92 • PART II: MINDFULNESS IN EDUCATING FOR SELF-REGULATION AND ENGAGEMENT CHAPTER 5: THE MINDFUL CLASSROOM • 93
find peacefulness. There is calming music playing, pillows, coloring materials, and various
tactile objects for soothing. Students are not sent to the peace corner; rather, they self-refer
(Rechtschaffen, 2014). Students go to the peace corner when they feel dysregulated. Once
they feel centered and calm, they return ready for learning (Rechtschaffen, 2014).
I acknowledge that this might not be possible in some schools. For 10 years, I imple-
mented and researched a yoga program for middle schools girls. We taught yoga in the
music room, in the library (with students studying at tables around us), in the middle of the
cafeteria, and even on the school stage. Some semesters, the space rotated each week. Some
weeks, the custodial staff did not get to mopping the cafeteria floor in time for us to put
down the mats. We did the best with what we had, always working to make it better. I have
also been able to run mindful groups in some very beautiful spaces, such as a church loft
and outside on an Adirondack deck. In these beautiful spaces, it seemed easier to settle into
mindfulness. I am reminded that this is internal work. The goal is to connect to your own
mind, body, and breath while attuned and connected to your world. In this way, our space
can become a tool for our practice—either to give us the opportunity to let go and not react,
or to see the peacefulness and beauty that is possible.
Plan and Schedule Mindful Practices
Mindfulness can be infused every day (Rechtschaffen, 2014). Cultivating a daily commit-
ment to practice helps students cultivate mindfulness habits. Formal mindfulness practices
in the classroom can be completed in a few moments or in an hour-long block. In fact, you
could have a day of mindfulness or a week or even a month-long mindful retreat (Cook-
Cottone, 2015). Over many years of researching school-based yoga and mindfulness pro-
grams, I have learned that when you look at what can happen during the school day, it does
not matter how wonderful and effective the program is. If a teacher can’t fit it into her school
day, or a school district can’t find a way to practically implement the program, it will have
no effect. This is why the National Institutes of Health has implemented funding programs
for feasibility and acceptability studies. They agree: If it can’t feasibly be done and the popu-
lation, in this case school personnel and students, doesn’t accept it, the program will have a
very hard time finding effects.
Schedule your mindfulness activities into your day. I have a guiding principle I use
often when I teach yoga; “After great effort, take great rest.” Mindfulness practices are
wonderful ways to bring a sense of equanimity into the school day. Begin the day with
3 to 8 minutes of mindfulness activity. Engage in cycles of teaching curriculum, student
academic skills work, and then 3 to 5 minutes of mindfulness and mindfulness movement
practices. With a short practice in the morning and an additional three to four mindful
breaks throughout the day, you can build up to 30 minutes or more of mindfulness in the
classroom each day.
There are also district- and school-wide options. Some schools have a mindfulness and
yoga teacher and schedule social-emotional learning time into the students’ academic day
(Cook-Cottone, Lemish, & Guyker, 2016). Classes are sometimes called wellness or wellness
and health classes. In high school, mindfulness is sometimes woven into the health curricu-
lum. Mindfulness and yoga can be integrated into the three-tier systems as universal inter-
vention for all students or a targeted intervention for students who struggle (see Chapter 2).
Finally, mindfulness and yoga can be part of before-and-after school programs.