1st Edition
Using Mindfulness to Improve Learning: 40 Meditation Exercises for School and Home
Written by an experienced school and meditation teacher, this book is packed with tried and tested mindfulness exercises and relevant follow-up wellbeing, pastoral and academic activities for anyone working with young people. It includes discussions about education and wellbeing, anecdotes from real life experience and numerous testimonies from students and teachers, as well as easy to follow instructions and plenty of useful in-depth explanations. All activities in this book link to variety of school subjects, including science, maths, philosophy, music, art and sport.
Divided into two parts, the book explores:
- What mindfulness and grounding are
- How mindfulness and grounding works at home, in daily life and in education
- How teachers can use mindfulness and grounding in the classroom and how parents can support mindfulness and grounding at home
- What effects can be expected from mindfulness meditation
This book is an invaluable resource for secondary teachers, youth workers, therapists and parents and can be used in classrooms, pastoral offices, youth clubs or at home.
PART ONE Introductory word for teachers How to use this book and what is inside What happened first? How I got to do this…. Why I wrote this book Young people and their self- and spiritual development Happiness in schools Why should they do nothing? Who is responsible? The role of beauty and positive narrative in young people’s development A short word about emotions Why is calling it Emotional Health better than Mental Health? What do students want in 21st Century? Behaviour in the classroom and well-being of students ‘Good Girl’, ‘Bad Boy’ Myths and other traps What about teachers? Can a stressed-out teacher spread happiness? About Mindfulness What Mindfulness is and what it isn’t - demystifying modern misconceptions About grounding - the magic ingredient for mindful life What is ‘grounding’? Why teachers need to have those tools? A few words for parents Gratitude Exercise Mindfulness, meditation and grounding at home PART TWO What is in the Part Two and how to use it? Mindfulness meditation in the classroom and logistics of implementation: group sizes, space, times to use it, length of exercises, space, environmental sounds, background music, safety and age of students PRACTICAL EXERCISES GROUNDING MEDITATIONS FOR POSITIVE SELF-PROGRAMMING LIST OF GROUNDING MEDITATIONS THREE ELECTRONIC MEDITATIONS FOR TEACHERS
Biography
Billie Krstovic is a qualified teacher with decades of teaching experience and works as the Head of Social Sciences in a secondary school in Britain, where she teaches Psychology and mindfulness. She has 40 years of experience in the fields of meditation, yoga, martial arts and healing.
"This is a book about mindfulness that could make a real difference to the way in which teachers and students experience life in the classroom. "
- Leslie J Francis, Professor of Religions and Education, University of Warwick
"I totally endorse and support inspiration for children about which Billie writes, which is so needed in this world with so many machines that children are attracted to."
- Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa, teacher of Kundalini Yoga and a pioneer in the field of pre-natal yoga
"This book is a treasure box of ideas about the person, about education, and it generously shares with us dozens of meditation exercises that can help us and our children learn about ourselves and develop the empathy our world so desperately needs."
- Karem Roitman, lecturer, international development consultant and Director of Thinkers Meet Up
"This magnificent teachers handbook that instructs young people how to "BE" rather than how to "DO" is revolutionary to the educational system."
- Elizabeth B. Jenkins, writer, spiritual teacher and author of ‘Return of the Inka’
