I am so happy to be back at West Mercer Elementary to teach mindfulness again!  This year I am teaching in 18 classrooms, all the way from Kindergarten to 5th grade.  We are already in week 6 of the 8-week series for the first group of 8 classrooms.

In these classes, we are really focusing on how to notice, what helps us notice, and what the benefits of noticing are.  Simply noticing, without judgement, in the present moment.

We practice how to notice through sensory exploration – mindful seeing, hearing, touching, body sensations, and so on.

Many things make it easier to notice.  It’s easier to notice sounds when we are quiet.  It’s easier to notice our emotions when we do it with some kindness and friendliness. It’s easier to notice what it feels like to walk when we do it slowly.

There are many benefits to noticing as well.  Noticing when we get angry, upset, frustrated or have some other strong emotion lets us create some space, get some perspective, and, hopefully, make a better choice about what to do next.  This last week, I talked about Gratitude with grades K-3.  Gratitude is all about noticing the good things that happen in our life.  It’s so easy to focus only on what’s going wrong.  Taking some time to notice what’s going right as well balances this out and helps us get perspective on our own lives.  It can really turn your mood around quickly.

Noticing is one of the cornerstones of a mindfulness practice and I’m looking forward to lots more noticing and practicing with the kids of West Mercer in 2014.