Does It Matter?

Posted on: 09/10/2020

For those of you interested in Mindfulness, I am linking below a super article which has recently been written by Claire Kelly, the Director of Curricula and Training at the Mindfulness in Schools Project.

The article resonated with me, since we frequently hear the notion of Mindfulness or the word ‘mindful’ bandied around, but it is often misunderstood.

I am delighted that, at St. Helen’s College, our children are increasingly becoming more aware of what exactly Mindfulness is and is not. Today in assembly the children were led through a Mindfulness practice by one of the MiSP (Mindfulness in Schools Project) experts, Niamh. They were encouraged to notice what was going on in their body, in their mind, and eventually to bring attention to their breath. 

What the pupils participated in may have been really challenging for some of them. Do ask them about the experience which they had in assembly today and ask if they will strive to take time to pay attention to their breath at least once a week.

The number of St. Helen’s College staff who have participated in training to spread our mindfulness education around the school is also increasing; we now have Mrs. Crehan, myself, Mrs. McLaughlin, Mrs. Hunt and Mr. Roche, with more staff showing an interest in taking the next steps to becoming a qualified Mindfulness teacher. 

https://mindfulnessinschools.org/just-calling-something-mindful-does-not-make-it-mindful/

I will leave you with this quote from Jon Kabat Zin, a Mindfulness Master, as he explains what Mindfulness is...

“… a way of being in wise and purposeful relationship with one’s experience both inwardly and outwardly. It is cultivated by systematically exercising one’s capacity for paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgementally, and by learning to inhabit and make use of the clarity, discernment, ethical understanding, and awareness that arises from tapping into one’s own deep and innate interior resources for learning, growing, healing and transformation, available to us across the lifespan by virtue of being human.”

Please do read the article. Namaste.

Mrs. Drummond.