research illustrating how mindfulness practices and compassion can diminish stress and fortify focus, reflection, and higher-order cognitive functioning for both students and educators to mitigate the trauma of adverse childhood experiences’ deleterious impact. Research on the brain’s propensity shows that children are born with the innate potential for high levels of learning and achievement, and teachers are well positioned to help our children reclaim this potential. Human brains contain trillions of pathways, and from birth to age three neural connections continue to be generated at a rate of seven hundred connections per second (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000; Roberts, 2017; Schiller, 2010). Early childhood educators can help children reclaim this potential using the strategies the authors reference (Bierman & Torres, 2016). Authors Christine Mason, Michele M. Rivers Murphy, and Yvette Jackson incorporated this research to provide us with Mindfulness Practices: Cultivating Heart Centered Communities Where Students Focus and Flourish, a practical guide for teachers and school leaders to effectively address the impact of trauma on social-emotional development, learning, and achievement.
Mindfulness Practices does not present yet another program to follow. It is not an add-on or one more thing to squeeze into our busy days. Rather, the authors advocate for and illustrate change in methods of both being and doing. They provide staff with advice, practices, and exercises to incorporate directly into their teaching, as well as support for activating the benefits of mindfulness for their students—and themselves. Teachers who participated in the Center for Educational Improvement’s (CEI’s) heart centered mindfulness pilot programs in 2017 report that as the foundational practice for cultivating compassionate school environments, mindfulness was a great stress reliever for them, as classroom climates became more positive, with a new calm and sense of renewed enthusiasm and purpose. This new way of being is a new beginning toward directly combating stress, leading to greater compassion, happiness, and success for teachers, administrators, staff, and students. Whether a physical education teacher, health educator, art teacher, special education teacher, school counselor, traditional classroom teacher, or school leader, this book has practical and natural lifelong strategies for you.
As important as spreading love and goodwill is, Mindfulness Practices also does much more. It provides a systematic approach to building persistence, grit, and resilience. In How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character, author Paul Tough (2012) says:
What matters most in a child’s development, they say, is not how much information we can stuff into her brain in the first few years. What matters, instead, is whether we are able to help her develop a very different set of qualities, a list that includes persistence, self-control, curiosity, conscientiousness, grit and self-confidence. (p. xv)
As a K–12 educator for thirty-two years, a former superintendent of schools, and the executive director of the Michigan Elementary and Middle School Principals Association, I have worked with thousands of principals and understand their needs as instructional leaders. Mindfulness Practices is a must-read. My prediction is that mindfulness and heart centeredness are not simply trending practices, but that they will be around for decades to come. These practices take pressure off students and teachers, advance well-being, and set the stage for increasing academic achievement.
With the Every Student Succeeds Act (2015), the pendulum is swinging back to a more holistic, whole-child approach to education. This will be a challenge for many as we combat the barriers of bureaucracy, time, and habits. It will take some intentional effort to add creativity and kindness back into our curriculum. Mindfulness Practices will help guide you on your way, with insights, stories, research, and practical exercises. George Leonard and Michael Murphy (1995), founding figures in the human potential movement, say, “To begin any strong practice is to turn the pages of your life to a new chapter” (p. 39). As you turn the pages of this book, will you invest the time and effort to break through for a transformational change? If you are ready and willing to undertake this challenge, this is the book for you.
Introduction
My hope and wish is that one day, formal education will pay attention to what I call education of the heart. Just as we take for granted the need to acquire proficiency in the basic academic subjects, I am hopeful that a time will come when we can take it for granted that children will learn, as part of the curriculum, the indispensability of inner values: love, compassion, justice, and forgiveness.
—The Dalai Lama
Imagine for a moment if we refined schools’ focus through a cultivation of both the heart and the mind. What if we pay less attention to what isn’t working, feel less pressure from the many mandates and demands that teaching and leading present, and develop a more caring lens of nonjudgment for ourselves, our coworkers, and our students?
Imagine recreating schools as compassionate learning environments, school cultures built on positive relationships that deepen and where cooperation expands, where students and teachers alike gain the confidence and courage to act in ways that enhance their own lives and the lives of others. Imagine schools where leaders, teachers, and students alike cultivate a compassionate, caring learning environment; where teachers once again enjoy the small teachable moments that pop up when room to breathe and to reflect on learning replaces the emphasis on record-breaking speed of learning; and where a natural balance emerges. Envision a balance of academics and conversations about life, a balance between doing well and feeling great, a balance between a focus on self and a focus on others. Imagine that you, your students, and your peers eagerly await Monday mornings. Then what would education look like? And, how would you feel about your job, your work, yourself, and your students?
Now imagine a conscious effort to refocus our schools and school cultures so that students become immersed in environments that consider social-emotional well-being and the needs of self and others. Envision this awareness and goodness extending to a wider school community of parents, families, and community stakeholders; embracing our ability to educate with both our hearts and minds. Imagine a school where caring matters; where teachers and administrators seek to learn more about their students and are more supportive of families; where students appreciate the extra effort teachers take to welcome and encourage students and support student success. This is a heart centered school community, a compassionate school community that balances well-being and learning.
Within the walls of a school is a community of students, teachers, and staff. To be a heart centered community, compassion is quintessential. Compassion is necessary to educate, lead, learn, and live with heart and be at our best. In this book, as we discuss compassion, we intentionally use the term heart centered. We do this in part with a nod to mindfulness and meditation. (See chapters 4–6, pages 61, 73, and 91.) As an introduction to this concept, we invite you to read the next few lines and then close your eyes and follow these steps.
1. Take a couple of breaths and consider compassion.
2. Visualize a scene with students at your school and picture the students feeling excited, engaged, kind, and considerate.
3. Consider what you pictured and how you felt.
4. Place your hands over your heart, take a couple of deep breaths, and picture the same scene.
5. Consider what you pictured and how you felt. Did you note any difference?
With your hands over your heart, you may have noticed a warmth in your heart, a sense of a more complete scene, or a feeling of being more fully present with the students, more
