5th Session of Panther "Pause" Challenge

Today, we presented to our Panther "Pause" Challenge participants in our 5th session about informal & everyday mindfulness. We shared methods of STOPping, SOBER breathing space, mindful movement, and reviewed mindful eating.

To begin, we introduced students to the concept of informal mindfulness, starting with places that you can be mindful. For example, when you are in the shower, washing dishes, or waiting/walking to the bus stop. These are all situations when you can take a moment to calm down and breath.

STOPping - the first informal mindfulness activity we taught the students - stands for:

- Stop anything you're doing in this moment

- Take three deep breaths

- Observe what is going on inside your head - any thoughts? Then, observe what's going on outside you. What is your situation?

- Proceed mindfully with whatever you were doing.

We mentioned certain situations people could do this in, such as when in an escalating argument with a friend or parent.

Another exercise we did with the participants is known as SOBER breathing space. This was originally used to help recovering alcohol addicts, but has been adapted to be a form of mindfulness. The aconym is as follows:

- Stop whatever you've been doing

- Observe what's happening inside you at that time - any thoughts or emotions?

- Breath mindfully three times.

- Expand your awareness to outside your body - what is the situation you are facing right now?

​ - Respond mindfully to the situation

This exercise is similar to STOPping, but in slightly more detail. People might prefer one or the other, depending on who they are.

From this lesson, students took away how to fit mindfulness in their busy lives, and how to experience life more fully. It was a great success and we look forward to our next session!

Note: The session for our Panther "Pause" Challenge participants that was suppose to be on Friday is canceled because of winter break and the half day. We'll be posting activities on gratitude journaling and changing your mindset on google classroom soon.