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27
Oct

Richard Burnett – Mindfulness In Schools

Richard Burnett – Mindfulness In Schools

Richard Burnett is co-founder and director of Mindfulness in Schools. Richard co-created the highly-acclaimed 10 week mindfulness course, .b designed to engage adolescents in the classroom. He is a teacher and boarding Housemaster at Tonbridge School, the first school in the UK to put mindfulness on the curriculum, an event covered by press, TV and radio in early 2010. Thousands of young people have been taught .b in a wide range of educational contexts in the UK, USA, Germany, France, Finland, Denmark, Holland, Thailand and Mexico.

In this interview, Richard reveals how mindfulness is being rolled out in schools and how children are learning to using it better handle stress, learn more effectively and enjoy their lives more. In this video, you’ll also experience a wonderful mindfulness practice called ‘play attention’ that is great for teaching to children and teens.

In the second video, Kaira Jewel Lingo, guides a ‘pebble meditation’ which is wonderful for both children and adults. Enjoy her beautiful song at the end!

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Show Notes

Join The Mindfulness Summit Journey here

Come and join the community discussions at any time on our Facebook page

Check out Melli’s blog, events and retreats at MrsMindfulness.com

You can find about more about .b here and also the mindfulness for primary school age children paws b here

You might also be interested to check out…
wakeupschools.org
This youtube video of a talk Kaira gave on Cultivating Joy and Happiness

The book, Planting Seeds: Practicing Mindfulness with Children, also has an audio recording of me leading pebble meditation and includes cards that kids can cut out and use to guide their practice in pebble meditation.

Here’s a book, A Handful of Quiet, that is a book for children and adults that focuses exclusively on the practice of pebble meditation.

Audio

Video

Transcript

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Purchase a full access pass to unlock downloads for the full interview transcripts, audio, video and separate audio meditation tracks.

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Purchase a full access pass to unlock downloads for the full interview transcripts, audio, video and separate audio meditation tracks.

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116 Responses

  1. Carol Piros

    Wow, what a great couple of sessions. I sincerely hope this practice does get into our school system to help future generations who I feel are being programmed to have very short attention spans and to not truly connect with another human being. Technology is taking away from so much of what makes us human! Kids need to connect with their inner self. Exciting times for those children who are being introduced to this practice. Enjoyed the meditation also. Great Summit. Thanks again Melli Carol in the USA

    1. Bryan Caranto

      Hi Karen! I think that the first things to do is to find, as Richard said, a good mindfulness course and if possible a good instructor. He suggested to even check credentials just to be sure of this (or even testimonials). After the course, really immerse yourself in mindfulness practice everyday. See how it changes you–let it change you. And when it does, maybe that’s the time to take teacher-training course in mindfulness like what the .b offers.

      I’m no expert in this and I myself had only became aware of the “power of now” as Eckhart Tolle puts it, and of course the mindfulness practices 3-4 months ago but I believe that it’s really a great foundation to experience it first–the changes it does to yourself–before actually teaching it. 🙂 Hope this helps!

    1. Barb Vandepas

      I loved the meditation with Kaira Jewel! The images and metaphors for life were wonderful and marvelous! I loved the song and could easily see how this would be great in a classroom, both as a group practice and as a tool for the child to carry and use as mindfulness outside of meditation.
      Thank you for providing such diversity in mindfulness. My awareness has expanded.
      Much gratitude to you Milli and the response to this summit will ripple out into the world. Thank you!

  2. Oriel

    Thank you Kaira for such a beautiful meditation. It is a funny thing because the idea of me being a flower sounded strange at first, but then, somehow, because of the beauty of your voice, I accepted the thought and I could look at myself and feel that I was a flower and that I was fresh/refreshed. There was magic in the whole meditaton and so much LOVE. It was a really touching experience. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

  3. Bryan Caranto

    Thanks so much Richard for putting up the .b project. I also want to be a mindfulness teacher (or someone who teaches it) someday. I experienced the amazing peace and clarity it gives and I believe that it will definitely help people in whatever problems they have. Just like you, during formal practices or just at random times of the day I think about how I can share mindfulness to others. Someday I will. But I believe that for now, it would be better if I really get a sense of change of being first. So if I do teach it, it would be authentic and not just another skill that was learned overnight.

    Thanks Kaira and Dennis! I loved the meditation and the song! 🙂

  4. Mandy mckitrick

    I have really enjoyed all the talks. I appreciate all the work it took to pull this together. I really enjoyed hearing and doing the meditation today. I will be buying the books she recommended for my kids. I can see that my 5 yo is already absorbing this as long as he doesn’t have to sit long. LOL. He has even told me to do some of the meditation practices I’ve showed him from another talk. :0)

  5. Valerie Howells

    Thanks Richard and I agree this has been a fantastic journey and a privilege to be part of.
    Loved the meditation so playful and moving from Richard and Kaira. The song a joy thanks Kaira and Dennis.
    Melli this is such a gift you have given me. I go to work and discuss with the team and quite a few are now following. We are even talking about having a team morning meditation time.
    Thank you.

  6. Helena Saray

    This morning (US time) listened to Richard’s conversation with Melli. Fantastic! Great way to begin the work day.

    And tonight, I just listened and followed Kaira’s guided meditation. A great way to end the day.

    Thank you Melli and Team.

  7. Ruth Keys

    Absolutely, Thank you Kaira for a wonderful experience.
    Thank you Melly for all your sessions of Mindfulness in the Classroom. I really believe this is where we have hope of healing our planet if we can teach children in the classroom and in our homes and then they can grow up with calmness, awareness and positive values.

  8. Lisa Momsen

    Ah, I am so sad that this lecture is the one that I’ll miss! The video keeps stopping and I’ve left it too late tonight. Sigh. I work with kids in my job as a librarian, and would have liked to catch this talk. I’ll see if Richard has some YouTube presence. Thanks again Melli for all you’ve done to make this info available to all. -Rose

  9. Cerys @PeersBeyondPain

    Melli you have a gift for selecting speakers and also pairing meditation practices. I enjoyed Kaira/Dennis’ song a bit more than the meditation itself so thanks for including that too.
    Richard’s concern about mindfulness being taught by novices with limited personal practice and shallow understanding was particularly insightful.. As mindfulness hits the mainstream its easy to jump on the bandwagon.. Richard is rightly concerned teaching mindfulness from enthusiastic but shallow grounding may bereduce meaningful measurable outcomes. Those outcomes will be needed to sustain funding and implementation..
    Then there’s the adage: a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. I think in the zeal to adopt mindfulness with good intention sometimes overlooks the potential to trigger trauma. Perhaps that’s why Katherine Weare urged caution with teens. Many teens have significant trauma from being bullied or assaulted or have difficult home environments. During this Summit a few speakers or practice exercises have triggered a severe traumatic response in me. Thankfully I have enough experience to recognize it as a triggered state, and enough training tools to draw upon from psychology and other seasoned mindfulness practitioners that I could regain equilibrium. Still it was not only intense but in at least one instance I needed both family and medication support. So I get a little nervous reading comments about teachers wanting to jump in and try it with classes when they might not know how to recognize a distress response like mine nor how to deal with it (and not harm a students class-esteem either). I just want to echo what Richard and others have said, that taking the time to get trained and understand appropriate boundaries, plus developing your own practice over time is important and wise. Great journey to all….

    1. Marinilza Lima

      I agre with you, I have had the same concern, since I have been listening so much about mindfulness, I just hope the people who are really interested in teaching it do get well prepared in order to be able tomdeal with any situation which arises from the practice. Well said!

  10. Fiona

    Fabulous, fabulous, my first real meditation,. Totally get the visualisations although living in an area affected by earthquakes and near a mountain range due for a shakeup had to just let those thoughts pass thru and accept the mountain as unshakeable!

  11. Gillian Moon

    Thank you so much for todays session – mindfulness in schools makes so much sense! Mindful children growing into mindful adult has got to be a winner for changing the world person by person 🙂 Inspiring and encouraging. I have been looking into what is available in NZ regarding this 🙂

    Am loving the guided practices …. thank you.

    Blessings of love and light

    Gillian
    Aotearoa/NZ

  12. kathryn

    Love love love Richards delivery. So calming and fun also. Love the .b curriculum too. It’s super fun and engaging. Melli you are gorgeous and doing a superb job. Have yet to listen to the meditation here so I’ll do that now. Thanks to all involved. X

  13. Taluana

    Meli, thank you so much for sharing this amazing meditation session with Kaira Jewel Lingo. I cried almost all the session, the Thich Nhat Hanh style of mindfulness always touch me so much. It was so beautiful!
    Thank you so so much for this beautiful Summit!

  14. Susaninthecape8044

    Richard, fabulous presentation. Your commitment to kids and education shines through. Tell me Richard, do you find mindfuless a useful tool to modify behavior in ADHD students?

  15. carol campbell

    Wow! Fantastic. I love the pebble meditation and the song Kaira and Danny sang. I fell asleep with the song in my mind. Thank you for this mindfulness summit, Melli

  16. Rosann Lampkin

    Oh my goodness… I just did the meditation with Kaira Jewel… it was so beautiful! In a couple of weeks, I am going to be presenting mindfulness to preschool teachers and I now plan to use this meditation as part of the teaching process.

    Kaira, you seemed familiar to me, and when I closed my eyes and started doing the 4 pebbles meditation, I realized I do know you! In August of 2013, I was at a retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh in Ontario, CN (Mindfulness for Educators) and you were the leader/teacher of the afternoon breakout sessions I attended. You were amazing in your ability to teach & touch us with your warmth and deep heart then, just as you did today with the meditation. Thank you for the work you do–we are all so blessed by it!!

  17. Freya Bennett-Overstall

    Fabulously helpful and inspirational, I particularly love the idea of older kids sharing and leading the younger kids 🙂 And of course teacher care is very important. Many thanks again Melli for making this all happen!!

  18. Silver One

    Oeps….. shortech in time is an isue as a single mom. yesterday I though finally I had time for the Kaira session and I was exited it was still availlable. But my oldest daughter needed my attention with anxiaty problems. So again I could not watch it……… and now it is no longer available…….. shit happens!

  19. DJ McCullough

    How exciting. I had just listened to this when a student came in for advisement (I am a college counselor) and was confused about her path that she was on in elementary education. She offered that she wasn’t sure what else she was interested in except mindfulness! I shared this information with her and she was very excited. This was just after I was awoken at 3:00 AM unable to sleep and was pondering how I could spread this light in my little corner of the world. Oh, I love the synchronicity of our collective universe with it’s resounding “I am”!

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