So, at the moment I am doing a mindfulness for children course. Hoping to travel round Island schools and help children learn techniques to help them self regulate and counteract anxiety, 

When I was young this would not have been a thing. Teach kids mindfulness? Isn’t that counterintuitive? They constantly live in the moment don’t they? Well today, not so much unfortunately. 

So many kids are feeling anxious, getting social anxiety, refusing to go to school or not being able to cope when they do go to school. This is for many reasons. One of them being, there is more and more pressure put on kids at school and less support in schools due to cuts in budget.

Parents are having to work harder to keep up with the cost of living, Parents being stressed or emotionally unavailable (often due to the constant stress and pressures on them) Phones always demanding attention from us left right and centre and less time for connection. 

By connection I’m covering a wide range of meanings here. Connection to ourselves, connection to each other, connection to nature. All of these things in my opinion help ground us, keep us calm, trust our own instincts and feel in control of ourselves and not get too overwhelmed.

Mindfulness doesn’t mean sitting and doing nothing as many people think. It means focusing more on that exact moment or task completely. You can practice being mindful by making a minor change to an every day task. Like brushing your teeth with the wrong hand. This forces an otherwise automatic task to become something to think about more, focus on more and be more all absorbing. It can be sitting and colouring or walking outdoors and really noticing what our senses are telling us. What can we see? Hear? Smell? Feel? Taste? Etc.

Mindfulness can also help us learn how to recognise and develop awareness of how mental and emotional states are reflected within the body. Sometimes simply shaking it off after having to listen to a particularly negative colleague/client/person can be really quite cathartic. Gentle physical movement helps release built-up tension from the body, especially when we’ve been holding ourselves still or emotionally containing someone else’s stress. Shaking encourages the nervous system to reset, allowing excess energy, frustration, or emotional residue to discharge rather than being carried with us. It can leave us feeling lighter, more grounded, and better able to return to a sense of balance and presence.

I’m thinking I would love to not only teach young children mindfulness but would also like to offer Parents sessions so whole families could benefit. If this interests you and you live on the IW please feel free to get in touch!