed that teachers reported improved classroom behavior of their students (i.e., paying attention, self-control, participation in activities, and caring/respect for others)Black, D. S., & Fernando, R. (2014). Mindfulness training and classroom behavior among lower-income and ethnic minority elementary school children. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 23(7), 1242-1246.

Why Mindfulness in Schools?

Executive function is a set of cognitive

processes that facilitate the attainment of

chosen goals. Executive functions include

basic cognitive processes such as attentional

control, cognitive inhibition, inhibitory control,

working memory, and cognitive flexibility.

Emotional development is constructed from

executive function, which strongly depends on

maturation of the frontal lobes. Emotional

development involves increased

understanding of emotions in oneself and

others as well as increased ability to regulate

emotions based on current goals and socially-

shared rules.

Universities Researching and Teaching Mindfulness

University of Michigan

University of Wisconsin Madison

Stanford

St. Louis University

Cambridge University

University of Virginia

University of Washington

University of Vermont

NYU

University of Aberdeen

University of Iowa

University of New Mexico

University of Florida

University of San Francisco Law School

Buckingham University

Harvard

UCLA

MIT

Boston University

Yale

UCSD

Lesley University

University of Arizona

Oxford University

University of Missouri

Missouri State

Columbia

Washburn University School of Law

University of Western Australia

John F. Kennedy University

Flinders University

University of North Carolina

Florida International Law SchoolVanderbilt

Berkeley

Penn State

UMass

University of Bangor

Antioch University

Monash

Georgetown

University of Miami

Edinburgh

University of British Columbia

University of Toronto

Duke

Aberystwyth

University of Kansas

3,129 Total!

Nucleus – the control center or

brain of the cell

Dendrites – connections/receive

information from other neurons

Axon – conductor of electricity,

relays the signal from the

dendrites

Axon Terminals – transmit

information to other neurons

Parts of a Neuron

Cell Body

Neural Pathway -

feeds information to

and from the brain

and within the brain.

Making a Connection

• Sensory Input

• Signal Relay

THALAMUS

• Survival

• Fight or Flight

AMYGDALA

• Emotion control

• Memory

HIPPOCAMPUS

• Reason

• Logic

• Decision Making

• Compassion & Empathy

• Language Production

PREFRONTAL CORTEX

Positive Stimulus Examples

POSITIVEStimulus

POSITIVEResponse

Hippocampus

Prefrontal Cortex

THREAT?

MEMORY TRAINING

Thalamus Amygdala

500 milliseconds

NO THREAT

Negative Stimulus Examples“Real” Danger

Negative Stimulus Examples“Perceived” Danger

NEGATIVEStimulus

Hippocampus

Prefrontal Cortex

MEMORY TRAINING

Thalamus Amygdala

14 milliseconds

FIGHT OR FLIGHT

THREAT?THREAT!

AMYGDALA HIJACK!

The first step to practicing mindfulness is to be aware of our body. We can do this by paying attention to our senses

– What am I feeling and where am I feeling it?

Biology of Emotions: The Autonomic Nervous System

During and emotional experience, our anomic nervous system mobilizes

energy in the body that arouses us.

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Think, Pair, Share

How STRESS affects the body

Headaches, dizziness, ADD/ADHD, anxiety, irritability, anger and pa

Grinding teeth and tension in jaw

Increased heart rate, strokes, heart disease, diabetes type I & II, arrhythmias

Digestive disorders, upset stomach, abdominal pain, irritable bowel

syndrome

Weight gain and obesity

Muscle tension, fibromyalgia, pain syndrome

Decreased sex drive

Chronic fatigue

• 60-8o% of all primary

care visits are stress

related.

• 3% get management

help.

• 42 percent of Americans

report lying awake at

night from stress, the American Psychological

Association reported in

2013

Stress Shrinks the Neural Network

Normal Stressed

Effects of Daily Stress and the Brain

• Shrinkage of the hippocampus (memory/emotional regulation)

• Inhibited connection/shrinkage to pre-frontal cortex(Decrease in cognitive function)

• Creates free radicals killing brain cells

• Increases size, activity level, neural connections in amygdala (fight/flight/freeze)

• Halts production of new brain cells

• Reduced serotonin and dopamine (anxiety, depression, ADHD, addiction)

• Permeable blood brain barrier (brain cancer, infections, multiple sclerosis)

Impacts of Stress on Groups

• Communication Breakdown

• Decreased Morale

• Deteriorating Group Cohesiveness

• Increased Absenteeism

• Increased Healthcare Costs

• Increased Workers Compensation

• Increased Disability Claims

• Decreased Retention/Increased Turnover

• Decreased Efficiency and Productivity

Stimulus Response

Stimulus Mindfulness Response

“Between stimulus and response there is space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom.”

-Viktor E. Frankl

WITHOUT MINDFULNESS

Stimulus Response

Stimulus Mindfulness

Response

WITH MINDFULNESS

Response

Response

Driver cuts you off

Wake up Late

Wake up Drive to work Afternoon

InternetIssues at School

Challenging

Student

Frustrated Parent Phone

Call

Tiny Unimportant

Situation

Hijack Accumulation

HIJACK

HIJACK

HIJACK

HIJACK

HIJACK

HIJACK

Amygdala Hijack

Morning Home

Think, Pair, Share

The University of Muchen in Germany

Department of Neuroradiology did a

controlled study with that showed

after two weeks of practicing

Mindfulness Attention to Breath (ATB)

there were changes in participant’s

brains with fMRI.

Mindfulness Practice: Attention To Breath (ATB)

Practice: Anchor Breathing

Practice: First, Just Breathe

JUSTFIRST BREATHE

“F” stands for FIST.

Relax your hands.

“J” stands for JAW.

Relax your jaw.

“B” stands for BREATHE.

Take a deep breath.

Mindful Eating

Mindful Eating

Our stomach takes

11 minutes to tell our brain

that it is full.

Vagus Nerve

• The longest and most complex nerve in the body.

• A nerve that runs from the brain, travels through major organs into the lower intestine and reproductive system.

• A nerve that is a major player in the parasympathetic (calming) nervous system

100 million neurons located in the gut.

80% of your immune system lives in your gut.

Mood in young adults (18-29) seems to be dependent

on food that increases availability of neurotransmitter

precursors and concentrations in the brain (meat).

Mood in mature adults (over 30 years) may be more

reliant on food that increases availability of antioxidants

(fruits) and abstinence of food that inappropriately

activates the sympathetic nervous system (coffee, high

glycemic index and skipping breakfast).

Your Mood on Food

Creating a Mindful Classroom

Maslow’s Hierarchy of School Needs

Environmental Considerations: Seating

Environmental Considerations: Lighting

Environmental Considerations: Sounds

http://bit.ly/CalmMountain http://bit.ly/CalmJelly

http://bit.ly/CalmForest

Environmental Considerations: Smells

Air Cleaning Plants

Essential Oils

The Power of Compliments

Source: http://www.jairekrobbins.com/gratitude-and-happiness-the-science-behind-gratitude/

Generate Social CapitalIn two studies with 243 participants,

those who were 10% more grateful

had 17.5% more social capital

In the WorkplaceResearchers found that a simple

“Thank You’ can increase

employee productivity by 50%

Mindfulness is neurorestorative brain fitness designed to improve

executive function. It is training the brain to have focused attention and increased emotional regulation

Neural Pathways

Every time you learn

something, neural

circuits are altered in

your brain. The more

you repeat the

activity the stronger

these connections

become.

Closing

• Please complete the evaluation for this breakout session by using the NEA Summit Mobile App! (Allow at least 5 minutes at the end of the session.)

• Please visit the Leadership Development Resources website at www.nea.org/leadershipdevelopment