Amazing .b training!
I spent the past week training to teach a Mindfulness for Secondary schools program called .b (dot-Be). The name itself represents Stop and Be. All I can say is that I found the experience amazing and cannot recommend this program enough.
Some of you would know that I have been teaching meditation and mindfulness within my own school for the past 10 years. This is following on from an even longer personal meditation practice. So, over the years I have developed a program for different ages, especially TY’s, Leaving Certs and more recently staff. The programs have been well received and I feel these efforts have been well worth doing. But I’m reviewing the way that I will teach mindfulness to young people in light of the .b training.
The .b curriculum has been tried and tested for about a decade. It has been taught in hundreds of schools, originally in the UK, but now heading worldwide. The curriculum itself manages to teach mindfulness in a very authentic way, while also being really accessible and interesting to young people. The course features 10 sessions, with each session being designed for a single class period (40 mins). It is rich in images and video clips, while still emphasising the experiential practices that young people could so benefit from.
In short, it is exactly what I could have benefited from when I was in school.
The program was developed by the Mindfulness in Schools Project and more information can be found at www.mindfulnessinschools.org.
There is also a version of the program called paws b, which is designed for use in primary schools, as well as a program for staff called .b Foundations. My partner Amanda is training to teach paws b next week!
Getting these programs into schools is crucial and can have a huge impact on the mental health of our young people.
There are a growing number of teachers qualified to deliver these programs – you can find them on the website listed above. If you are interested in having this program delivered in a school in the west of Ireland, please send me a private message. I would be thrilled!
Keith
