In sports, a season invested in training the Alameda High School’s boys’ basketball team in mindfulness tech- niques helped us reach the Northern California playoffs, an unprecedented achievement in the school’s athletic history. These youth are learning the attention skills they need to succeed in today’s fast-paced, multitasking world. With practice, students are also learning emotional balance and new ways to feel connected to their communities. The most vital result I see is a new baseline of peacefulness evident in these young people’s minds and bodies. Mindfulness offers a general sense of well-being that all other skills for learning and productivity can build on.


True Education


The word education comes from the Latin roots ex, “from within,” and duco, “to guide.” Thus, education originally meant to draw out, to guide a student in unfolding the wis- dom that is inherently within each person, at any age. This is a fundamentally different approach than the conventional educational paradigm that approaches students from the outside in and from the top down.


In using what I call the “fire hose” method of learning, spewing information at students and penalizing them when they can’t retain what the powers-that-be deem important, we make the mistake of assuming what each child should be, instead of seeing them as they already are. Think of how different each of our own lives would have been if parents, teachers and other mentors helped us learn to become the person we were inherently meant to be.


This approach requires us all to discover and utilize our own mindfulness. When parents ask me, “What is the best mindfulness technique to teach my children?” my an- swer is always, “Your own mindfulness.” Our own mind- fulness is already present within us; it’s not something we need to create.


Notice all of your thoughts in this moment: your doubts and interests, as well as sensations. Simply become aware of phenomena, without judgment or preference. The natural capacity to open up in the present moment to everything that is happening within and around us is mindfulness, an open, intentional, non-judgmental awareness.


When we embody mindfulness practices, we become a living example to the children in our lives. If you are interest- ed in learning how to bring mindfulness practices to youth, begin by offering it to yourself. Join a mindfulness group, do some reading or even better, finish reading right now, let your eyes close, check in to your body and let go into this present moment.


Daniel Rechtschaffen, MA, a pioneering trainer in his field, helps implement mindfulness-based curricula in schools and organizations. Collaborations include the Mind Body Aware- ness Project, Mindful Schools and Mindfulness Without Bor- ders. He also convenes an annual Mindfulness in Education conference and teacher training at Omega Institute (search eomega.org). He has a private psychotherapy practice in the San Francisco Bay Area as a marriage and family therapy intern. Visit MindfulChildren.com and NowCounseling.com.


What Yoga Teaches Kids by Gabriela Chinnock


W


hen my daughter was learn- ing to walk she would pass through many emotions really quickly: glee, frustration, relief, back to glee, boredom, etc. While holding onto something that rolled or moved, she would sometimes get overwhelmed by going faster than her own balance could keep up with, and she would have to calmly kneel down, find herself again and move forward. Once she mastered going faster without losing balance, she started to try to make turns. When she took her first real steps, she burst out laugh- ing and then fell into my arms. Af-


ter a few more attempts she walked towards me, turned and went in her own direction. She must have fallen a hundred times in the next few days. And she fell with confidence and a smile, as if the fall was just as important as the walking part. It was her first lesson in grace.


We live in a world now where learning faster is the norm. I often question if learning ‘faster’ is better. I ask my- self how I can teach my child that it’s okay to make mistakes. And how does she learn that both mistakes and those places in which we hold onto things within our minds and bodies are where wisdom lies.


That’s where yoga comes into play. Yoga is a very pow- erful and positive way to address these issues in this informa- tion age. The breath, the movement/asanas and practicing positive connection with ourselves and others all contribute to being able to balance all of the obligations, emotions and pressures that even a first grader feels.


I often observe that the difference in a student from the beginning of a yoga class to the end is very profound. Students are usually more grounded and present and, more often than not, are in a more upbeat mood than when they came in. One of my yoga teachers recently described the practice of yoga as an artistic process. That statement reso- nates with me because it involves acceptance of ourselves, both on the good days and the challenging days. Through yoga, we can foster in our children a lifelong ability to access those places within our minds and bodies where wisdom lies. Not only will our children have a direct connection to their inner knowing, but the physical, emo- tional and spiritual benefits of regular yoga practice are end- less. Yoga can be one of the tools that they can use to meet the challenges of everyday living with grace throughout their entire lives.


Gabriela Chinnock teaches Color Me Yoga for ages 3-18, including classes for teens and tweens in New City and for younger children in Nyack. She can be reached at 917-680- 8782 or gabrielacolormeyoga@gmail.com.


natural awakenings February 2011 17


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