Event Details

Mindful Education Institute - Retreat 3

Co-Sponsor: Mindful Education Institute

Contact Name: Juliana Johnson

Website: juiana@mbaproject.org

Phone: 415-824-2048

Date: 7/7/2013

End Date: 7/12/2013

Time: all day

CE Hours: 31.750

The Mindful Education Institute’s (MEI) year-long teacher training is a journey of self-discovery and awakening as well as a path to becoming a skilled and creative mindfulness educator. MEI’s goal is to support the real-world implementation of mindfulness-based programming for youth in diverse environments including K-12 schools, foster care facilities, juvenile detention centers, and community-based sites. With mindfulness, social and emotional literacy, empathy training, and other awareness-based practices, educators around the world are helping youth to cultivate insight, compassion, attention, and other skills that have the capacity to transform their lives, families, and societies. MEI draws together preeminent teachers to offer you the most comprehensive, supportive, and dynamic mindfulness and education training available. Mindfulness is the radical notion of opening to the truth of what is happening right here and now, which allows life to be marked by openness, courage and deep compassion. Research shows that mindfulness decreases stress, attention deficit issues, depression, anxiety, and hostility in children, while benefiting their health, well-being, social relations, and academic performance. Children can easily learn these techniques, and when learned young, they become lifelong tools. The core aspect of becoming a good mindfulness teacher is cultivating ones own practice. Much of the retreat time, talks, and projects will be focused on deepening personal mindfulness practice and identifying ways to become more present and empathic in relation to the individual’s population. MEI believes that the facilitator is 99% of what makes the intervention effective; the curriculum is 1%. A big focus of the MEI training will be getting participants more comfortable in their own skin, more improvisational, and dynamic in teaching.

Schedule: Retreat #3: JULY 8-12, 2013 * indicates that this portion of the program is being counted towards CEs and corresponds to the listed learning objectives. While there are many more learning objectives throughout the program, due to the length of meditation, those portions may not be counted towards CEs and so we do not list those learning objectives on this form. SUNDAY *7:00-9:00- Daniel Rechtschaffen Welcome back and breaking into cohorts to discuss how we are doing. Discussing how we have integrated our mindfulness based curriculum plans. MONDAY *9:30-12:15- Susan Kaiser Greenland Showing how to use mindfulness games for kids of all ages. Using different props and games to engage students. *2:00-5:00- Cliff Saron Research and neuroscience in the mindfulness world. Describing the current research and evaluation techniques. *7:00-9:00- Vinny Ferraro How to use storytelling as a tool in mindfulness teaching. How to engage students with stories of heroes that they can relate to. TUESDAY 9:30-10:30 Megan Cowan Guided Sitting Instruction *10:30-12:30 Chris Mckenna Working with resistance in students and administrators. How to use students resistance as a way to help them learn. *2:00-5:00 All Faculty Cohort Groups working on participants curriculum and program planning. Giving advice and practice teaching on how to create their visions. *7:00-9:00 Daniel Rechtschaffen Beginners mind. How to continue to keep a beginners mind when we are teaching. How to be spontaneous and go with the flow when teaching and learning to meet the students exactly where they are. 180 mins WEDNESDAY 9:30-10:30 Vinny Ferraro Guided Meditation Instructions *10:30-12:30 Susan Kaiser Greenland How to develop a mindfulness program. How to talk with parents and schools about the work you are doing. How to advertise. *2:00-3:30 Megan Cowan and Chris Mckenna Pitching to schools and institutions. Writing grants and raising money for your work. How to approach and explain the benefits of mindfulness. *3:30-5:00 Pam Dunn Diversity and how to use conscious language in different settings. Being aware of your population and how to understand your own assumptions. *7:00-9:00 Amani Simms Finding your voice. Learning to teach mindfulness through songs and games. THURSDAY 9:30-10:30- Daniel Rechtschaffen Meditation Instruction 10:30-12:30 All Faculty Cohort groups working on completing our curriculum and mindful business plans. Visioning our next year and figuring out the support we need to manifest our visions. *2:00-5:00- Joanna Harper Using Council with kids. Learning different council techniques to integrate into the school day. How to use the council structure for conflict. *7:00-9:00- All MEI faculty Panel on bringing mindfulness into daily life. Each presenter describing how they integrate mindfulness into their lives. Questions from participants about how to be mindful in daily life. FRIDAY 9:00-10:00- Daniel Rechtschaffen Guided Meditation Instruction *10:00-11:00- Pam Dunn Creating a vision and a plan of how to integrate this work into your life. Sharing our plans with the entire group. *11:00-12:00- Amani Simms and Daniel Rechtschaffen Ending Ritual- Circle and making goodbyes.