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Mindfulness & Meditation 2:
Mindfulness and Meditation Defined

Dear Friend,

March is for Mindfulness and Meditation! This lesson focuses on the meaning of mindfulness and meditation.

Students will:

  • Learn to use mindfulness and meditation practices to enhance their self-awareness and ability to self-regulate.
  • Learn to use mindfulness and meditation practices for productivity, increasing their ability to concentrate and their readiness to learn.
  • Understand how mindfulness and meditation practices can help them inform and make responsible decisions, improve their relationship skills, and enhance their social awareness

Our minds love to think, but overthinking can be problematic especially when we’re trying to concentrate or be in the present moment.

Here are some tips on the difference between mindfulness and meditation.

Mindfulness is being fully present and aware of the moment. That means if you’re in a crowded, loud restaurant and your stomach is starting to tighten and your thoughts are starting to race, then you notice it. All of it.
Mindfulness is the practice of expanding your senses and becoming attuned to your environment – without judgments or reactions. Mindfulness is simply the practice of observation.

Meditation is the practice of quieting our busy minds, creating space between our thoughts, and potentially redirecting our thoughts. Meditation is watching our thoughts without judgment, opinion, or trying to change them.

Mindfulness Activity of the Week

Meditation 101

The more you do this, the more comfortable you will become. Increase your ability to notice, become more aware, and connect to yourself through meditation.

  1. Find a quiet place to build a comfortable seat.
  2. Begin connecting by grounding your body with the earth below you. Use a pillow or a blanket on the floor, and sit cross-legged with the pelvis lifted above the knees in comfort. If a chair is more comfortable, be sure your feet touch the floor.
  3. Set a timer for 1 minute. Clear your mind, creating more and more space between your thoughts.
  4. At the end of the minute, wait for the space between your thoughts. Refrain your mind from distraction and from jumping back into thought.
  5. Try to stretch that space for another minute if you can.
  6. Take notice of your experience. How was it? Don’t make any judgments. Let it be what it was. Maybe you were able to witness some space between your thoughts, maybe you witnessed them whizzing by, maybe you found some space and got curious, or maybe you noticed them slowing down, even if only for a moment.
  7. Congratulate yourself for trying.
  8. Set a goal to practice Meditation 101 again this week.

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