104 • PART II: MINDFULNESS IN EDUCATING FOR SELF-REGULATION AND ENGAGEMENT
we have a default script we fall into in which we are the victim; everything is out of control;
or we have no power. Often these stories are activated when we attach to the unpleasant
feeling-tone. This is identification. We experience things as if these experiences are, in fact,
who we are (Cook-Cottone, 2015; Wallace, 2011). Other times, the feeling-tone is so unpleas-
ant that we move into aversion. We want to avoid this feeling. By staying present, moving
your awareness to your breath or object of concentration (e.g., plant, object, word, concept),
you bring yourself to allowing the stimulus to run its course. Any behavior you choose after
this can be unencumbered, full of freedom, and full of your intentions.
Grabovac et al. (2011), Bien (2008), and Hanh (1998) distill the essence of what is to be
learned in meditation practice to these three ideas (i.e., impermanence, suffering, and not
self):
- Sense impressions and mental events arise and pass away (i.e., impermanence).
- Habitual reactions (i.e., attachment and aversion) to the feeling-tones accompanying
sense impressions or mental events are the source of suffering. - Sense impressions and mental events are not self.
Siegel (2010) suggests that, over time, meditation practices can help us neurologically
enhance the ability to notice and discriminate various incoming sensations and mental
events from our narrative-based sense of self. Students can begin to realize that just because
they think or feel something, that is not who they are (Cook-Cottone, 2015). They are their
choices (Chapter 3, principle 7: I choose my focus and actions).
As you practice, minute after minute, session after session, you come to know your
habits. As you come to know the habits of your mind, you learn to see them for what they
are—habits—rather than the truth. For example, David, a sixth-grade boy, has a tendency
to say, “I can’t,” when anything gets outside of his comfort zone. When he begins to read a
long story, he says aloud, “I can’t. It’s too hard.” If he attempts new math problems, he says,
“I can’t.” Not surprisingly, this was the same approach he took to mindfulness practice.
When the class was asked to sit in stillness and focus on their breath, David said, “I can’t.”
His teacher asked him to shift “I can’t” to “I’ll try.” She asked him to try for 30 seconds. She
asked him to notice his body, breath, and how he was feeling. Then, she counted aloud as
David focused and breathed. She celebrated with him when he finished and asked him to
check back in. He felt calmer and happier. Trying became his practice. With small accom-
plishable steps in his mindfulness and classwork, he slowly moved to an “I’ll try,” or growth,
mindset. David gained insight into what was possible for him (Chapter 3, principle 12:
I work toward the possibility of effectiveness and growth in my life).
SPECIFIC MEDITATION PRACTICES FOR SCHOOLS
I have divided the formal practices into two sections: (a) formal meditation practices for
all ages (i.e., elementary to adult), and (b) formal meditation practices for older students to
adult (i.e., later middle school and high school). It is important to remember that there can be
wide variation in students’ ability to attend, concentrate, reflect, and have insight. Children
with cognitive and/or attention difficulties will routinely need more support, concrete guid-
ance, and tangible objects of focus (i.e., guided meditations) no matter what their age.