Mindfulness has it's origins in ancient Buddhist and Daoist traditions. It's modern American incarnation was engineered most notably by Jon Kabat-Zinn in his Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction at U Mass Medical Center in 1979.
In recent decades, various practices have become popular that originated in these ancient mindful traditions such as Yoga, Tai Chi, and Qigong.
I began my mindfulness practice as a philosophy major in college. As a part of an Eastern Philosophy class we were given a choice between a 6 week meditation class or a traditional paper/project. My professor was Chinese and we meditated in a more Daoist tradition. Most mindfulness programs in America seem to focus on being present and aware of sensations and breathing which can have a calming effect on the mind and body. A potential end goal of the meditation we were learning was to be able to tune out internal and external distractions in order to be able to focus on something particular. I would equate it to what our subconscious does in our sleep--working on solutions to problems that we face in the waking hours.
I have been teaching mindfulness, meditation, and tai chi to my 9th grade world history students in conjunction with our East Asia unit for over a decade. While I've been practicing various forms of mindfulness for over 20 years, I struggle with discipline, and have been looking to technology for assistance. Please check out the Apps section of this site for some ideas to help you and/or your students create a mindfulness practice. If you are more traditional and would like to read books I recommend the following authors/practitioners:
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Thich Nat-Hanh
Pemo Chodron
Ajahn Suthep
Lao Tzu
Benjamin Hoff The Tao of Pooh
In recent decades, various practices have become popular that originated in these ancient mindful traditions such as Yoga, Tai Chi, and Qigong.
I began my mindfulness practice as a philosophy major in college. As a part of an Eastern Philosophy class we were given a choice between a 6 week meditation class or a traditional paper/project. My professor was Chinese and we meditated in a more Daoist tradition. Most mindfulness programs in America seem to focus on being present and aware of sensations and breathing which can have a calming effect on the mind and body. A potential end goal of the meditation we were learning was to be able to tune out internal and external distractions in order to be able to focus on something particular. I would equate it to what our subconscious does in our sleep--working on solutions to problems that we face in the waking hours.
I have been teaching mindfulness, meditation, and tai chi to my 9th grade world history students in conjunction with our East Asia unit for over a decade. While I've been practicing various forms of mindfulness for over 20 years, I struggle with discipline, and have been looking to technology for assistance. Please check out the Apps section of this site for some ideas to help you and/or your students create a mindfulness practice. If you are more traditional and would like to read books I recommend the following authors/practitioners:
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Thich Nat-Hanh
Pemo Chodron
Ajahn Suthep
Lao Tzu
Benjamin Hoff The Tao of Pooh