Children in Scotland has published a book to teach children mindfulness after a trial at the Royal Blind School
One of Scotland's biggest children's organisations is promoting mindfulness as a way to help children control their anxiety and increase their confidence.
Aimed at teachers, parents and carers Mindfulness Techniques for Children and Young People is a practical guide to the practice which has seen a boon in popularity over the past few years.
The book has been published by Children in Scotland which says the meditation technique is "a serious and credible way of supporting children". It was created following a pilot study at the Royal Blind School in Edinburgh where its author Stan Godek, alongside two teachers at the school, used mindfulness exercises to introduce relaxation into the children’s school day.
The results, Godek said, were encouraging.
“One of the children used to be extremely agitated a great deal of the time, often due to stress and frustration about his disability and the impact it had on his daily life," he said.
“He has now developed the ability to relax, using visualisation and breathing techniques at home as well as at school to help calm himself and reduce feelings of agitation and anxiety.”
Mindfulness has the potential to become a fundamental part of Curriculum for Excellence
Changes in the children’s behavior and learning were sometimes said to be quite dramatic and in other cases occurred slowly, over a lengthy period of time.
Godek said: “We saw improvements in the children’s understanding of themselves and why they behaved in certain ways; a lessening of anxiety levels; a better understanding of why they got angry about certain things and what to do to change this; improvements in self-esteem; increased understanding of how their behaviour affects other people; increased levels of empathy and compassion for others; an increase in concentration levels, in listening skills and in the ability to pay attention in the classroom."
As well as providing details of Godek’s programme, the book combines more general instructions and exercises to help practitioners apply mindfulness techniques in a wide range of settings.
“These techniques do not just apply to work with children who have disabilities,” he continued. “They have the potential to become part of mainstream educational approaches and my hope is that they can be shared with schools.
“Mindfulness has the potential to become a fundamental part of Curriculum for Excellence.”
Elaine Brackenridge, head teacher at the Royal Blind School in Edinburgh said: “When children are aware of themselves, their own behaviour patterns and the impact this has on them and others, they have more understanding of how they can use emotional regulation as a tool. For some pupils, the mindfulness sessions have not only been enlightening, they have been liberating.”
Illustrated by artist Sophie Rolland, the book charts the history and meaning of mindfulness and presents a set of practical exercises with worksheets. It explores the importance of breathing, visualisation and imaging, and explains how to use these techniques with children and young people.
Jackie Brock, chief executive of Children in Scotland, said: “Mindfulness is increasingly regarded as a serious and credible way of supporting children, young people and adults to control anxiety, concentrate, and contribute to better education and work environments.
“Our hope is that through this unique new publication Stan is able to share his training and experience with as many readers as possible, so that these techniques can be used to improve young people’s lives.”
