Practicing mindfulness

When Kate Olson began practicing mindfulness meditation, she had no idea that 10 years later, she would be teaching the concept to a whole new generation of elementary school students.
But that’s exactly what has happened.
The yoga instructor and owner of Peters Township’s Lakeview Yoga has been teaching a mindfulness practice to first-grade students at Pleasant Valley Elementary School during the past school year.
“Mindfulness meditation in the classroom is most effective in short, but frequent, sessions, so I taught 15-minute lessons once a week to the students,” Olson explained. “There are many scientific studies on mindfulness that have been done through the years that indicate its positive effects on kids, people with chronic pain and others. Mindfulness is a newer field, but so far, the research is very promising.”

Kate Olson
Olson, a self-described worrier by nature, discovered mindfulness, which she describes as paying attention to one’s present moment experience in a particular way and without judgment, ultimately through her yoga practice.
“When I was doing yoga, my mind would settle, and I would leave my practice feeling less anxious,” she said. “I wanted to learn how to achieve this calmness off the yoga mat. I started a meditation practice through yoga and eventually found mindfulness.”
Olson, who eventually trained through California-based Mindful Schools and uses their curriculum, began visiting the classrooms of Kati Viviano and Ashley Tanner, both first-grade teachers at Pleasant Valley, earlier this spring.
“Kate helped the students to take a moment to concentrate on themselves, their bodies, breathing and heart,” Viviano said. “She encouraged and challenged them to think about breathing and using their ‘anchor spot’ during what could be a time of a lot of chaos going on around them, and they needed to calm down or maybe listen. She challenged the kids to use her techniques inside and outside of school. And, the students enjoyed reporting back to her as to when they may have used mindful exercise.”
Students aren’t the only beneficiaries of these mindfulness lessons. Their teachers also are experiencing the benefits of mindfulness, as well.
“Most of the students have taken Kate seriously, and I have found myself using her techniques, too, especially when I can’t fall back to sleep at night due to my mind racing,” Viviano said.
In Tanner’s class, the students looked forward to Olson’s arrival.
“They loved to be the one who gets to help her lead the sessions by ringing the singing bowl or telling the class to ‘put on your mindful bodies, close your eyes, and put your hand on your anchor spot,” Tanner said. “They also were eager to tell her stories of how they practice their mindfulness since the last time she was there.”
Tanner said that since Olson’s instruction, her class even incorporated a singing bowl into their daily routine.

Bowl
Kate Olson uses a singing bowl at Eisenhower Elementary School in Upper St. Clair.
“We borrowed one from our music teacher and we had been using the techniques that Kate taught us twice a day just to refocus our breath and our minds. It really worked for them. They were quieter and more focused for the tasks at hand,” she said. “Many of the students had mentioned that the small, quick moments used to refocus allowed them to feel more calm and happy. They also liked to ‘send kind thoughts’ to themselves or someone they love during they day. This was a great way for our little ones who sometimes missed a parent while at school to think of them, send them love, and still move on with their tear-free day.”
Olson’s mindfulness sessions most often consisted of gathering the students to sit in a circle and allowing them to share times when they used the techniques that they were taught since her last visit. She then asked a student to start the mindfulness session by asking them to tell their classmates to “put on their mindful bodies, close their eyes, and put their hands on their anchor spots,” or where they felt their breath the most. Finally, a student would ring the singing bowl and the students would sit while practicing their breathing for a minute while taking in any sounds they heard.
“This practice made me realize how much we pack into a school day and that we need to make sure we meet students’ emotional needs now more than ever,” Tanner said. “This is one small way that we can pause, reflect, and reduce anxiety in our students, and that is always a bonus!”
Although Olson has not been doing classroom mindful meditation long enough to know if there will be any long-term benefits that result, she feels that just to have these young kids learn ways to be aware of their emotions and how to respond to them rather than react is invaluable.
“Our lives are so incredibly busy,” she said. “It can be overwhelming. The stress that is created by this non-stop stimulating culture can cause so many physical and mental issues. It’s become normal to have this constant level of stress in our lives, which isn’t just true for adults. Kids are scheduled to the minute at school, participate in highly competitive sports and other activities, and have very little time for unstructured play. My goal for teaching mindfulness in schools is to show students and teachers alike ways that they can create space within the busyness of their days so that they can be aware of their emotions and choose how they want to respond rather than mindlessly reacting to them.”
For more information about Olson’s mindfulness program, email her at mindfulcommunitiespgh@gmail.com.