MORE THAN A MOMENT
Knightfulness is a product developed because of like-minded individuals in the district who have seen the benefit of incorporating mindfulness practices into their own lives, both personally and professionally. It is believed that if you give some of these activities and practices a try in your classrooms, that you will also see the benefits in your personal and professional life, including the lives of your students. First though, let’s cover what is mindfulness and why these practices do wonders.
What is Mindfulness?Mindfulness has several definitions, for our purposes we will refer to mindfulness as “a technique in which one focuses one’s full attention only on the present, experiencing thoughts, feelings, and sensations but not judging them” (www.dictionary.com). Mindfulness can also be thought of as a state of mind or existence. Psychology Today states that mindfulness means living in the moment and awakening to your current experience, rather than dwelling on the past or anticipating the future” (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/mindfulness). Mindfulness has become a buzzword lately, and for good reason; but mindfulness has really been in practice for a long time and therefore has a significant amount of research to support its validity. Much of this research conducted shows the benefits of incorporating a mindfulness practice into one’s daily life. A mindfulness practice can contain a wide variety of activities that could include meditation, but this is not the only way to engage in mindfulness. A practice helps you achieve a state of mindfulness, and it is this state that brings about change. Here are a few of the benefits you can expect if you were to commit to a mindfulness practice:
Hopefully, after reading through this list, we have you intrigued and wanting to learn more about this thing called mindfulness! The first few benefits alone should entice you to want to see this in action with students. However, if you’re still a skeptic, here is the real science behind mindfulness. |
|
Neuroplasticity
To understand why mindfulness is effective in reducing stress and creating the outcomes listed above, you need to know a little about neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to change and reorganize itself by creating new neural pathways throughout life (https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=40362). Essentially, the brain has the ability to change the way it processes information and to adjust responses due to new situations and the environment. The brain is exceptionally resilient! There are many factors that impact this process both negatively and positively.
Trauma and the Brain
One major factor that can impact the brain is trauma. Physical and emotional/psychological trauma have a huge impact on how our brain learns to process information and situations. Trauma can be sustained by a singular event or from chronic exposure to events causing physical or psychological distress. Essentially, experienced trauma results in stress-induced changes in the brain structure and function. Easily we could elaborate on the different brain structures and function believed to be impacted by trauma. However, this would get very technical and lengthy. What you need to know is that trauma and stress do significantly impact both our brain function and structure which often results in behavioral manifestations. Examples of possible behavioral manifestations include intrusive thoughts, hyperarousal, hypervigilence, flashbacks, nightmares, sleep disturbances, changes in memory and concentration, and startle response (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3181836/). Often these behavioral manifestations of trauma can be misinterpreted as ADHD, depression, anxiety, or disruptive behavior. Due to the behavioral similarities with trauma and some mental health diagnoses, it is important not to jump to conclusions when these types of behaviors and symptoms are observed in children and adolescents.
Normal human brain development is continuous across one’s lifespan and undergoes changes in function and structure from before birth through late life. Due to this continuum of development and functioning, signs and symptoms of trauma can manifest differently depending on when trauma is experienced as well as the current age of the individual (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3181836/). Childhood trauma can have long-term effects on individuals impacting the immune system, hormonal system, brain development, and physiological systems. Trauma can even impact the way that our DNA is transcribed. If you would like to find out more about the impact of childhood trauma, please consider listening to this TED Talk about childhood trauma on health across the lifespan. Why is it important to understand trauma and its impact on an individual’s behavior and wellness? It is important because your classroom is directly affected by the symptoms of trauma. Exposure to trauma and stress reinforce the brain’s stress response (fight, flight or freeze response), resulting in the brain automatically reacting to both threatening and non-threatening stimuli in this way. What we want you to know now is that you have an amazing tool available to you that can decrease the behavioral manifestations of trauma and stress, and improve both your life and your students’ lives. So far we’ve covered how stress can negatively impact brain development and behavior. The good news is that neuroplasticity also can work in our favor. There are ways to intervene and rewire the brain to learn new ways to respond to trauma and stress. We know that stress and trauma alter the makeup of the brain by creating neural networks that result in recognizable behavioral manifestations discussed previously. We also know that we can rewire the brain to change the neural pathways to respond differently to stress and trauma. This process involves restructuring and creating new neural networks to process the information received by our brains in ways that decrease the stress response. |
|
Rewiring the Brain Through Mindfulness
To begin the rewiring process it’s important to understand that it is not a quick process, but one that takes place over time and with repetition. Rewiring involves creating new neural pathways to replace old ones which are no longer serving a purpose. Neural pathways are the routes used to process information that is received by our brain. When we are exposed to trauma, these pathways created may tell us to react to stimuli around us with a hypervigilance, or a fight, flight or freeze response. The goal of rewiring is to teach our brains to process information differently. that a An important component of rewiring the brain is that it is an active process. There needs to be conscious awareness of the intention to change the way you react to stress and trauma; you need to think about the process. Begin by identifying the beliefs, actions, and feelings you want to manifest. The more you think, feel and act in a particular way, the stronger the neural pathways you will be creating
(https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-11762/5-ways-to-rewire-your-brain-for-meaningful-life-changes.html). One of the ways we know that we can begin rewiring the brain is through a daily practice of mindfulness. A mindfulness practice targets all the necessary components for rewiring; thinking, intention, and repetition. (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/choke/201008/what-can-11-hours-meditation-training-do-it-can-rewire-your-brain).
(https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-11762/5-ways-to-rewire-your-brain-for-meaningful-life-changes.html). One of the ways we know that we can begin rewiring the brain is through a daily practice of mindfulness. A mindfulness practice targets all the necessary components for rewiring; thinking, intention, and repetition. (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/choke/201008/what-can-11-hours-meditation-training-do-it-can-rewire-your-brain).
Mindfulness Benefits Everyone and All Ages
We have mainly focused on the impact of trauma and stress on the brain. It would be a shame though, if we did not also acknowledge that all individuals can benefit from a mindfulness practice. From childhood through adulthood, a mindfulness practice can build and reinforce neural pathways that promote positive relationships, healthy decision making, memory, focus, self-insight, morality and intuition (http://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/07-08/ce-corner.aspx). Mindfulness can also help reduce anxiety, help prevent depression relapse, manage chronic pain, lower stress levels, decrease loneliness, assist in weight loss, and improve sleep (https://psychcentral.com/blog/10-surprising-health-benefits-of-mindfulness-meditation/). It would be hard to make an argument for how mindfulness could not improve one’s life.
Now here is a question for you, if you have the ability to help a child learn how to regulate their emotions more effectively, improve their focus and concentration, reduce their stress-reaction, and respond to traumatic events with resilience by implementing a 1 to 5-minute daily or weekly activity, would you do it? Well here is your chance because we have put together a guide to help you and your students become Knight-minded!
Now here is a question for you, if you have the ability to help a child learn how to regulate their emotions more effectively, improve their focus and concentration, reduce their stress-reaction, and respond to traumatic events with resilience by implementing a 1 to 5-minute daily or weekly activity, would you do it? Well here is your chance because we have put together a guide to help you and your students become Knight-minded!