Mindfulness and Yoga in Schools A Guide for Teachers and Practitioners

148 • PART II: MINDFULNESS IN EDUCATING FOR SELF-REGULATION AND ENGAGEMENT

Mind-O-Meter

The mind-o-meter is a tool for self-awareness and self-regulation (see Figure 7.4). The
mind-o-meter provides a fun way for students to pay close attention to what is happening in
their inner and outer worlds (Greenland, 2010). Print out the likeness of the meter in Figure 7.4
and have your students color in the labels as indicated. Greenland (2010) suggests using the
tool as a way to check in with the class. For example, you might instruct your students, “I am
going to ask you a question, and I want you to point to your answer on the mind-o-meter. Do
your best to show exactly how you feel you are doing right now. Ready? How strong is your
attention to this lesson right now? Go! Point to your answer” (Greenland, 2010). This way, as the
teacher, you can easily get a quick read on how your students are doing. If much of the class is
checked out, you can bring them back with mindful movement or breath work. In this way, the
tool helps you create student-teacher attunement in the class. The mind-o-meter also promotes
awareness and using think-alouds: “Wow, I see a lot of you are really struggling to pay attention
right now. Let’s do some mindfulness movement to settle our bodies and some breathing to get
our attention focused.” Greenland (2010) suggests checking on a variety of processes including:
attention, patience, frustration, interconnectedness, wakefulness, relaxation, and excitement.
The associated principles of embodied growth and learning are 3, I am mindfully aware; 4,
I work toward presence in my physical body; and 7, I choose my focus and actions.

The Sense Doors

In Eastern tradition, the elements of our sensory systems are referred to as the sense windows.
These include taste, smell, touch, sight, hearing, the vestibular systems (i.e., balance and spa-
tial orientation), and the proprioceptive system (i.e., the body’s awareness of itself—the posi-
tion of its joints, how it is moving, and how much effort it needs to exert; Greenland, 2010).
In the classroom, students can work with their sense windows toward noticing, allow-
ing, nonreaction, and presence. Willard (2016) describes an informal practice termed count-
ing to five sensations, which offers the possibility of a neutral, calming response. You can
do this with sounds, things you see, and sensations in the body (Willard, 2016). To illustrate,

high

= light green

very

high

= green

very low

= red

low

= orange

moderate

= yellow

Mind-O-Meter

VE

RY

(^) H
IG
H
HIG
H
MODERATE
LO
W
VE
RY
L
OW
FIGURE 7.4 Mind-O-Meter.
Source: Adapted from Greenland (2010).