Mindfulness sessions are used at the Royal Blind School to teach pupils to recognise their emotions and to learn strategies to deal with stressful experiences.
Mindfulness helps young people to find strategies to deal with stressful situations.
Sessions include visualisation activities. Props are used to replicate the sounds and textures of the elements of the stories told during sessions. These props could include anything from leaves to jelly.
"We’ve realised the importance of looking at pupils moods and how they control their emotions, what their emotions are, having power over themselves and also awareness of other young people - empathy.
"This has had a large impact on the lives of the pupils. Not just in class time, but outside class and at home and in the evenings. We’ve had feedback from parents at home, saying, 'My son seemed like was going to have a tantrum, but then he started breathing and he calmed down'.
"Pupils also use Tai Chi to de-stress and to feel relaxed and calm. Pupils are a lot more aware of using breathing and other strategies to calm down during moments of stress."
— Aine Murphy, mindfulness expert
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