MINDFULNESS FOR TEENAGERS
.b (DOT-BE) PROGRAM
Ten weekly sessions of 50 minutes each: Group program fee: $250/person. The .b program, pronounced [dot-be], is the UK’s leading mindfulness curriculum for 11-18 year old in schools. .b stands for ‘stop and be’, a simple practice at the heart of this ten lesson course. Each .b lesson (between 40 minutes and 1 hour) is expertly crafted to teach a distinct mindfulness skill. The .b materials are designed to engage even the most skeptical of young minds. For more information, please visit the Mindfulness in Schools Project website
Dates of the next program to be announced
Why is this
workshop important?
There are too many things trying to grab the attention of teenagers these days.
Think about all the many screens in front of their eyes with all those
attractive messages popping up. They certainly can benefit immensely from
practices that teach them to pause, unplug, and be comfortable in the silence
and stillness, even for short periods of time. Mindfulness training can reduce
stress and increase serenity and help them concentrate, focus, and not only be
more productive, but also happier.
Target
Population
Anyone ages 11 to 18 years old.
Learning Objectives
- To introduce mindfulness to teenagers in a way that is engaging, entertaining and persuasive
- To introduce teenagers to their faculty of attention and allow them to notice how distracted they are
- To provide some simple tools for training their attention
- To introduce key attitudes to attention-training: kindness, patience, repetition
- To explore that the mind has a life of its own
- To nurture an attitude of curiosity, kindness, acceptance and openness
- To teach how to ‘anchor’ the attention in the body
- To help teenagers understand that the mind habitually interprets and ‘tells stories’ about what is happening
- To help identify rumination and catastrophizing
- To teach a series of practices of relaxation and stress-relief
- To learn to appreciate and savor the pleasant
- To learn how to respond rather than react to the unpleasant
To learn to notice when we are on ‘autopilot’ and how this prevents us from being awake and alive to the experiences in the here and now.