I have been teaching Mindfulness for the last year and have incorporated mindful techniques with every softball and baseball team I have coached for the last decade. My hope for teaching meditation and mindfulness is to give the kids some tools to calm down, slow down and feel better when they are troubled. I sure wish I had these tools at my disposal when I was their age. I mean do we all think that little Timmy wants to poke Little Tommy in the eye…or possibly he just doesn't know how to control his reactions to anger and frustration.

Kids have very big feelings that are very real, yet they do not have the brain development to process and regulate their emotions. Imagine if all the children around the Earth learned to use Mindfulness during their childhoods. What a change our world would experience within just one generation.

Today, Mindfulness has become a popular concept as solid scientific evidence suggests practicing mindfulness in our stressful world improves: Attention, Self-control, Emotional resilience, Memory and Immune Responses. An excellent reference from the Derek O’Neill “Get a Grip” Mindfulness book states: “If your mindful thoughts can be changed, everything can get changed in the present moment.”

Some of the Mindfulness benefits include:

Adaptability:

Becoming aware of our patterns enables us to gradually change habitual behaviors wisely.

Attention:

Strengthens our "mental muscle" for bringing focus back where we want it, when we want it.

Calming:

Breathing and other mindfulness practices relax the body and mind, giving access to peace independent of external circumstances.

Compassion:

Awareness of our own thoughts, emotions, and senses grows our understanding of what other people are experiencing.

Emotional Regulation:

Observing our emotions helps us recognize when they occur, to see their transient nature, and to change how we respond to them.

Resilience:

Seeing things objectively reduces the amount of narrative we add to the world's natural ups and downs, giving us greater balance.

#mindfulness