Positively Mindful
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
    • Groups
    • Individuals
    • Relationships
    • Organisations
  • Blog
  • CONTACT
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
    • Groups
    • Individuals
    • Relationships
    • Organisations
  • Blog
  • CONTACT

Blog! Seize the day, then let it go 

BLOG INDEX

Mindfulness for Young People?

8/4/2016

0 Comments

 
PictureCertified!
I've always wanted to work with children, for the simple reason that the lessons I have learned from Mindfulness were the kinds of things I could have really used when I was between 9-18 years old:
  • Confidence,
  • self-awareness,
  • emotional intelligence,
  • tools to maintain calm and focus
This  is what I offer to young people today - tools which I didn't have access to until I was 30! This Blog explains why and how. 

Why?
Think about it - school is tough. These days social skills are on the decrease, thanks to social media and computers and stress is on the increase, thanks to exams from as early as 10 years old. We are piling on the pressure for young people in class sizes 20% bigger and playtime 20% shorter than 10 years ago. The curriculum is slow to catch up with the modern world and is seriously lacking in areas around well-being, emotional and mental health and sex /relationship education.

How?
Mindfulness offers help in three ways:

1. Awareness of choice of thought - reducing worry, stress and anxiety.
Mindfulness teaches us that thoughts are not 'truth', but that they are mental reactions, generally based in fear-responses - and linked to stimulus from the body and from memories. We can interrupt troubling thoughts using mindfulness techniques of breath and body awareness and allow us to regain some control over where we put our attention and then how we 'choose' to respond to situations.

2. Awareness of body and emotion  - helping people to act responsibly and calmly.
The more we become aware of the body, its  sensations and emotions, the more we learn to accept it and listen to it. Our bodies are made of trillions of highly evolved cells, each trying to support growth - giving constant feedback via sensations. Mindfulness teaches us to listen, interpret and respond to these sensations with more wisdom, through sheer practice. 

3. Practices and tools to cultivate gratitude, focus and reliance - increasing well-being and happiness. 
In the lessons I teach I give tools and practices not only to help with awareness and focus, but also to cultivate one of the most enriching and resilience building states possible; 'gratitude'. When we learn to befriend and appreciate ourselves and the world around us anything is possible and we shift away from negative thinking. 

This is highly rooted in neuroscience as well as contemplative ancient arts and historically in the contemplative religions of the east and west. However I teach secular mindfulness - focused only on individual exploration of the self - mind and body, not the spiritual, philosophical or moralistic elements of ancient meditation. 

The lessons I teach take simple principles and make them fun and accessible, with easy to use practices. The idea is that they plant a seed that can take root and give young people resilience and resources in times of stress. 

Certified in teaching mindfulness
I recently became an accredited teacher of Mindfulness in Schools (run by the Mindfulness in Schools Project), on a course called .b (dot-be) which have empowered me with 10 highly researched lessons to teach to children aged 11-18. I have already been teaching younger age groups at Compass School in Bristol and I have taught outdoor education to young people aged 14-18

The course I recently completed is detailed here. Or click on the link below. I'm offering reduced price taster sessions, for a limited time only. Please get in touch. 

Picture
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Authors

    Neil Morbey is a meditation teacher, group facilitator and inspiration guide for Positively-Mindful.com

    Newsletter Sign Up
    Blog Index
    1. Why I’m done with the 'cult of self improvement' and Goenka's rigid Vipassana
    2. EMDR and AIP models for trauma therapy
    3. ​Mistakes are opportunities to learn, grow and connect
    4. ​Broken Leg, Broken Bank? Here’s How to Keep Your Finances Healthy When You’re Not
    5. ​It's Time To Stop Being Ashamed Of Our Mental Health
    6. Mind - Body Health Benefits: How mindfulness connects it al
    7. My hypothesis of why I have ADHD and how I am improving it
    8. Practical Steps for Finding Peace After Loss
    9. FOMO to JOMO: The Joy of Now 10/09/2024
    10. Mentoring-teaching-what-to-think-as-well-as-how-to-think 15/8/24
    11. Putting Intersectionality into daily practice  27/05/24
    12. Self-Care is not a job, it's awesome, fun and wonderful!  10/04/202
    13. How Active Rest Refreshes Us 05/04/2024
    14. Voicing Vulnerability awaken-the-adult-state  05/03/2024
    15. How To Do A Daily Check-In And Intention Setting 27/11/23
    16. Fuel inspiration by pondering the beginning of all life 23/7/23
    17. The Gentle Village - A place to talk about relationships ​3/3/23
    18. Imagine if... you loved healthy habits ​24/12/22
    19. Philosophy is BS 7/11/22
    20. 3 Powerful Journalling Tools To Process Troubling Thoughts 27/9/22
    21. SAFER communication to help in emotional conversations 2/9/22
    22. Re-Schooling Ourselves: Refreshing Our Narratives 25/8/22
    23. Grounding: Stabilize your Wobbles 22/7/22
    24. How to appreciate your struggle 10/3/2022
    25. Allowing Ourselves To Rest 2/2/2022
    26. Committing To Your Deep Truth: Your Mission 19/1/2022
    27. The Attention Wars - Know Your Enemies! 24/11/2021
    28. Practices To Improve Polyvagal Tone 12/11/2021
    29. Being good enough - letting go of 'exceptional'. 8/11/2021
    30. Reschooling and Reparenting - Heal and Train Yourself (Like a Kitten) 26/10/2021
    31. Compare and Despair? Remember Now is Wow! 12/10/2021
    32. Using Self Awareness to Overcome Negative Emotions and Heal Your Trauma Patterns 5/10/2021
    33. How to find true love using meditation 28/9/2021
    34. 7 Steps To Establish a New Habit 20/9/2021
    35. Understanding the Main Styles of Counseling 21/5/2021
    36. When to listen to your gut: The power of intuition and instinct 1/3/2021
    37. Breaking the Lockdown Blues 4/2/2021
    38. Trying to Change a Habit? Forget Dopamine Fasting, Take a Holiday! 20/11/2020
    39. How To Liberate Yourself From Wounded Patterns 3/11/2020
    40. Overstimulation - The reason you struggle to focus 16/9/2020
    41. Reminding myself everyday: The MORNING routine 12/9/2020
    42. How to STOP reacting to anxiety 11/5/2020
    43. Creating a Meditation Space for Your Home - Top Ten Tips 5/3/2020
    44. Top 5 things the children loved about Mindfulness classes 9/12/2019
    45. What I learned from my week of being perfectly imperfect, ME 27/11/2019
    46. 5 things I learned from a retreat for fools 5/11/2019
    47. How To Meditate - An Example Practice (Body Scan) 25/9/2019
    48. How mindfulness can help you to enjoy the journey. 31/7/2019
    49. Has Mindfulness sold out and become McMindfulness? 24/6/2019
    50. How Nature Can Enrich Your Mindfulness Practice 19/6/2019
    51. Radical Coaching: Shadowing 25/4/2019
    52. Timed Talk & Listen - a tool to practice in relationship. 22/3/2019
    53. 5 Things SOME People Regret On Their Deathbed 6/3/2019
    54. Mindfulness at work: more ways to create balance, focus and clarity. 25/1/2019
    55. Everything you need to know about meditation posture and structure. 19/12/2018
    56. Mindfulness Coaching - is it for you? 23/10/2018
    57. Happiness: How Do We Find The Balance? 19/9/2018
    58. The Work of Ghostbusting: Meet the mind with kind inquiry 25/1/2018
    59. Youth Mindfulness: Why is teaching mindfulness in schools so helpful? 12/11/2017
    60. Youth Mindfulness: Why is teaching mindfulness in schools so helpful? 12/11/2017
    61. Removing Drama Is As Easy As A-B-C! (Part 2 - Spot the signals, name the role.)  24/10/2017
    62. Using Mindfulness to Sleep Better 7/9/2017
    63. 3 Ways you can help your workplace become more mindful. 16/8/2017
    64. Top 5 things the children loved about Mindfulness classes 9/12/2019
    65. What I learned from my week of being perfectly imperfect, ME 27/11/2019
    66. 5 things I learned from a retreat for fools 5/11/2019
    67. How To Meditate - An Example Practice (Body Scan) 25/9/2019
    68. How mindfulness can help you to enjoy the journey. 31/7/2019
    69. Has Mindfulness sold out and become McMindfulness? 24/6/2019
    70. How Nature Can Enrich Your Mindfulness Practice 19/6/2019
    71. Radical Coaching: Shadowing 25/4/2019
    72. Timed Talk & Listen - a tool to practice in relationship. 22/3/2019
    73. 5 Things SOME People Regret On Their Deathbed 6/3/2019
    74. Mindfulness at work: more ways to create balance, focus and clarity. 25/1/2019
    75. Everything you need to know about meditation posture and structure. 19/12/2018
    76. Mindfulness Coaching - is it for you? 23/10/2018
    77. Happiness: How Do We Find The Balance? 19/9/2018
    78. The Work of Ghostbusting: Meet the mind with kind inquiry 25/1/2018
    79. Youth Mindfulness: Why is teaching mindfulness in schools so helpful? 12/11/2017
    80. Youth Mindfulness: Why is teaching mindfulness in schools so helpful? 12/11/2017
    81. Removing Drama Is As Easy As A-B-C! (Part 2 - Spot the signals, name the role.)  24/10/2017
    82. Using Mindfulness to Sleep Better 7/9/2017
    83. 3 Ways you can help your workplace become more mindful. 16/8/2017
    84. How to overcome psychological abuse, mindfully 21/7/2017
    85. Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish 23/6/2017
    86. 3 Steps to returning to your nature 10/6/2017
    87. The words you speak become the house you live in 29/5/2017
    88. Low Energy? Listen to your needs. 12/5/2017
    89. How to stay inspired (not impotent by importance). 29/4/2017
    90. What is Spirituality? (And how does it relate to thinking?) 14/4/2017
    91. Breath Works: practices to program BOLD focus. 23/3/2017
    92. Procrastination part 3: TURNING THE SHIP AROUND 10/2/2017
    93. Loosen your TIES to suffering 20/1/2017
    94. Understanding Procrastination Part 2: Just do it now. 15/12/2016
    95. What happens in a 1 hour mindfulness class? 23/11/2016
    96. Transforming Hatred with Kindness - Storytime! 1/11/2016
    97. When Feedback hurts - Own your Shit - Take a SEAT 4/10/2016
    98. No pain, no gain? 22/7/2016
    99. Life is like an echo... echooo... echooooo.... 8/6/2016
    100. Etymology and Mindfulness of Language 13/5/2016
    101. An Awesome or Choresome Life? 24/4/2016
    102. Mindfulness for Young People? 8/4/2016
    103. Explore the depths of your ocean. 29/3/2016
    104. Let Go and Be - escape the Drama triangle! 22/3/2016
    105. THE IMPORTANCE OF FEEDBACK 2/3/2016
    106. Don't Mindfill 22/2/2016
    107. Love is messy, scary, risky... Love and need? 9/2/2016
    108. Awareness of the road! 30/1/2016
    109. Dealing with the emotional drop 12/1/2016
    110. Tools for patience in meditation and in life. 6/1/2016
    111. Useful language and tools for creating healthy discussion 12/12/2015
    112. Craving the crux: 10 lessons learned from my rock climbing addiction 9/12/2015
    113. PLAYFULNESS AND PRESENCE: TEDX BELFAST 2015  30/11/2015
    114. Orestes, The Furies and The Eumenides (Kindly ones). A story of vengeance, guilt and forgiveness 5/11/2015
    115. Learning barefoot: feeling more 26/10/2015
    116. Musings on Choice and Obligation 20/10/2015
    117. What is enlightenment and what's the process of getting there? 10/9/2015
    118. What is Mindfulness and Why Practice? 3/9/2015
    119. ​​My Vipassana Retreat Experience 9/7/2015

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    July 2023
    March 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    November 2020
    September 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly