Susan Greenland had worked as a lawyer for a TV station. But then something made her move to the country with her family. Her husband Seth Greenland was a novelist. Eventually Susan became interested in mindfulness training for children and wrote this book. She calls herself a recovering lawyer. She admits that her book is largely anecdotal, but she plans on coming out with a manual which will be more practical for use in the classroom.
Susan Greenland also founded the group Inner Kids which has put classroom time into Los Angeles area schools teaching mindfulness training to kids from K-12, with increasing time and complexity as children grow older. Now it is also being used in Singapore schools, and is being heavily studied in both locations to determine if children progress more rapidly in school, if they have better control of emotions and other parameters. Inhibition control and cognition seem a little better in children who have been taught a 8 week module unit on mindfulness. It is know that our train changes and especially a lot in child as they grow. Synaptic connections increase even in adults and certainly are very changeable in children. We know that myelination is not complete until the age of 25. Pruning (the cutting back of cells in the child's brain) and even in the uterus continues strongly throughout childhood.
This program is explained in more detail for those who want to delve into the methods further. Here is the link: http://www.susankaisergreenland.com/inner-kids.html.
There are also a lot of video clips on this site explaining and demonstrating mindfulness for children. It is located at the above website under clips:
http://www.susankaisergreenland.com/clips.html
Hit read more for further details, and also for the notes that Paul provided us for this session of our Spirit Mind Body Group meeting.
In this Inner Child program, Susan talks about the ABCs of Mindfulness for Children. These letters, in her vision, stand for attention, balance, and compassion. Games, activities, instruction and learning sharing teach 1) an awareness of inner experience (thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations); 2) an awareness of outer experience (other people, places, and things); and 3) awareness of both together without blending the two. Her work for schools has been influences by Drs Joh Kabat Zinn, Suzi Tortora (Dance Movement Therapy for Young Children); Jeffrey Schwartz (Mindfulness Based Training for OCD); Dan Siegel (Attachment/Attunement Theory; Alan Wallace (Cultivating Emotional Balance).
The classes begin with activities that develop breath awareness, move to activities that develop sensory awareness, and then to activities that develop awareness of thoughts, emotions, and worldview. The attendees play games and do activities that heighten awareness of other people's bodies ( and where our bodies are in space in relation to other people and things) and other peoples' thoughts/emotions, and other people's worldviews. Activities in class promote kindness to self and others as well as patience, generosity, and gratitude. The program provides an always present theme of community service and compassionate action.
Usually the class session is divided into 3 sections -- a beginning, a middle and an end. The beginning and the end both contain introspective practice. The beginning section usually includes a sitting practice, the middle section includes games and activities that emphasize the theme of that weeks classes (eg, breath awareness, or awareness of where your body is in space, or awareness of interconnection.). The ending section of each class includes an introspective usually conducted lying down and it includes a friendly wishes practice ( the term they use for practices which promotes kindness and compassion for self and others.) Over the 8 week course the length of the beginning and the ending sections increase which means the students are progressively getting more time spent in introspection. During the classes in addition to the three sections, there is a general formula of play, followed by introspection, and then sharing to help the children )better understand the introspective experience, 2) relate it to their daily lives, and 3) understand the importance of helping within their families, community and in community service and action.
Much of what Susan Greenland writes about is taken directly from classical Buddhist teaching.
Paul wanted us to know his "story" as well: Paul says he started practicing meditation in college but feels he has come to full blown meditation rather late in life. He became leader of the Mindfulness Center here in Milwaukee in 1996, and began teaching Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction. Then he added Dharma teaching. He reports that there are about 150 Mindfulness groups in the US but only about 10 have a Center so Milwaukee is indeed fortunate. Paul also is associated with Children's Hospital in the Behavioral Medicine area. He continues to teach a 10 month meditation class and emphasize pediatric stress reduction in his children's developmental practice of pediatrics. He is very known by the pain center people, and has studied the use of mindfulness classes in that area.
Attendees at our meeting contributed their knowledge of the use of various mindfulness techniques in helping and educating children. Dave K in his work of counseling and dealing with troubled youth has uses a program called Ropes & Challenges in Whitnall Park. These activities teach attention, focus, and some introspection. There is a blindfolded photographer exercise in which others tap to communicate to the photographer and lead him to the subject to be photographed, as I understand it. Milwaukee Public Schools has a whole curriculum for teaching these tenets with games. Another example is silent meditation where the audience is asked to draw a picture of the sound they hear.
Paul Norton reports that in treating children with behavioral problems there are several things that are very important: They need good eating and sleeping habits. They need a connection with friends. They need regular exercise. Conscious breathing exercises also help. And, of course, the judicious use of medication. However, he sees that many times children go back to their life after counseling and treatment sessions, and when they return they are taking the medication but not paying attention to any of these other important things.
Someone volunteered that Dr. Ned Hallowell, MD, Ed.D who is a child a adult psychiatrist, a bestselling author and world renowned speaker, and leading authority in ADHD. He is a faculty member at Harvard and founder of the Hallowell Centers of New York and Boston. He has advised that in any school system trying to teach ADHD students, that they are guaranteed to fail at something, which then opens them up for praise and further advancement. Of course, he has many other ideas about treating and teaching ADHD students and all students for that matter.
Here are Paul's notes:
In Susan Kaiser Greenland's teaching modules, the parts of these modules are shown as such:
Attention
Focusing Stopping Choosing
Balance
Quieting Seeing
Compassion
Caring Connecting
The video clip, the second one referenced above, describes these methods and what this table means quite well. I refer you to it. Hit on the second link on the first page of this article.
An article from Paul on Conscious Breathing
One of the best ways to deal with any discomfort, whether physical or emotional, is to pay attention to breathing. The breath, itself, is calming. Improper breathing, alone, can cause anxiety.
Normally, when we are healthy and balanced we breathe from the belly (watch a baby sometime). When we don't do this, we cause anxiety, a sort of biochemical consequence. Our bodies often secrete adrenaline and other hormones of stress. this usually makes discomfort, whether physical or emotional, worse.
We can all re-learn or re-connect with our breathing. Simply lie on your back, notice how, when you breathe in, your belly expands, it blows up like a balloon, when you breathe out, it falls back to your spine.
If this does not happen naturally, you may need some coaching, but everyone has experienced conscious belly breathing.
A good way to experience this is to use a small stuffed animal or a beanie baby. it should be an aquatic one, like a whale, a fish, a turtle, a dolphin, etc. Call this helper your "breathing buddy". Give him or her a name. Watch your buddy go up and down on your belly, like riding the waves in Lake Michigan or the ocean.
There are many ways to practice:
Lying down, especially if you have trouble going to sleep, is very useful.
Sitting comfortably in a chair or on a floor.
Walking, coordinating steps with your breathing.
Sometimes, to keep your mind occupied you may count breaths or use a phrase.
When you are distressed, connecting with your breath will calm you and make pain ease. If you have your breathing buddy with you, he can help even if you don't put him on your belly. Breathing becomes your friend during difficult situations. It is, however, difficult to depend on your breathing if you only try to use it when you are distressed. You should practice when you are calm.
Conscious breathing can also help you control random thoughts and runaway thoughts.
There are many ways to increase awareness of breathing, as well as awareness of body sensations or thought. If you are interested, discuss this with me, or someone else trained in mindfulness practices.
At the end of this week's session, Paul has us sing a song together which he has used commonly in this teaching of children. Here are the words.
Breathing in, Breathing out
Breathing in, Breathing out
I am blooming as a flower
I am fresh as the dew
I am solid as the mountain
I am firm as the earth
I am free
Breathing in, Breathing out
Breathing in , Breathing out
I am water reflecting
What is real, what is true
And I feel there is space
Deep inside of me
I am free
I am free
I am free
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