My name is Janine Bloomfield. I am a parent of three kids (two currently in the Mercer Island School District) and a mindfulness educator. 
I have been practicing mindfulness and awareness meditation for over 15 years and have found it to be of great benefit for stress and anxiety reduction as well as generally improving my own quality of life.
I have completed Mindfulness Curriculum Training through “Mindful Schools” (http://mindfulschools.org) and am certified to teach this curriculum. This California-based organization has used the curriculum to teach mindfulness to elementary school kids in public and private schools reaching over 18,000 kids in more than 50 schools in the last 5 years. I have also studied and incorporate techniques from a variety of mindfulness curricula and contemplative traditions.
I became interested in teaching mindfulness to kids because I wanted to pass on this valuable life skill to my own three children. Starting with my son’s third grade classroom, I began a mindfulness education program at my local public elementary in Mercer Island, Washington, teaching in classrooms from Kindergarten to 5th grade. The program grew to include nearly every classroom in the school of more than 700 students over a period of three years. I would love to see other schools develop a mindfulness education program and can advise schools on how to get started based on my experience.
I am also active in the Shambhala Buddhist community where I teach meditation to adults. I am a graduate of Reed College and have an MS from Stanford University and a PhD from Yale University. Currently I am a co-founder at Coherent Knowledge Systems, a software/services start-up using artificial intelligence (AI) and semantic technology to provide deep reasoning for knowledge management with applications in regulatory compliance, e-commerce, and education technology. My roles at Coherent include Director of Marketing and Operations, and Knowledge Engineer.
Previously, I worked in research science and science policy in fields ranging from molecular biology to Rain Forest ecology to Climate Change policy. I was a Senior Scientist at Environmental Defense Fund in New York and Boston where I worked to make climate change science understandable, relevant, and important to the general public. To that end, I have created and helped build climate change curriculum, educational materials, web sites and museum exhibitions. I have also advised legislators and lobbyists on the science of climate change for various state, regional and national initiatives to help slow or mitigate human contributions to climate change. I have taught a variety of college and graduate student classes as well as the general public.