‘Mindful Masters’

The following note went out today about a new, exciting opportunity for students who want to explore mindfulness further outside of school.

Mindful Masters

Mindfulness is the art of self-awareness, being present in the moment and expressing gratitude for the life we live.

Mindfulness is proven to help students:

· decrease stress and anxiety

· increase concentration and engagement

· sleep better at night

· recognise their emotions

· enhance their decision-making and problem-solving skills

· communicate feelings verbally instead of physically

· and increase their capacity for compassion.

Mindfulness is an aspect in my life I am highly passionate about. In incorporating mindfulness practices into my teaching over the past few years I have noticed that many students also highly value this time and really apply themselves to the practice/ activities intently. These students are able to recognise and appreciate the benefit this time has on their well being.

To give these students the opportunity to explore their practice further in a more concentrated setting I have come up with the concept of a mindfulness after school group called ‘Mindful Masters’. This would be a voluntary group for students in Years 3-7 who would love to explore mindfulness further.

Some of the potential activities we may partake in would be – meditation, gratitude practice, nature walks, positive affirmations etc. By the end of the sessions students would leave with a mindful toolkit of activities to help them on their well being journey.

The idea is that the sessions would run from 3:30 – 5:00 on a Monday afternoon over the course of 5 weeks, beginning in Week 5 of this term. At this stage the sessions would be held in my classroom (Room 19) and would have a capacity of 15 students.

For now I am just gauging feedback to see if this is something that would be of interest. Please return this slip to me by the end of Week 3 (10th August) if this is something your child would like to partake in. Feel free to contact me at Natalie.tilling160@schools.sa.edu.au if you have any questions or would like to discuss further. The following link briefly explains the concept of mindfulness – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaRDbLWeSXE

Kind regards,

Natalie Shearer

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………………………………….…………….. is interested in participating in the ‘Mindful Masters’ after school group.

Parent/ Caregiver Name: ………………………………………………………………………

Contact email: ………………………………………………………………………………………