{"id":356,"date":"2022-02-02T22:33:27","date_gmt":"2022-02-03T03:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/baldwin-clt-teaching-times\/?p=356"},"modified":"2022-02-02T23:01:30","modified_gmt":"2022-02-03T04:01:30","slug":"tips-for-encouraging-mindfulness-and-its-benefits-in-the-classroom-by-irina-popescu-laclas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/baldwin-clt-teaching-times\/teaching\/tips-for-encouraging-mindfulness-and-its-benefits-in-the-classroom-by-irina-popescu-laclas\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips for Encouraging Mindfulness and its Benefits in the Classroom by Irina Popescu (LACLAS)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mindfulness can be an off-putting concept for some instructors, but it offers an opportunity to truly connect with students as they access knowledge and express their ideas, argues Irina Popescu.<\/p>\n

3 Teaching Exercises for Mindfulness in the Classroom (see full article linked here. Excerpt below.)<\/a><\/h1>\n

by Irina Popescu (Feb 2, 2022)<\/p>\n

Irina Popescu is an assistant professor of Latin American studies at Bowdoin College. She teaches courses on human rights in the Americas. She has written pieces on anti-oppression pedagogy in <\/em>Inside Higher Ed\u00a0and other publications.<\/em><\/p>\n

… I honestly believe that we all need to start doing higher education differently at the current moment and create lasting changes\u2014not just temporary ones. For me, those changes have been tied to one main component that I\u2019ve added to my teaching practice: mindfulness inside the classroom.<\/p>\n

… For the past two years, I\u2019ve worked with many current and former students who are struggling to define their own journey within higher education, both as learners and knowledge producers. Based on those conversations, I\u2019ve decided to make mindfulness a weekly focus for all my courses at least once a week, for five to 10 minutes, usually at the beginning of the class. I have incorporated many tactics of mindfulness into my teaching, and here I outline a few that I hope will be useful to anyone who wants to give students a moment to take a pause and take a breath.<\/p>\n

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  1. \n

    Meditative Body Scan<\/h3>\n

    One way to facilitate an awareness of mind and body within the classroom right away is simply to engage students in a three-minute breathing meditation and body scan at the beginning of a class session. In short, I invite students to close their eyes and focus on their breathing, trying to slow it down a bit. I then ask them to scan their bodies, from the top of their heads all the way to their toes, while breathing deeply in and out. I tell them to name any sensations they\u2019re feeling but not\u00a0to judge those sensations as they continue to breathe and scan downward. Finally, I have them open their eyes and write down what they\u2019ve been feeling.<\/li>\n

  2. \n

    Brain Teasers<\/h3>\n

    BRAIN TEASER: Mindful Moments\u00a0with Audre Lorde<\/a><\/p>\n

    Choose a path:<\/strong><\/p>\n