Students taught to breathe and be mindful
One steady note resonates inside a classroom, a meditative sound created from the brief meeting of a felt-wrapped wood mallet and brass-coloured bowl.
Students in the Grade 6 class at Jeanne Sauve French Immersion Public School in St. Catharines have already cleared their desktops of books and other distractions. They sit, eyes closed, in silence.
For the past eight weeks, they have been learning how to be mindful. How to stay in the present moment and keep focus. How to notice their breathing, calm their thoughts and just be.
Mindful instructor, Jacqueline Oscvirk, is at the front of the class.
She has already offered a reminder to the class.
“If your mind starts thinking about other things, that’s OK,” she says.
“Notice it and bring it back to your breath. Remember where your anchor is. Where your breath is.”
She cups the Tibetan singing bowl in her hands. A student has come up to the front to ring the bowl to signify the beginning of silence.
The sound is distinctive, and the students remain silent until the tone itself disappears into silence.
Mindfulness is about paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, to whatever is being experienced. Walking down the street. Washing dishes. Being part of a classroom discussion.
“You think of how much time we spend in our lives, in the future and in the past,” says Oscvirk.
“In order to connect with other people, we need to be in the present.”
Her mindfulness sessions are being piloted in five Niagara schools — Governor Simcoe Secondary School, Laura Secord Secondary School, Ontario Public School in Thorold, Ridley College and Jeanne Sauve — in a variety of classrooms from junior kindergarten to Grade 11.
The mindfulness sessions are offered to all 90 of Jeanne Sauve’s Grade 6 students, in three different classes.
Students lives are so full of stimulation and information that they don’t know how to be still, she says. They can face stress, anxiety and even depression. And they struggle with regulating their emotions.
“They don’t know how to just breathe. They don’t know how to stop and let all of that just settle down,” she says.
“These kids need this tool of mindfulness to add to their repertoire.”
She tells students to imagine they’re in a boat; the waves are their thoughts and emotions. Sometimes the waves are rough and turbulent, other times they’re smooth and calm. She guides them to notice their breathing. To focus on it. And to make it their anchor, and in a metaphorical sense, drop it into the rough waters to calm and settle themselves.
On this day, she talks to them about using mindfulness during a test.
They close their eyes, and imagine what it’s like to encounter a tough question on a test. They remember learning it, but can’t remember the answer.
“What happens inside your body when you realize you don’t know the answer?” she asks.
Then she has the students imagine that they put down their pencils, close their eyes and practise mindful breathing.
“You open your eyes and you look at the problem again, and your mind feels clear.”
Teacher Erin Taubeneck participates in the program alongside her students. She says it’s given them the ability to pause and respond more intentionally to questions.
“It gives them a chance to respond thoughtfully and not react emotionally,” she says.
“They know it’s OK to take a minute of thinking time. If you need a deep breath, take it.
“Everything is moving so fast around us, they learn to slow their thinking down to focus on what’s important.”
And she knows they get it. Recently, when she was coaching boys’ basketball, they were in a huddle before the game. One of the boys asked if he could close his eyes and deep breathe, to focus on the game ahead. They all did. Now it’s something they do as a team, before all games, she says.
And the intermediate girls basketball team decided to have the word “breathe” printed on their warmup shirts, as a reminder to stay focused during their games.
Oscvirk will report findings from the pilot program to District School Board of Niagara. She hopes it can be funded and offered to more schools in the fall.
“By making it become part of our daily lives, it gives us that space back,” she says.
“It gives us time to breathe, it gives us space. It gives us a feeling that we’re connected to each other.”