Our 'Mindful School' Seminars

What Is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness means paying conscious and non-judgmental attention to the present moment (Jon Kabat-Zinn). Being mindful is a state of deep awareness. In other words, being mindful means taking our state of consciousness off autopilot and placing it under our own control. It means being aware of our consciousness.

Mindfulness is not a therapeutic practice. It involves simple mind and body exercises carried out by teachers in the classroom before or after lessons.

Mindfulness practices consist of social and academic components. While introducing these components to students takes about one class period, teachers' practice takes 3-10 minutes.

What Does It Mean to Be a Mindful School?

In recent years, schools around the world have been moving toward becoming mindful schools. This means that mindfulness becomes a way of life in which all school staff and teachers pass the state of being mindful on to students. Mindfulness means a school climate developing in a positive direction. It enables students to live with deep awareness of the moment they are in, understanding and feeling first themselves and then those around them. Mindfulness is a way of life. The components of this way of life are not limited to focusing on lessons, the basis of academic success; they include skills such as doing good, conveying good wishes inwardly and verbally, being grateful for the values one has, feeling experiences wholeheartedly and accepting them as they are, empathizing and forgiving, and being fully aware while walking, eating and moving.

Why Is It Important?

From children to adults, we are all in a rush. While doing so, we are often not even aware of the moment we are living in and the things we are doing. While we have work to finish, our eyes are actually somewhere else. And what about our minds? The questions and thoughts passing through our minds are mostly somewhere other than the present moment. Our minds wander between the past and the future, occasionally turning to the present moment. This is like looking without seeing. In other words, we actually live our lives as if on autopilot. Being mindful through mindfulness skills takes us off autopilot and puts us in control of our lives.

'Mindful School' Seminars given by our faculty member: