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A call for slow scholarship: A case study on the intensification of academic life and its implications for pedagogy

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A call for slow scholarship: A case study on the intensification of academic life and its implications for pedagogy

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In depth article on the effects of intensifying academic life, discusses the impact of the corporatization of the university. Discusses how to invoke alternative discourse to "fast" learning.

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A Call for Slow Scholarship A Case Study on the Intensification of Academic Life and Its Implications for Pedagogy

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https://www.mindspacewellbeing.com/why-is-mindfulness-in-the-workplace-important-in-2019/

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Why is mindfulness in the workplace important in 2019? : Welcome to Mindspace - Therapy, Training, T

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https://zenhabits.net/the-10-essential-rules-for-slowing-down-and-enjoying-life-more/

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The 10 Essential Rules for Slowing Down and Enjoying Life More : zen habits

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Simon & Garfunkel - The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy).wmv

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https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/positive-psychology-exercises/

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TEDx Talk

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A look at how corporate busyness helped one man realize he was missing life. Resources and ramblings about presence and slow living.

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Sloww | Slow Living in a Fast World | Design a Lighter Life

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Sloww | Slow Living in a Fast World | Design a Lighter Life

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Slow down and live a paced life of purpose. Slow Living and the Slow Movement, Simple Living, Minimalism, Unbusyness, Voluntary Simplicity, and more.

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Mindfulness & Meditation Spotify Playlist 

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Mindfulness & Meditation Spotify Playlist 

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Calm instrumental tracks.

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Slow Down. Enjoy Life!

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The world is moving fast. These talks will inspire you to take time to process it all. Bonus reading: Pico Iyer's The Art of Stillness , a beautiful meditation on this subject.

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Self-Regulation one breath at a time | The Mindful Classroom

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"Just Breathe" by Julie Bayer Salzman & Josh Salzman (Wavecrest Films)

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Infographic / Teacher Resource

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Standards driven education makes for "packages of test shaped knowledge".

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Find the Time for Slow Education Pedagogy

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Feet on Floor - Bottom on Chair
Link to resource below.

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What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness involves training our attention to experience the present moment with greater curiosity and kindness. This helps us to not only appreciate what is going well, but to respond more skillfully to life's inevitable challenges.

BEDITATION

http://www.fox.rbkc.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Lesson3-Beditation.mp3

FOFBOC - Feet On Floor Bottom on Chair

Find a space which is calm and quiet and sit up straight in a chair, then play the recording below which will guide you through the FOFBOC practice.

http://www.fox.rbkc.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/FOFBOC_5mins_Version2.mp3

Toolbox

Curriculum

Useful links

Should you be interested in reading further about the body of research evidence around mindfulness, you may like to read the following document by Professor Katherine Weare: http://mindfulnessinschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/MiSP-Research-Summary-2012.pdf

Further research studies regarding the benefits of mindfulness for young people can be found on the Mindfulness in Schools Project Website: mindfulnessinschools.org - Research

The government's Mindful Nation UK report has been released and contains a section on the role of mindfulness in education.
http://www.themindfulnessinitiative.org.uk/images/reports/Mindfulness-APPG-Report_Mindful-Nation-UK_Oct2015.pdf

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Mindfulness involves training our attention to experience the present moment with greater curiosity and kindness. This helps us to not only appreciate what is going well, but to respond more skillfully to life's inevitable challenges. http://www.fox.rbkc.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Lesson3-Beditation.mp3 Find a space which is calm and quiet and sit up straight in a chair, then play the recording below which will guide you through the FOFBOC practice.

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18 Amazing Mindfulness Activities for the Classroom

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Evidence  for  the  Impact   of  Mindfulness on  Children  and Young  People

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Students meditate during mindfulness studies class at Wilson High School

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Students meditate during mindfulness studies class at Wilson High School

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This is a yearlong course that incorporates mindfulness, yoga and meditation for student wellness into the curriculum.

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It's time to start the slow school movement

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It's time to start the slow school movement

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Against a "hamburger" approach toward education, which emphasizes uniformity, predictability, and measurability of processes and results.

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Its time to start the slow school movement

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Does the Slow Movement have anything to offer nursing education?

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Does the Slow Movement have anything to offer nursing education?

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Outlines how the Slow Movement could go beyond reflective practice and effect change in nursing education.

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Testing, Testing: How Mindfulness Can Help | Teaching Tolerance

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Mindfulness - Anderson Cooper

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The following is a script from "Mindfulness" which aired on Dec. 14, 2014. Anderson Cooper is the correspondent. Denise Schrier Cetta, producer. Matthew Danowski , editor.

Our lives are filled with distractions -- email, Twitter, texting we're constantly connected to technology, rarely alone with just our thoughts. Which is probably why there's a growing movement in America to train people to get around the stresses of daily life.

It's a practice called "mindfulness" and it basically means being aware of your thoughts, physical sensations, and surroundings.

Tonight, we'll introduce you to the man who's largely responsible for mindfulness gaining traction. His name is Jon Kabat-Zinn and he thinks mindfulness is the answer for people who are so overwhelmed by life, they feel they aren't really living at all.

Jon Kabat-Zinn: There are a lot of different ways to talk about mindfulness, but what it really means is awareness.

Anderson Cooper: Is it being present?

Jon Kabat-Zinn: It is being present. That's exactly what it is.

Anderson Cooper: I don't feel I'm very present in each moment. I feel like every moment I'm either thinking about something that's coming down the road, or something that's been in the past.

Jon Kabat-Zinn: So ultimately all this preparing is for what? For the next moment, like the last moment, like, and then we're dead (laugh) so in a certain way...

"There are a lot of different ways to talk about mindfulness, but what it really means is awareness."

Anderson Cooper: Oh God, this is depressing.

Jon Kabat-Zinn: Are we going to experience while we're still alive? We're only alive now.

Jon Kabat-Zinn, is an MIT-trained scientist who's been practicing mindfulness for 47 years. Back in 1979, he started teaching mindfulness through meditation to people suffering from chronic pain and illness. That program is now used in more than 700 hospitals worldwide.

Anderson Cooper: So how can you be mindful in your daily life?

Jon Kabat-Zinn: When your alarm goes off and you jump out of bed, what is the nature of the mind in that moment? Are you already like, "oh my God," your calendar pops into your mind and you're driven already, or can you take a moment and just lie in bed and just feel your body breathing. And remember, "oh yeah, brand new day and I'm still alive." So, I get out of bed with awareness, brush my teeth with awareness. When you're in the shower next time check and see if you're in the shower.

Anderson Cooper: What do you mean check and see if you're in the shower?

Jon Kabat-Zinn: Well, you may not be. You may be in your first meeting at work. You may have 50 people in the shower with you.

Kabat-Zinn says mindfulness takes practice...a lot of people start with a training class to learn how to meditate.

He agreed to teach us at a weekend retreat on a remote mountaintop in northern California.

When we arrived we were told there would be no television to watch, no Internet, not even an alarm clock.

[Congressman Ryan: So I'm checking in.]

The retreat was full of professionals - neuroscientists, business leaders, Silicon Valley executives.

Before we began we all had to surrender our last ties to the outside world.

Jon Kabat-Zinn: Put your devices in the basket. I'm contributing my MacBook Air and my iPhone. Happily.

I wasn't exactly happy to give up my phone. I usually check emails several times an hour.

[Kabat-Zinn ringing a bell.]

Jon Kabat-Zinn: So let's take a few minutes and just settle into an erect and dignified posture.

The retreat lasted three days and most of that time was spent just sitting there, silently meditating - with occasional guidance from Kabat-Zinn.

Jon Kabat-Zinn: There's no place to go. There's nothing to do. We're just asking you to sit and know that you are sitting.

Knowing that you're sitting may sound simple...turns out...it's not. The mind constantly wanders.

Jon Kabat-Zinn: The mind has a life of its own. It goes here and there.

To not get lost in thought, Kabat-Zinn recommended focusing on the sensation of breathing in and out.

Jon Kabat-Zinn: Can we actually ride with full awareness on the waves of the breath -- at the belly, at the nostrils and the chest. And then simply rest here in awareness.

"Resting in awareness" is one of those phrases used a lot by people who practice mindfulness. But when I tried to do it, it wasn't restful and I worried I wasn't doing it right. I kept thinking about work.

Anderson Cooper: I miss my cell phone. I'm having withdrawal, I must say.

Mindfulness and technology: Do they mix?

Kabat-Zinn, who has written 10 books on mindfulness and led nearly a hundred retreats, describes meditation as a mental workout.

Jon Kabat-Zinn: The mind wanders away from the breath and then you gently and nonjudgmentally just bring it back.

Anderson Cooper: So it's okay that the mind drifts away but you just bring it back.

Jon Kabat-Zinn: It's the nature of the mind to drift away. The mind is like the Pacific Ocean, it waves. And mindfulness has been shown to drop underneath the waves. If you drop underneath the agitation in the mind, into your breath deep enough calmness, gentle undulations.

After hours of meditating in 30-minute sessions it does get easier. Those waves of thought Kabat-Zinn described - they're still there but you get less distracted by them.

At breakfast, we spent time relearning some of the very basic things in life - including how to eat food. Eating a meal in complete silence is a little awkward, but without conversation as a distraction...you taste more and eat less.

This is something called "walking meditation." The goal is to learn to be aware of each and every movement and feeling. I know it seems ridiculous, but it does change the way you experience walking.

Jon Kabat-Zinn: The Zen people from Ancient China, "When you're walking, just walk." It turns out to be the hardest thing.

Anderson Cooper: That's an ancient saying?

Jon Kabat-Zinn: When you're walking, just walk. When you're eating, just eat. Not in front of the TV, not with the newspaper. It turns out, that's huge.

Congressman Tim Ryan, an Ohio Democrat, says mindfulness might look a lot like nothing, but he really believes it can change America for the better.

He attended his first meditation retreat in 2008, just days after winning a grueling reelection campaign.

"When you're walking, just walk. When you're eating, just eat. Not in front of the TV, not with the newspaper. It turns out, that's huge."

But being mindful at a retreat is one thing, we wondered if, back in Washington, Congressman Ryan ever worries about how all this looks...

Tim Ryan: Well, you know, I can see myself in high school going, "Whoa. Stay away from those guys." (laugh)

Anderson Cooper: So, how do you use it here on Capitol Hill?

Tim Ryan: I'm on the budget committee, for example. There's a lot of conflict. And people say things that get you ramped up. I find myself, as my body clenches up when somebody says something that I know is wrong or I-- I wanna catch them in a lie or whatever, that just, "Calm down. When it's your turn, you make your point."

[Ryan in Congress

Tim Ryan: Hey man.]

You don't hear the words "calm" and "Congress" together very often, but Ryan is trying to change that. He hosts weekly meditation sessions open to members and staff of both parties.

[Mindfulness leader: Now shifting the attention to take in the entire body.]

Anderson Cooper: Have you gotten any Republican Congressmen in to meditate with you yet?

Tim Ryan: No. [laugh] We're working on it.

He's written a book about mindfulness and obtained a million dollars of federal funding to teach it to school children in his Ohio district.

[Tim Ryan with kids in classroom

Girl: I feel like we are calm right now.

Tim Ryan: Yes you are.]

Tim Ryan: I've seen it transform classrooms. I've seen it heal veterans. I've seen what it does to individuals who have really high chronic levels of stress and how it has helped their body heal itself. I wouldn't be willing to stick my neck out this far if I didn't think this is "The Thing" that can really help shift the country.

Anderson Cooper: To some people though this may sound like kind of New Age gobbledygook?

Jon Kabat-Zinn: Yeah, there's so many different compelling studies that are showing that this not New Age gobbledygook, this is potentially transformative of our health and well-being psychologically as well as physically. It can be useful for anxiety, depression, stress reduction.

There have been a number of studies that show mindfulness can lead to those benefits, as well as improvements in memory and attention.

And, at the University of Massachusetts, Judson Brewer, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist, uses mindfulness to treat addiction.

Judson Brewer: This is just the next generation of exercise. We've got the physical, you know, exercise components down. And now it's about working out how can we actually train our minds.

Dr. Brewer is trying to understand how mindfulness can alter the functioning of the brain.

He uses a cap lined with 128 electrodes.

Judson Brewer: We going to start filling each of these 128 wells with conduction gel.

The electrodes are able to pick up signals from the posterior cingulate, part of a brain network linked to memory and emotion.

Judson Brewer: This is all just picking up electrical signal from the top of your head.

Since attending the mindfulness retreat, I'd been meditating daily and was curious to see if it had an impact on my brain.

Judson Brewer: We're going to have you start with thinking of something that was very anxiety provoking for you.

Anderson Cooper: OK.

When I thought about something stressful, the cells in my brain's posterior cingulate immediately started firing -- shown by the red lines that went off the chart on the computer screen.

Judson Brewer: Just drop into meditation.

Anderson Cooper: OK.

When I let go of those stressful thoughts, and re-focused on my breath...within seconds the brain cells that had been firing quieted down -- shown by the blue lines on the computer.

Anderson Cooper: That's really fascinating to see it like that.

Dr. Brewer believes everyone can train their brains to reach that blue, mindfulness zone, but he says, all the technology we're surrounded by makes it difficult.

Judson Brewer: If you look at people out on the street, if you look at people at restaurants, nobody's having conversations anymore. They're sitting at dinner looking at their phone, because their brain is so addicted to it.

Anderson Cooper: You really think there's something in the brain that's addicted to that?

Judson Brewer: Well, it's the same reward pathways as addiction, absolutely.

Anderson Cooper: I'm on mobile devices all day long. I feel like I could go through an entire day and not be present.

Judson Brewer: And what's that like?

Anderson Cooper: It's exhausting.

Judson Brewer: So all of this is leading to a societal exhaustion.

The irony is, many of the people responsible for creating the gadgets that distract us are themselves practicing mindfulness. More than 2,000 people from companies like Google, Facebook and Instagram showed up earlier this year in San Francisco for a mindfulness conference called Wisdom 2.0.

[Announcer: Please welcome our guests.]

Karen May is a Google vice president, and that's Chade-Meng Tan a former engineer whose become kind of a mindfulness guru. And as could only happen at a place like Google, his actual title is "Jolly Good Fellow."

Chade-Meng Tan: Which nobody can deny.

Anderson Cooper: So, what does a Jolly Good Fellow do?

Chade-Meng Tan: My job description is to enlighten minds, open hearts and create world peace.

Anderson Cooper: That's your job description?

Chade-Meng Tan: That's my job description.

Anderson Cooper: I've heard that at some meetings at Google you actually start out with moments of silence.

Karen May: We do.

Anderson Cooper: How long do sit there quietly for?

Karen May: It's literally a minute or two of noticing your breathing, calming yourself down, being present. And then you're able to go into the meeting, the business at hand, with a little bit more focus.

Anderson Cooper: Does it make people more productive?

Chade-Meng Tan: Yes, it does. When the mind is un-agitated, when the mind is calm, that mind is most conducive to creative problem solving.

Anderson Cooper: --to innovate?

Chade-Meng Tan: Correct. And one of the powers of mindfulness is the ability to get to that frame of mind on demand.

So along with their free health clubs and other company perks...Google now offers their 52,000 employees free lessons in mindfulness.

Chade-Meng Tan: In the middle of stress, when everything is falling apart. You can take one breath.

Anderson Cooper: I can imagine some people rolling their eyes and saying, "Oh, come on, of course, like, you know, at Google, you guys have tons of money, there's massage therapists walking around and all sorts of nice things for employees, but it just doesn't seem practical."

Karen May: The advantage of this is it actually doesn't cost anything and it doesn't take much time.

Anderson Cooper: And you believe it really works?

Karen May: I absolutely believe it works.

After nearly four decades of teaching mindfulness, Jon Kabat-Zinn is happy to see it hitting the mainstream. But if you're starting to think mindfulness is something you should start practicing, he says you may be missing the point.

Jon Kabat-Zinn: It's not a big should. It's not like, "Oh I gotta, now one more thing that I have to put in my life. Now I have to be mindful."

Anderson Cooper: And if it becomes that one more thing they gotta do after they take the yoga class?

Jon Kabat-Zinn: They shouldn't do it. Just don't do it. Don't do it. It's not a doing at all, in fact, it's a being. And being doesn't take any time.

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The following is a script from "Mindfulness" which aired on Dec. 14, 2014. Anderson Cooper is the correspondent. Denise Schrier Cetta, producer. Matthew Danowski , editor. Our lives are filled with distractions -- email, Twitter, texting we're constantly connected to technology, rarely alone with just our thoughts.

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Focus. Awareness. Resilience. Curiosity. Reflection. All are elements of thriving classrooms and students. All are trainable skills that can be intentionally taught and cultivated to strengthen student opportunities for success. I've come to realize that the extent to which I purposefully incorporate them into my curriculum makes just as much of an impact as how I teach academic skills.

Mindfulness in the classroom has the capacity to train students to nurture these qualities for success. While some may be hesitant to include mindfulness in the classroom, it is simply a way of equipping students with tools to help with attention and focus when they work. In my 10th and 11th grade English classes, our attempts to build a mindful practice have had a powerful impact on their learning. Taylor, a student of mine, recently said mindfulness has "really helped me grow as a person and a student by helping me focus on being present in body and mind." Another student, Jennifer, said "being mindful has taught me how to respect myself and others, and how to make this time useful." This priority creates a powerful space for students to be able to access our English curriculum from a place of awareness and empowerment.

Though many definitions of mindfulness exist, simply put, it means being present with moments and experiences as they are. Research, such as that compiled by UCLA's Mindfulness Awareness Research Center, points to countless classroom benefits, including enhanced levels of attention, self-control, relationships, and decision-making as well as reduced amounts of anxiety, depression, and anger. It has the potential to transform classrooms and schools into spaces of greater reflection and awareness, while equipping students with necessary tools to navigate difficult emotions and challenges in life.

In building a mindful classroom, here are a few things I've been experimenting with lately:

Messages of Growth and Reflection. A growth mindset encourages students to approach focus as a practice, while examining the root of their distraction. Rather than coming from a place of shame or blame, this enables students to be more curious and aware of what they do and why they do it.

Ritualized Pauses in the Day. Starting and ending class with a few collective, guided breaths helps build community, resets students (and me) from the busyness of the school day, and allows time to set or return to an intention.

Tools to Navigate Difficult Emotions. Students can learn to explore their relationship to challenges and big emotions. They come to realize that though they may not be able to control their outer circumstances, they can manage their responses and approach life with awareness and curiosity, rather than reactivity. Guided techniques include:

STOP (Stop, Take a breath, Observe, Proceed) can help students pause and reflect before making impulsive decisions.

RAIN (Recognize, Accept, Investigate emotions with Non-attachment) trains students to work with difficult emotions by staying with them and realizing that though they are a part of them, they do not define who they are.

Somatic awareness body scans can help students explore where they feel certain emotions in their body and give them space to stay with their emotions as they process them, rather than suppressing or numbing them through distraction.

Mindful and Reflective Curriculum. Student-centered themes, texts, and activities can help them examine their own lives and stories with awareness. Topics like identity, reactivity, decision-making, and healing can help students reflect on questions like: What in my past has shaped my present perspective and decision-making? What are the storylines I tell myself that feed, rather than ease, pain? At the same time, bringing a mindful lens to texts and incorporating activities like narrative writing helps students honor their own stories as transformative vehicles that have gotten them to where they are, not in spite of, but because of their challenges.

An intentionally mindful classroom practice allows students to examine how they show up every day and cultivate presence in the uncertain groundlessness of life. Equipping them with tools to reflect on experiences and navigate feelings allows them space to choose their responses from a place of empowerment, not reactivity. This has emboldened my students to be more focused and present learners who are able to do the fierce, openhearted practice that true learning requires. My student Frances recently wrote in a class reflection: "The meditations in the morning help me handle feedback in a positive way to make me a better writer."

It is through mindfulness that she is able to build tools to learn, grow, and explore with openness and curiosity-in and out of the classroom. Mindfulness is a powerful vehicle for students to cultivate academic skills, while building more tools to help them better navigate the challenges that being a teenager brings. This makes our investment in building a mindful classroom practice worth every step, or more accurately, every breath.

Mindfulness Tips for Schools and Districts:

Connect with local meditation and mindfulness organizations

Offer teachers mindfulness professional development

Design mindfulness classes for students, families, and staff

Designate a room on campus to be a place to recharge, relax, and get present

Incorporate mindfulness into existing discipline and school culture programs, such as Restorative Justice

Further resources:

Though school situations, culture, and tools vary, one thing is for sure: students need to be trained to cultivate tools for success. This is particularly true for at-risk students who may not have sufficient prior access to such tools. Though there is no singular path, mindfulness is one way of doing it that has already made a tremendous difference for my students this year. I've applied to attend UCLA's Mindfulness Facilitator's Training next year, and I'm excited to learn more about how it can be integrated into my class to build awareness and focus. My students are too-one even wrote my recommendation for the program!

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Mindfulness in the Classroom: A How-To Guide

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Focus. Awareness. Resilience. Curiosity. Reflection. All are elements of thriving classrooms and students. All are trainable skills that can be intentionally taught and cultivated to strengthen student opportunities for success. I've come to realize that the extent to which I purposefully incorporate them into my curriculum makes just as much of an impact as how I teach academic skills.

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In Praise of Slowness

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Journalist Carl Honore believes the Western world's emphasis on speed erodes health, productivity and quality of life. But there's a backlash brewing, as everyday people start putting the brakes on their all-too-modern lives.