Mindfulness in Education: Interview with Kristal Burns

ABOUT THIS LEADER IN BRINGING MINDFULNESS TO CHILDREN

My name is Kristal Burns.  A Missoula native, I have called this beautiful valley my home for 31 years.  I received my elementary education degree from the University of Montana.  After trying to find the right job, I stumbled upon the Missoula Community School where I will begin my seventh year of teaching this fall.  From my first day, I felt invited to embrace myself for who I am, challenged to strive to be the best I can be, and have found great encouragement as I develop mindfulness as part of classroom life.

My mindfulness practice started during my first year at MCS.  The school participates in mindful eating, where children are encouraged to think about the food they eat.  The idea of it, and the actual experience, blew me away.  I had been interested in seeking out a formal meditation practice and found this as my stepping stone.

During the last six years I have infused a formal and informal mindfulness practice into my life, both at home and at work.  I have had the wonderful opportunity to work closely with colleagues who also have a personal practice.  Over the years we built a classroom mindfulness practice with the goal of nurturing healthy, compassionate living and learning.

WHAT IS MINDFULNESS?

When a person cultivates mindfulness, they are bringing a calm awareness to themselves; that person is creating a space in which to pause and focus their attention on the how and why of what they are experiencing.  Through experience and practice, one can then train themselves to slow down.  You build the ability to use deep listening, thoughtful speech, and resist the urge to react or judge.  Mindfulness becomes a tool in which you deepen life’s experiences; mindfulness empowers you.  Sometimes people think that mindfulness is interchangeable with attention, presence, or a formal sitting meditation.  In my experience, these things are a part of mindfulness that definitely go hand in, but they are not transposable.

 Over the last several years, I have worked to nurture mindfulness in my life, both at home and at work.  At first, I started introducing aspects of mindfulness into my mainstream life as I became more comfortable with them.  For example, I introduced a mindfulness bell into my home to encourage deep breaths after I practiced at my formal meditation practice.  I introduced a cushion to my classroom circle because I associate the cushion with formal meditation practice.  Now I am able to greet each day’s tasks with a deep breath and an eye of mindfulness.  Fostering mindfulness in my life has also allowed me to look through eyes of kindness, patience, and compassion and to identify the basic human capacity for empathy, patience and compassion in myself and others.  My mindfulness practice has helped me realize that my thoughts are just thoughts; they do not define who I am.  The best I can do is to strive to be a little better than the day before.

    Mindfulness is the most important aspect of my own daughter’s education.  Through the use of mindfulness, children are taught to engage themselves in what they are learning rather than merely witnessing what they are learning;  they learn to navigate using their internal compasses and are able to find self-acceptance that is not conditional strictly on performance.  The idea of working solely to complete a project is transformed, ridding the mind of the idea of failure and instead focusing on the growth that has occurred.  Children can learn that there are no wrong feelings, only inappropriate behaviors.  Our children can build in themselves empathy, patience and compassion for all things.  Most importantly, we can model for our children the importance of being a constructive, thoughtful global citizen.

Mindfulness also creates and supports deep relationships with teachers, peers and the environment and allows for participants to fully engage their hearts and minds in the present moment.  Teaching mindfulness as a life skill, we are empowering our youth to take advantage of their education.

BENEFITS OF THIS PRACTICE

Benefits of mindfulness practices include better focus and concentration, increased empathy and self-awareness, improved impulse control, acknowledgment of individual feelings and emotions, natural conflict resolution skills, and an enhanced sense of curiosity and wonder.

PARENTING WITH MINDFULNESS

The most significant way I have seen parents cultivate mindfulness in their own homes is through the use of “mindful moments.”  Children at my school are presented with the opportunity to explore mindfulness through mindful eating, combination of the ringing of the bell and deep breaths, and opportunities to practice deep listening.  These are the opportunities most frequently taken home.  Many families begin their dinner with mindful eating, where families invite themselves to bring their full attention to the process of eating; to all the
tastes, smell, thoughts and feeling that arise during a meal.   Some

children request the presence of a bell in their home, allowing them an opportunity to take a deep breath and stop their talking, moving and thinking and bring their full attention to the bell and the current activity.  Many families practice expressing gratitude as part of their evening ritual, taking turns to reflect on their day and allowing each family member a chance to practice really listening to what the others have to say without preparing a thought to react with or a judgment to state, just allowing each other to speak and to be truly heard.

There are many children’s books available that help foster mindfulness through story.  A list of books, their authors and a brief description can be found below.

WORKSHOP IN MISSOULA

On August 19th, a workshop is being offered for educators and specialists working with children.  The goal of the workshop is to provide an opportunity to experience mindfulness as well as learn a few ways to integrate it into classrooms.  As parents and teachers know, modeling from personal experience is the best method of teaching.  Workshop attendees will leave with an understanding of what mindfulness is and how it is being used, and be offered a chance to choose a follow-up activity in which they will work with one of the instructors to complete.  A colleague, Greg Grallo (twelve years experience with mindfulness and seven years with early childhood) will be conducting the workshop with me.  It will be held from 9am-3pm at the Open Way Mindfulness Center.  OPI credits are available for attendees; four credits for workshop attendance and four additional credits upon completion of (optional) follow-up activities and consultation.  For more information or to receive a registration form, please email mindfulmissoula@gmail.com.

CHILDREN'S BOOKS THAT FOSTER MINDFULNESS

Each Breath a Smile by Sister Susan (learning to connect with your breathing) Ahn’s Anger by Gail Silver (Readers learn how to care for and deal with strong emotions as they read about a young boy who is asked to sit with his anger in order to create a space to help him resolve a conflict.)

Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth (Short meditations challenging readers to hone their intuition.  A gentle panda shares three stories addressing good vs. bad luck, the nature of frustration and forgiveness, and the role of material possessions.) A Quiet Place by Douglas Wood (children learn the importance of finding a quiet place where they can find calm and be allowed to think.)

The Three Questions by Jon J. Muth (Based on a story by Leo Tolstoy, a young boy finds inner peace as he seeks out the answer to threequestions: When is the best time to do things?  Who is the most important one?  What is the right thing to do?)

The Empty Pot by Demi (Children learn about the importance of honesty and integrity, and that your best is good enough as they read about a young boy who is unable to help a seed grow and has to present an empty pot to the emperor.)

The Happiness Tree by Andrea Alban Gosline (Celebrate the earth while learning about attributes we would like to cultivate in our children:hope, love, courage, gratitude, peace, compassion, tolerance, generosity, honesty and happiness.)

Moody Cow Meditates by Kerry Lee MacLean (Upon having a really bad day and receiving the name Moody Cow, Peter learns from his grandfather how to settle down his mind and let go of his frustration.  A good way to introduce meditation to children.)

Buddha at Bedtime by Dharmachari Nagaraja (A collection of read-aloud stories which highlight dilemmas children face and provides the groundwork for children and their caregivers to learn and discuss how do handle these situations through the use of empathy, compassion, creativity and a general positive outlook.

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[Debbie Norris]

Announcing: Mindfulness in Education Network

Our spring conference, Mindfulness: Foundation for Teaching and Learning, at American University in Washington, DC, March 18-20, 2011, is taking shape.

The Friday evening keynote talk, The New ABCs – Attention, Balance, & Compassion, will be presented by

Susan Kaiser Greenland, JD, mindfulness educator, researcher, author, and co-founder of the Inner Kids Foundation.

The Saturday conference will feature a morning plenary panel with:

Diane Reibel, PhD, Director of The Mindfulness Institute at the Jefferson-Myrna Brind Center
Integrative Medicine and a Research Associate Professor, Thomas Jefferson
University
Bradford Grant, MArch, Director of Howard University’s School of Architecture and Design
Wynne Kinder, BA, Partner in Kinder Associates and Lead Instructor of Wellness Works in
Schools

Saturday afternoon will consist of break-out sessions on many topics tentatively including:

Early childhood education; Teaching young children in elementary school; Teaching children in middle school; Teaching young adults in high school; Teaching university students; Teaching teachers; Research on mindfulness; Developing a personal practice, Integrating personal practice and work, Parenting

Sunday will be a “Day of Courage and Renewal,” workshops based on the work of Parker Palmer with lead facilitators:

Judy Brown, PhD, Senior Fellow of the University of Maryland’s Center for Public Policy and
Private Enterprise
Kathleen Glaser, M.A., National Facilitator for the Center for Courage and Renewal
Irene McHenry, PhD, Executive Director of the Friends Council on Education

Registration will be open in fall through the MiEN Website, www.mindfuled.org. I’ll send a notice to the MiEN listserv when registration opens. In the meantime, please mark these dates on your calendars and let your friends know about our conference.