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We are delighted to introduce Mindfulness in Schools Project patron: Jon Kabat-Zinn.<\/h3>\nWe are delighted to introduce Mindfulness in Schools Project patron: Jon Kabat-Zinn.<\/h3>\nJon is one of the founding fathers of contemporary mindfulness. Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, it was Jon\u2019s pioneering work at the renowned Stress Reduction Clinic that set the wheels in motion for what became Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). Jon has been teaching MBSR for decades around the world. Jon was\u00a0 key speaker at our 2018 conference. We are delighted to have his ongoing support for our important work.<\/strong><\/p>\n Can mindfulness improve children\u2019s lives?<\/strong><\/p>\n Mindfulness is about connecting with what is\u00a0deepest, best, and\u00a0authentic in yourself.\u00a0 This can lead to moments of\u00a0major\u00a0discovery, insight,\u00a0and learning for all of us.\u00a0This is\u00a0no less so for children. Young people nowadays are under tremendous social and academic pressure: they don\u2019t always feel great about themselves. Learning\u00a0to cultivate\u00a0mindfulness\u00a0mindfulness in their everyday lives\u00a0can help children to befriend who they\u00a0really\u00a0are instead of believing the narrative that they\u00a0so often\u00a0feel compelled to project. So yes, mindfulness has tremendous potential to improve their lives, inwardly and outwardly.<\/p>\n Why is it so important to teach it in schools?<\/strong><\/p>\n Practising mindfulness\u00a0has been shown in many studies to\u00a0reduce individual suffering\u00a0and increase wellbeing, even under very stressful circumstances. What if we could learn this\u00a0skill\u00a0early on in life? This is what mindfulness in education can do \u2013 catch people before suffering becomes\u00a0deeply\u00a0embedded and actually invite them to discover, uncover and recover capacities that we all have, that we are all born with, but often do not develop and make practical use of.<\/p>\n What does mindfulness provide?<\/strong><\/p>\n Mindfulness is the recognition that you already complete and whole\u00a0as you are.\u00a0When one learns to bring it into ones daily life through actually culitvating it, both in moments of quiet, and in times of activity, that wholeness, that OK-ness as I am, so to speak, becomes more embodied and a reliable ground for learning, growing, and healing whatever wounds we might all be carrying from not being completely seen and accepted for who we are rather than judged, as is so often the case, only for how we perform.\u00a0 Our capacity for being mindful\u00a0is not Eastern or Western, ancient or modern, it is\u00a0simply\u00a0human.\u00a0It\u00a0is in our DNA,\u00a0yet without some kind of training and encouragement, it is all to easily ignored.<\/p>\n There is a common misconception that mindfulness is about being \u2018calm\u2019 or being \u2018happy\u2019. It is not. It is about living fully\u00a0and facing all the moments we experience with greater awareness and recognition, including the more difficult and challenging ones. It is\u00a0something we hope that all children and young people have the opportunity to\u00a0experience and cultivate in themselves.<\/p>\n Can mindfulness improve learning?<\/strong><\/p>\n When we become intimate with the mind\u2019s potential to be open and not clogged up with what we\u00a0think<\/em>\u00a0we know, then we can perceive what our minds might ordinarily be blind or closed off to \u2013 and that is how we learn. To be truly creative,\u00a0we need to recognize and accept when we don\u2019t know something, and to become unafraid of making mistakes. Mindfulness can help children to learn this attitude.<\/p>\nBelow Jon gives his thoughts on a few important questions …<\/h3>\n