Tiny steps on a mindful journey

 Compassionate mindfulness

This was the name of the course that we had all been signed up to take part in. I am not going to go through each stage of it here because that would be disrrespectful to the course leaders, but I will attempt to give a flavour of the first session.

**Breathing exercise to focus the group**

**Some background to what mindfulness is- there are a LOT of definitions and different teachers have their favourites. Suffice to say it is a lot more than 'living in the moment' . It certainly is NOT about 'emptying the mind' and it's not a religion.**  This particular course was mostly based on the work of John Kabat-Zinn

Check this webpage for bios of some other leading mindfulness gurus https://themindfulsteward.com/mindfulness/16-of-the-most-respected-mindfulness-teachers-of-modern-day/ 

**some background to research and how brain activity can be positively affected by regular mindfulness practises**

**A guided meditation**

And before you knew it the time had passed.  

Did it feel strange being in my workplace, with colleagues trying to be relaxed. Yes of course, but very quickly the whole point of just accepting that each feeling came and went, each thought came and went and actually allowing oneself to just have some quiet time was pretty fabulous in itself.  

The big takeaway from the first session was to allow yourself to take some time for yourself. I can hear you shouting at the screen right now, but please bear with.  Just a couple of minutes to stop, take a deep breath, let it out. Repeat. And then move back to whatever it was you were doing.

STOP- stop, take a breath, observe and proceed.

OK that wasn't too bad, still had a list of things to do but went home at the end of the day feeling far more energised than I had been at the start of the day.

Next post will explore the next part of the journey on self compassion. If you would like to read up on this before I post I have recently read this and found it to resonate with me. Check it out https://www.mindful.org/the-transformative-effects-of-mindful-self-compassion/ 

Science Museum, London

I took a group of year 4 and 5 children to the London Science Museum this week.
We were amazingly lucky with the journey both there and back so maximised the amount of time we had to spend there.

The museum is just an incredible place to visit. There is nothing like it in Dorset, @Bristol isthe nearest hands-on visitor centre.  The explora centre ( link ) that is hoped for would be of such benefit to the schools in and around Dorset.  It could also provide great opportunities for young people considering teaching as a career to work with children. In fact, a wonderful opportunity for anyone who has time to spare .

The science museum , London, has the launchpad area - totally hands on zone full of activities for the children to experience. Having been many times now, I leave the children to explore for the first ten minutes or so before directing them to different exhibits and talking them through the whys , hows and wherefores.  Staff at the launchpad are super enthusiastic, but far too few in numbers.( no doubt due to financial constraints and by no means a critcism to the great staff who are there!)   To raise impact further , why not iinvolve students from Imperial college (a stone's thow away) in outreach work? Ot trainee teachers in the area? I would have loved that chance as a trainee.

When the explora centre project is up and running, it could really make the experience for visiting children even better if there are plenty of people there to explain the activities to the children. Science is such a fun subject to teach. Many practicals can be carried out easily in primary schools, but budgetary constraints mean that visits to centres with super powerful microscopes, dry ice, large scale models , super strong magnets and pulleys, can bring small scale science experiences from class to larger than life experiences.

So, get to the science museum in London if you can; it is FAB! And , if you're in the SW check out the Explora website http://www.explorascience.co.uk/index.php