Susan Williams s229131

ETL411 Teaching the Curriculum Assignment 1 SUMMARY OF INSTRUCTIONAL TEXT

Meditation Capsules: A Mindfulness Program for Children

By Janet Etty-Leal, published by Meditation Capsules 2010, www.meditationcapsules.com
This manual contains 10 sequenced sessions for teaching students the skills of mindful meditation. It is designed for use in the classroom with students at upper primary level. Etty-Leal maintains that todays fast-paced, technology-driven world presents endless temptations for minds to be elsewhere and constantly multitasking. When children are distracted there may be little energy, or aptitude, for the task at hand. Neural pathways can become scrambled and less effective, which disrupts learning. When moments of sustained focus ... become rare experiences some children may associate quiet moments with anxiety and negative feelings, such as boredom and disconnection. A practice of meditation is very helpful in developing the frontal cortex of the brain ... [which] is responsible for thinking, imagining, organizing, planning and choosing what we pay attention to. AIMS OF THE PROGRAM: Introduce children to the magical properties of their own bodies and minds. Build self-awareness through a creative range of activities and exercises. Sequentially develop techniques of body-scanning, breathing and mind mastery. Explore ways to connect these skills to everyday life.

CONTENTS Capsule 1: About relaxation, meditation and self-awareness Capsule 2: Getting to know the body Capsule 3: Awareness of the breath Capsule 4: Stress: understanding its triggers and our responses Capsule 5: Words and their emotional power Capsule 6: The senses of sight, smell and touch Capsule 7: The senses of sound and taste, plus the sense of humour Capsule 8: The mind: learning to observe thought Capsule 9: Creative approaches: using visualization and imagery Capsule 10: Stillness meditation: deepening the connection to a quiet inner space

The term Capsules draws on the idea of space capsules which explore and discover outer space. The author explains that meditation capsules promote opportunities for developing effective life skills and discovery/exploration of childrens inner space.

Susan Williams s229131

ETL411 Teaching the Curriculum Assignment 1 SUMMARY OF INSTRUCTIONAL TEXT

STRUCTURE OF THE CAPSULES (Sessions): Introduction and session intention, outlines general teaching points and goals for each session Resources list (props and other items are necessary to support the session) Review of previous session, plus a list of focus words for each session Group discussion and activity A series of exercises (sourced from yoga, qi gong and Feldenkrais) and meditations presented in the form of scripts which can be read by teacher (or listed to on the accompanying CD)