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Schools in England Introduce a New Subject: Mindfulness

nytimes.com

41–50 of 140 posts

Re: Schools in England Introduce a New Subject: Mindfulness

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"But once they start looking at adults" I suspect one of the biggest sources of misery for a lot of kids are other kids.

Certainly for me it was, compounded by adults not taking this seriously (and a certain amount of screwy brain chemistry.) If your parent is a teacher at the same school, your school life is going to be A+ miserable.

I don't think its just adults not taking it seriously in some quarters its surprisingly common for adults to use the "man up" or "stiff upper lip" approaches for physical or mental pain.

Re: Schools in England Introduce a New Subject: Mindfulness

#42
post #2

>“Children will start to be introduced gradually to issues around mental health, well-being and happiness right from the start of primary school,” he added. Why wouldn't adults just solve their mental problems instead of introducing them to children? Children have no problems with happiness or well-being. It's us who should learn from them. big facepalm

[deleted]

Re: Schools in England Introduce a New Subject: Mindfulness

#43
post #31

I really struggle with the term "mindfulness" as it seems it can mean anything and everything, depending on who you ask. We had some Mindfulness workshops at a previous employer and it was so full of woo and magical thinking that it really turned me off and felt like a huge waste of time. My current company also recently introduced a Mindfulness workshop only this time it was really a basic meditation workshop which…

> My current company also recently introduced a Mindfulness workshop only this time it was really a basic meditation workshop which I enjoyed.

I find it extremely weird for companies to offer these things. The only reason they'd do it is to boost their own productivity / margin / whatever. As in "be healthy because we need your ass on that chair and your brain working on our problems".

There is already a thin enough line between personal and professional life.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/31/mindfu...

Re: Schools in England Introduce a New Subject: Mindfulness

#44
About time for mindfulness to actually be a thing. Waiting for a time where people are at least exposed to the idea of mindfulness, whether they continue to practice it, is their choice. A subject in school is the best way to achieve this.

For adults, if one thinks that they are already super happy and self-realised, it still makes sense to try out the techniques of mindfulness just with a consideration that they "could" be even more so. They "could" be missing an entirely different dimension.

Personal experience: Up till the age of 21, I was enjoying my life, doing well, fooling myself that I am the happiest I can be. That's when I took this course in IIT Madras called Self Awareness [1]. I had taken it because people said they always give good grades. The course caused a massive self-discovery for me. It was all and all about mindfulness. The teachings were mainly from the books: `Siddhartha` [2], `The power of now` [3] and `Stop sleep walking through life` [4]. They introduced us to relaxing exercises, meditation and breathing techniques along with some ideas to watch yourself while you are getting emotionally vulnerable. Briefly, the course was about being conscious of your existence, about feeling one with the present and about figuring yourself out for real. It has been 4 years since and I can clearly see that I am a different person, I have much less fights, I am rarely depressed, I handle criticism much better, I am much more productive in my work and most important of all, I have the clarity about who I am.

Sucks to think that I wouldn't have known (never mind achieved) all this if it weren't for a mindfulness course. Props to the schools in England for this initiative.

[1] https://courses.iitm.ac.in/course/info.php?id=849 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddhartha_(novel) [3] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6708.The_Power_of_Now [4] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/258519.Stop_Sleep_Walkin...

Re: Schools in England Introduce a New Subject: Mindfulness

#45
I think schools should teach one more thing: non-violent communication and related things: not-neediness, how to communicate feelings and needs, how to avoid shaming and guilt-tripping, how to ask and be fine with rejections, how to understand that other people may have different goals and motivations, etc.

- Marshall B. Rosenberg, "Non-Violent Communication" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/560861.Non_Violent_Commu...

Moreover, it may change the society (so its benefits don't stop at an individual level) - as a lot of problems stem from conflicts that escalate step by step.

Re: Schools in England Introduce a New Subject: Mindfulness

#46
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have it ever occurred to you that adults have mental problems because they didn't learn to manage it as children and young adults? Besides, depression and anxiety is surprisingly common among children.

>Besides, depression and anxiety is surprisingly common among children. Whom do you think they learned this from? Trees or cats?

A society that promotes mainly unachievable levels of success, beauty, wealth, and influence?

Re: Schools in England Introduce a New Subject: Mindfulness

#47

I'm always puzzled with the fact that people search for surrogate solutions instead of pursuing the real issue. If you don't feel well there is so much you can do. Make serious effort in making friends, join a sports club or something else you like, solve long running conflicts with other people, don't over- or under achieve on a level which doesn't fit you (school/work), be proud with the things you accomplish inste…

I agree problems need to be tackled at the source, but some self-help books may help you deal with the problem. 12 Rules for Life is one such book.

yes you're right, some books can really be insightful, I've read some myself :)

Unfortunately I see people around me who drown in the therapy/self-help circuit. A lot of money is involved, and they keep running in circles. It seems to become a self fulfilling prophecy.

If you spend to much time reflecting on your life, it becomes part of your life which prevents you from really living. Before saying anymore clichés I'll stop, and go do something :)

Re: Schools in England Introduce a New Subject: Mindfulness

#48
post #35
post #31

I really struggle with the term "mindfulness" as it seems it can mean anything and everything, depending on who you ask. We had some Mindfulness workshops at a previous employer and it was so full of woo and magical thinking that it really turned me off and felt like a huge waste of time. My current company also recently introduced a Mindfulness workshop only this time it was really a basic meditation workshop which…

Sounds like you had a bad workshop the first time round. Mindfulness should be rational, scientific and entirely free of woo or magical thinking.

I can only agree with you 100%. However, it seems this is not a universal view.

Re: Schools in England Introduce a New Subject: Mindfulness

#49

My five year-old son now talks about his mind in the third person as a result of this. I'm having to retrain him with responsibility for his own actions. Lovely idea and all but having untrained people teaching psychological practices to reception-grade children seems rather foolhardy to me.

That's a fair point; while mental health wasn't a class in my country, I've also found that these "extra" classes often suffered from giving them to random teachers. Just because they have some experience (and possibly a minor degree) in pedagogy doesn't mean they can teach every subject. Many here can barely teach their specialty.

Re: Schools in England Introduce a New Subject: Mindfulness

#50
Ah, it sounds like a rebranded "Personal Development Education". Having being introduced to it from secondary school onwards, it was always a pleasure to have a double period of PDE at the end of the day. Zero study involved. No real homework. If we were lucky they'd roll out the big telly and an old tape about bullying or hormones. Even when they put it before the first bell, it worked out well as a place to do your maths homework.

Probably for the best they're starting younger these days. They might find real buy-in from actual children.

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