Our Integrated Mindfulness Classes at Eastwood International School

Today’s world places ever-increasing demands on our children’s time and attention.

It is harder and harder to find time to slow down and attend to ourselves, our thoughts, our feelings, our actions—despite how important those moments are for self-management and balance.
To ensure we provide children with the time and the skills to manage themselves and their environments and find balance, EIS has made mindfulness courses a part of its program for all students.

What is mindfulness?

And what mindfulness is not.

Mindfulness has its roots in Buddhist meditative practice and was pioneered by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1979 as a secular approach to helping patients manage chronic pain. Mindfulness programs and practices today are derived from Kabat-Zinn’s work.

As it is practiced today, mindfulness is the self-regulation of attention and the practice of purposefully developing an awareness of the present and acknowledging and accepting feelings and thoughts as they arise (Keng, Smoski, & Robins, 2011; Maynard, Solis, Miller, & Brendel, 2017; Semple, Droutman, & Reid, 2017). Through deliberate observation of sensation, emotion, and experiences, mindfulness practices aim to help learners orient themselves to their experiences in different ways and develop a fuller understanding of how our thoughts and emotions influence our actions and behaviors (Keng, Smoski, & Robins, 2011; Semple, Droutman, & Reid, 2017). By developing this fuller understanding, learners are empowered to make more thoughtful and appropriate choices about their actions and reactions and more skillfully manage stressful experiences.

What Mindfulness Is Not
Mindfulness is not a religious practice and involves no mysticism. While mindfulness is derived from Buddhist meditative tradition, it is not a belief system. It is entirely secular and aimed at cultivating awareness and regulation of attention and emotional reactivity for practical use in every day life.

Mindfulness is not simply the act of relaxing. While relaxation techniques play a role in mindfulness sessions, the purpose and focus is not to take time out of the day just to relax. Mindfulness is about slowing down and working to develop the skills to become aware of and notice inner states and sensations, such as thoughts and emotions in order to better manage actions and reactions.

Mindfulness is not yoga. Yoga, as it is practiced in mainstream culture today, is largely a physical system of postures, breathing, and movements aimed at stress reduction, health, and wellness. While the body plays a role in developing purposeful awareness during mindfulness practice, mindfulness is not primarily focus on the body; it focused on developing the regulation of the mind.