Did you know that practicing mindfulness can boost children’s social-emotional learning skills? Social Emotional Learning ( or SEL) refers to how children navigate emotions, self-awareness, relationships and decision making (The Collaborative for Social Emotional Learning, CASEL).
Recent studies (mindfulschools.org) indicate that mindfulness positively impacts SEL, specifically emotion regulation, empathy, perspective taking, and social skills. More schools are integrating SEL into their standard curriculum alongside math, science, and literacy. ZENworks Yoga is so excited to be at the forefront of this movement toward teaching mindfulness as a life skill to support the whole child. Mindful moments bring balance to the mind and body by helping students to notice, or pay attention, to what is happening in the here and now, without judgment or reaction.
Try this new mindful moment visualization, from our collection of online videos, and see for yourself how a few moments of attention to the present moment can set students up for success in the classroom, or anywhere.
Magic Dot Visualization
Sit tall in your seat, or let your head rest on your desk.
Close your eyes or look down. Connect your feet to the floor.
We are going to practice balancing our body and mind using visualization, or imaging what we see in our minds.
Close your eyes or look down, and bring your hands to your belly.
Notice your breathing. Feel hands move along with your belly as you breath in, and out.
Picture a blank sheet of white paper.
Now, imagine a small dot, right in the center of the page. Give your dot a color. Perhaps even a texture.
As you breathe in and out, imagine that dot growing bigger, brighter, bolder. Visualize it filling the entire page. {pause for 10-15 seconds}
Now, see your sheet of paper, completely colored in, by the vastness of your once small dot.
Take a deep breath in, and a long breath out.
In your mind, watch the color that fills your sheet of paper slowly begin to shrink.
With each breath in and out, the color grows smaller and smaller and begins to fade.
Now, all that remains is the same small dot that you started with.
Gently erase the dot.
See again, a blank sheet of white paper. Notice all 4 corners of the paper. The center of the paper.
Blink your eyes a few times and let the image of that paper float away from your mind.
Take a slow breath in, and a steady breath out.
Open your eyes if they are closed. Notice how you feel.
For other great yoga and mindfulness tips for your classroom and home, visit www.ZENworksYoga.com. ZENworks Yoga Online has more than 200 yoga and mindfulness videos; subscriptions start at just $9/month or $50/year.
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