Mindfulness

Mind-body skills Part 5: music

Posted on September 6, 2023 by alisakaczorowski in Business, Social Emotional Learning, Trauma Informed Care

**This is Part 5 of a 7 part series on Mind-Body Skills. Check out the introductory post here or follow along on my YouTube channel.

Photo by RDNE Stock project on Pexels.com

I am not at all musically inclined. I actually prefer to never have music playing in the background – at home, in the car, anywhere. I know, I know…it’s weird.

As you can imagine, this category of mind-body skills is not one that I lean into very often, and that’s ok. Music is life for many people so, once in awhile, it’s good to push ourselves outside of our comfort zone and try something new. For me, when creating my mind-body skills training, that meant finding musical activities that would speak to a wide variety of people.

We all know there are a million different YouTube and Spotify channels where we can stream music and calming sounds into our classrooms. Those are great to use during transitions, independent work time, etc. Many of us use music in a cross-disciplinary manner through phonics chants, math songs, etc. These are all fantastic ways to incorporate music into the classroom, but what other ways can we tap into the power of music?

Hands down, my favorite activity that I came across while researching for the mind-body skills training was an activity where we connect music to specific memories. Remember, anything sensory (sounds, smells, sights, textures, tastes, etc.) can evoke both positive and negative memories from even the deepest recesses of our brain. Often, recalling those positive memories can bring us peace, joy, laughter or contentment.

The example I used recently at a school I was working with can be found below.

I only intended to play a portion of this song and then connect it to a specific memory, as an example for the group of teachers. However, about 10 seconds into the song, I realized we would be listening to the entire thing because the song immediately began to evoke memories for all of THEM!

Even if they did not tie this song to a specific memory, as I do, it brought back memories for many of them of the movie, being in a certain place in life, where they first saw this movie, etc. We ended up having the best time just singing along to this song!

Give it a try! What song evokes strong, positive memories for you? Go give it a listen and just sit with it for a few minutes.

Ask your music-loving students to try out this exercise. Not only can we recall these memories when we are in a place of balance, but we can also use them when we are feeling sad, angry or overwhelmed. That’s what mind-body skills are all about!

Building a Trauma-Informed School Video Series: Course 2

Posted on March 17, 2021 by alisakaczorowski in Uncategorized

Course 2 of my new video series on Building a Trauma-Informed School launched yesterday on Teachers Pay Teachers! I’m excited to make the content I teach to schools all over the country accessible to educators at the click of a button and at an affordable price.

This series will break down the information I present in a full-day professional development into smaller, easy to watch chunks. Course 1 is already available and focuses on understanding the basics of trauma in our society, why schools should be trauma-informed and recognizing the characteristics of trauma in children of various age levels.

Course 2 dives into understanding the neuroscience of trauma – how traumatic experiences impact, and cause changes to, the brain that affect students in a learning environment. It covers the impact of trauma on learning, as well as a variety of mindfulness techniques that can be implemented in the classroom.

Course 3 will go live in the next two weeks. It will focus on the impact of trauma on behavior, trauma-informed classroom management strategies and assess the pros and cons of a variety of common classroom management systems.

At least one more course will follow and will include 10 strategies for building a more trauma-informed culture in the classroom.

Head on over to Teachers Pay Teachers and grab Course 2 here!

Mindfulness vs. De-Escalation

Posted on March 10, 2021 by alisakaczorowski in Uncategorized

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

Have you ever really stopped to think about the difference between mindfulness strategies and de-escalation strategies? No…just me? At first thought, it seems that they are the opposite of one another, right? I mean, when I think of mindfulness, I visualize someone meditating or deep breathing in a peaceful, quiet place. When I think of de-escalation, calm and peaceful are certainly not words that come to mind. I picture a child who is feeling very angry or emotional and adults trying to help. This visual is very noisy and chaotic in my mind.

Take a minute to think about a few de-escalation strategies that the child in the example above might use. What would be on your list? Perhaps deep breathing, some type of movement activity or productive destruction (my term for satisfying the need to destroy something without ACTUALLY destroying something – think tearing paper or putty)?

Now think about common mindfulness strategies. What did you come up with? Deep breathing and exercise again?

See, the funny thing is…the strategies we use for de-escalation and the strategies we use to practice mindfulness are THE SAME! We just call them something different, depending upon WHEN we use them.

We need de-escalation strategies when our amygdala has already been activated, and we’ve moved into flight or fight mode. When we use the strategies at this time, they help bring us back into balance.

On the flip side, we practice mindfulness strategies to train our brain to respond more calmly and reflectively when faced with adversity. By practicing mindfulness regularly, we can actually retrain our amygdala to “false alarm” less frequently so we don’t need to de-escalate as often.

Now that you know that mindfulness and de-escalation strategies are the same thing, how will you incorporate them into your classroom or home environment? It’s critical that we explicitly introduce a variety of these strategies to kids so they can begin to decide what does and does not work for them. Providing time for mindfulness practice is also key to helping kids strengthen the neural pathways in their brains and be proactive about emotional regulation.

Need help getting started? Check out this infographic I have available on Teachers Pay Teachers.

App Review: Headspace

Posted on February 22, 2021 by alisakaczorowski in Uncategorized

Let’s talk about a new-to-me app called Headspace. I know this one is very popular with many people, but I hadn’t tried it out until a few weeks ago. Thank goodness I did because now I’m obsessed with it!

Not only are there a ton of meditations and breathing exercises of varying lengths (most are 2-10 minutes), there are targeted meditation courses, sleep meditations and music, focus playlists and workouts! Plus, everything is categorized so it’s easy to find exactly what you’re looking for. Want a breathing exercise to jumpstart your day? Check! How about a meditation to help you feel more hopeful and less anxious? Check! There is even a whole category of meditations for kids!

So maybe you’re wondering what all the hype around mindfulness is about. Well, in her book, Mindful Parenting, Dr. Kristen Race discusses how even 5 MINUTES of daily mindfulness practice can work to strengthen the neural pathways in the brain, resulting in more reflective responses vs. impulsive responses. I don’t know about you, but the deeper into this pandemic we’ve gone, the more impulsive my responses to my husband, my children and myself have become. It’s something I’m actively working to improve, and practicing mindfulness each day is one action step I’m taking toward thinking before speaking or acting.

Perhaps you’ve noticed your interactions becoming more reactive as well. Or perhaps you have a kiddo who flies off the handle when told no or when they don’t get their way. Mindfulness practice is a great place to begin course correction. Plus, if we want our kids to grow their emotional intelligence and learn self-regulation techniques, they must be able to filter and vet their words and actions first. This means they need to actively practice slowing down and taking charge of their brain at times.

Mindfulness isn’t easy for most of us, but like many other things in life, the more we practice, the better we become. The good news is that Headspace makes the practice part easy. See my overall review below and check out this awesome app, if you haven’t already!

PROS	CONS
Great for all ages and levels	Costly (~$70 per year)
So many options for meditating, breathing, moving and focusing	The many options can feel a bit overwhelming for beginners.
Well-organized	You still have to make the time…the app won’t do that part for you!
Easily set reminders to make mindfulness a daily practice