Mindfulness for Adults & Youth
Children are naturals at “present awareness” – they engage moment-by-moment as they learn about their world and constantly take in information from all their senses. However, as children get older, they are bombarded with stimuli – advertising, television, video games (etc.) that get their attention bouncing so quickly that it can be difficult for them to focus. As a result children who are told to “pay attention” simply cannot as they have been conditioned through over stimulation.
Enter Mindfulness For Youth, an eight week program designed to provide children with the skills necessary to take stock of their situation , and pause to reflect before responding -to tackle stress constructively and better interact with others at home, play, and school.
“It’s a way of paying attention on purpose, without judgement.“
We are also happy to offer programming for adults as well. In today’s constantly connected world, our attention is divided like never before. Multitasking and micro-activities have us perpetually engaged and bouncing from task to task to task. Our Mindfulness for Adults program offers you the opportunity to unplug from it all and reconnect with ourselves while learning to focus again.
Why Mindfulness for Children?
Children also face increasing pressure to achieve. They have stress, but are not often provided with tools to manage it.
Education continues to focus on core academics, rather than teaching social emotional skills, even though EQ (emotional intelligence) is a greater predictor of success than is IQ.
“We have more possibilities available each moment than we realize.“
What are the Benefits of Mindfulness?
We have witnessed how children can learn to be aware of their emotions and take a moment to notice what is happening for them before reacting. For example, naming anxiety, anger, worry, etc. has led them to reflect on what they need rather than to quickly react, while being “swept up” in the emotion. With a daily mindfulness practice they learn to be more self-aware, while experiencing emotional balance, impulse control and generally have more focus. Therefore, learning to respond rather than react.
We have seen children become more compassionate towards others and themselves through mindfulness practice.