Mindfulness for

Unsettling Times
An introductory practice for teachers and parents
that can be used with children and students

Ashley Lodge, Mental Health and Wellbeing Senior

Product Manager & Mindfulness Lead, Pearson
Important information:
This document provides a brief overview of mindfulness and how it can help
during unsettling times. It explains the neuroscience behind mindfulness and the
psychology underpinning it. Parents/teachers should read through the information
below so they feel familiar with the content before using it with their children/
students. Mindfulness is normally taught in small group settings with experienced
teachers. We continue to recommend that this is how mindfulness is delivered and
we hope to release some online courses that will give teachers and parents a more
holistic introduction to mindfulness.

Before doing the practice please always check in with your children/students to
ensure they feel ok to do the practice. If a child is receiving counselling or therapy
currently please check in with their practitioner first to ensure it’s appropriate.
If anything difficult comes up for them after the practice please do talk to the
affected child/student. If you feel worried or concerned that further help is
required then discuss this with them. A chat to a medical practitioner can help as
well as other organisations such as Mind.
 What exactly
Mindfulness is essentially the practice of training the mind to enhance
is mindfulness awareness of our thoughts, feelings and sensations. It can help us all

and how can it – teachers, parents and students included – by increasing attention span,
concentration, and emotional resilience throughout periods of uncertainty
help during such as COVID-19, when it’s common for stress and anxiety to build up.

unsettling Just as people go to the gym and lift weights to strengthen their muscles,
the regular practice of mindfulness (meditation) helps to strengthen an
times? awareness of our thoughts and feelings, and enhance our ability to cope
at challenging times. This is often considered and described as a form of
‘neuroplasticity’. Studies suggest mindfulness increases neuroplasticity in
two main ways:

1 2
Increasing the Calming the
connectivity in the front activity in the part of
of our brains (called the our brain which manages
prefrontal cortex). This is the difficult or strong emotions
part of the brain associated such as stress, anxiety
with memory, the ability to or worry (called the
solve problems and to limbic system).
manage distraction.
 During mindfulness practice,
we slowly learn how to step
away and more objectively observe
For example, it’s easy for us to want to get straight into
the feelings and emotions we are
doing a task to resolve it, this is called ‘doing mode’ and,
experiencing in the present moment, as it suggests, it helps get things done. However,
without being judgemental. Over mindfulness practice encourages us to take a moment
time, this can help us to reduce to pause, ground ourselves and be in the moment –
our automatic responses based known as the ‘being mode’. This helps us to consider
on emotions and increasingly the wisest, calmest way to tackle the task before
make calmer, more beginning it, meaning they are more effective and often
considered decisions. experience a greater sense of wellbeing.

Mindfulness isn’t just about training the mind, though – it’s also
about reconnecting with our body. Emotions can affect the body,
and vice versa: just as feelings can cause physical reactions (such
as ‘butterflies’ in the stomach before an exam), our body can affect
our thinking. Mindfulness practice encourages us to review how
our bodies are feeling at any given moment – perhaps how much
tension we’re holding in our shoulders and neck. By becoming
aware of these physical reactions, we can change them before
they grow too strong and start to take over their thinking.
 Mindfulness Just like learning any new skill, such
practice for as playing a sport or an instrument,
your children and mindfulness will have the greatest benefits
students if practised daily; just ten minutes can make
a difference to how we feel.

Supporting young people with daily practice can

be modelled at home and through virtual classes.
In this guide, we have provided a basic practice
called the ‘Mindfulness of Breath and Body’, which
is an introduction to mindfulness for you and your
children/students to do together, to benefit you all.
We suggest you do this yourself a few times first, as
a teacher, tutor, or parent, so that you’re familiar
with it and can draw on your own experience when
supporting your children/students with doing it.
 Getting The script for the practice is included on page
started 8, or you can access the audio online.
The basic introductory practice that follows
can be done as part of a virtual lesson, or
at home as a family. Before you start:

2
Explain what
mindfulness is and
how it can help. You can
1 use the information above
3
Check-in with your to do this. Let them know Explain you will
children/students to ensure that you will be doing be focusing firstly on your
that they are okay. Remind a mindful practice breathing and then different
them that if they feel stress and together. parts of your body. They don’t
anxiety or any other feelings need to change the way they
are overwhelming them they breathe, but just be aware of
can speak to an adult they trust. how they’re breathing. It can
Opening up about how they’re be helpful to close their eyes for
feeling can really help in the practice, but they can open
dealing with challenges. them again any time to
ground themselves.
The ‘Mindfulness Read the script on page 8 to your children/students,
of Breath and or play the audio. It will last just under 10 minutes.
Body’ practice When the practice is complete, ask your children/students to form pairs (or if
you’re doing this as a family) so you can talk about your experiences. Here are
some questions to use to focus their enquiry:

What were
your experiences Was there
What else
(remembering much mind
was going on?
there’s no right wandering?
or wrong!)?

After 5 minutes of pair discussion, bring your family or the virtual

class together to share what they talked about. What are the key
themes that emerged?

Ashley Lodge is the Mindfulness Lead for Pearson and also oversees their Nearly 700 staff across Pearson have been through the Six Week
mental health and wellbeing product development. Ashley holds a degree Mindfulness Course based on the Frantic World curriculum. Following these
in Philosophy and trained as a teacher in RE and PSHE at University courses data is showing the positive impact of the programme with drops
of Cambridge and has taught in both primary and secondary schools. in anxiety of around 40%, perceived stress of 22% and an increase in focus
He has been practising mindfulness since 2013 when he first did the and attention of around 25%. In late 2019 Ashley ran a pilot of a teacher
eight-week Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy course at the Oxford mindfulness course at the Italian Ministry of Education, the results of which
Mindfulness Centre, part of the University of Oxford. In 2016 he trained will be published later in 2020.
as a mindfulness teacher and has been running Pearson’s Mindfulness
Programme since 2017.
The ‘Mindfulness You can read this practice to your class, or access the
audio online.
of Breath and
Body’ practice This practice is called ‘breath and body’. Focusing on breath has a calming effect.
Moving the focus to the body can help identify feelings in the body caused
by stress. If your mind wanders bring it back with a sense of kindness to the
Script areas you’re being asked to focus on. This will help you develop your attention.
Remember, it doesn’t matter how many times the mind wanders. It’s bringing it
back each time to the focus on the breath or the body that’s key.

Settle into a comfortable position either sitting up or lying down and off, but by being kind and compassionate. It’s only natural that the
close your eyes. If you are sitting down find a chair that allows your mind may want to wander, that’s what minds do. This meditation is
feet to rest on the floor with your knees and ankles at right angles about bringing the mind back to the focus of what you are doing in
ensuring that your back is straight and your shoulders aren’t hunched. each moment, which is breathing in and out and seeing what physical
And if you are lying down, ensure that you are comfortable, but not so sensations there might be.
comfortable that you might fall asleep.
Now, moving the attention from your breath coming in and going out
Start in the first part of this meditation by bringing the focus of the and starting to focus now on the body. So, whilst continuing to breathe
attention to your breath, feeling the physical sensation of the breath in and out, moving the attention with the next in-breath imagining the
coming into the nose, travelling to the back of the throat, down the breath now as coming all the way down from the lungs, down through
windpipe and into the lungs. As the lungs fill, the abdomen rises and the legs all the way down into your feet. And now letting go of the
then begins to fall as the breath leaves the lungs, travels back up the focus on your breath, and focussing instead on feeling your feet on the
windpipe and then out through the nose or mouth. ground or, if you are lying down, feeling the back of your ankles on the
bed or the mat you may be lying on, seeing what physical sensations
Focusing now on the rhythm of the breath coming in, going down into there are in this part of the body. Sometimes there may be strong
the lungs, the abdomen rising and then falling as the breath comes sensations, and other times there might be none; there is no right or
back up out of the lungs and out through the nose or the mouth. wrong, just simply what there is in this present moment.
Becoming fully aware of any physical sensations associated with the
breath coming in and the breath going out. Just having a moment in silence now, exploring what is going on in
the feet.
If the mind should wander, then gradually acknowledge where it has
gone to and then bring it back, ever so gently, not by telling yourself
 And if your mind starts to wander, then that’s absolutely fine; it is doing If the mind wanders, then bringing it back to the focus of the attention,
what minds do. Just gradually bringing the mind back to the focus of the here and now, on the arms, and seeing what sensations there are in
attention right now: the feet. And seeing what sensations there are there. this part of the body. And if there’s no particular sensations, then that’s
fine too.
Then with the next in-breath moving the focus of the attention now up
from the feet through the ankles and into the legs, starting with the Then with the next in-breath focusing the attention into the neck, the
lower part of the legs, the shins, the calves, through into the knees, and back of the head, the top of the head, down through the face, around
then into the upper part of the legs, the thighs, the back of the legs, the eyes, the ears, the nose, the mouth, the chin and then the throat,
holding both legs in full awareness now. And seeing what sensations holding all of the head in awareness, seeing what sensations there may
there are in this part of the body. be in this part of the body.

If the mind starts to wander then that’s absolutely fine, it’s just doing If the mind wanders, gently bringing it back to the focus of the attention
what minds do, acknowledging where the mind had gone to and now, on the head, seeing any sensations that there are in this part of the
bringing it back to focus the attention here and now on the legs seeing body. If there are no particular sensations then that’s absolutely fine too,
what sensations there are in this part of the body. And if there are no just acknowledging that and being fully present to it.
sensations, then just allowing things to be as they are for now.
Seeing what’s here, right now.
And then with the next in-breath shifting the focus of the attention up
into the torso, starting with the abdomen, and then the lower back and Coming towards the end of this meditation now, letting go of awareness
then moving into the mid-back, the thoracic area around the heart at of all the different parts of the body and turning the focus of the
the front, then the upper back, and then into the chest, seeing what attention now to the breath: feeling all of the sensations as the air the
sensations there are anywhere across the torso right now. enters through the nostrils, travels to the back of the throat, down
into the lungs, lungs are now going to expand, and then contract as
PEUK A1845 • Version 1.0 • UKS • May 2020 • DCL1: Public

And if the mind wanders, gradually bringing it back, focusing in on the the breath then comes back up and out through the nose or mouth.
part of the body that we are looking at right now, the torso, and seeing Allowing yourself for a moment just to focus on the rhythm of your
what sensations there are in this part of the body. And if there’s no breath coming in and the breath going out. Feeling any sensations
particular sensations, then that’s just as fine too, acknowledging what’s there are, using the breath to fully anchor you in this moment. Allowing
going on and remaining in the present, with full attention on the torso. yourself to be fully aware of any sensations in the body connected with
the breath coming in and the breath going out.
Then with the next in-breath focussing the attention into the shoulders
and then down the arms, down through the elbows, then from the And then finishing this meditation by gently opening the eyes and
elbows into the wrists, then all the way to the fingers, the very end of the coming back to full awareness of the room which you are in.
fingertips, seeing what sensations there may be in this part of the body,
in the arms.