101: Mindfulness Foundations

Educator Voices from 101: Mindfulness Foundations

101 Course Calendar

* JULY 101+RETREAT * . ENROLL NOW . * Cost: $225 * Registration Deadline: Jun 29	AUGUST 101 SESSION . ENROLL NOW . Cost: $195 Registration Deadline: Aug 1
Course Starts: Jul 6 1-Hour Live Session: Jul 19 1pm PT/4pm ET or 4pm PT/7pm ET * Half-Day Retreat: Jul 22 * 8am-1pm PT/11am-4pm ET Course Ends: Aug 2	Course Starts: Aug 3 1-Hour Live Session: Aug 16 1pm PT/4pm ET or 4pm PT/7pm ET Course Ends: Aug 30

* Three times a year, in July, January, and April, we offer 101R: Mindfulness Foundations + Retreat. In 101R, our virtual mindfulness retreat (a $195 value) is integrated into your course experience. Retreat is a unique and powerful experience to put into practice the strategies and tools you learn in the course. We look forward to practicing with you!

Why Mindfulness?

Educating and mentoring our youth is a calling that draws some of the most dedicated people on the planet. Educators serve on the frontlines of mitigating our nation’s social challenges, but they are often themselves overwhelmed and lack the support to cope with the acute stress and trauma that plays out in their classrooms. It’s tough, high-stakes work that can result in anxiety, overwhelm, and burnout.

Mindfulness offers strategies that help educators feel more calm, effective, connected, and resilient. Research shows that mindfulness cultivates skills to manage stress and to build attention, focus, and resilience––empowering educators to feel nourished and energized to create safe, supportive spaces for students in the classroom, at home, and beyond.

About This Course

4-WEEK FACILITATED ONLINE COURSE   |   2-3 HOURS PER WEEK   |   CREDITS AVAILABLE

101: Mindfulness Foundations is at the heart of what Mindful Schools is known for—an educator-centered approach to bring mindfulness to K-12 contexts. In this 4-week course, we provide a grounding in the neuroscience of mindfulness and share simple yet powerful practices and strategies to bring mindfulness into daily life––to manage stress, build resilience, and bring your full presence to interactions with students.

At Mindful Schools, we define mindfulness as being present in the moment here and now, paying attention to our thoughts, bodily sensations, and external environment with kindness, nonjudgment, and curiosity. Mindfulness can provide immediate tools to meet challenges with more openness, care, and compassion, as well as strategies that promote everyday self-care and well-being.

This is the first course in the path toward building a “mindful school” and fulfills the prerequisite for 201: Mindfulness in the Classroom.

Course Outcomes

• Understand the science of mindfulness and how the adult nervous system is an intervention
• Learn different practices that can resource you during your teaching day and daily life
• Practice strategies to navigate intense emotions and negative thought patterns
• Uncover blindspots and disrupt implicit bias
• Use trauma-sensitive approaches in your own practice
• Inspire compassion, curiosity, openness, and connection
• Get support from a Mindful Schools Online Course Guide and connect with peers in Live Sessions and the course forums

What You’ll Learn in 101

Support From an Online Course Guide

Online Course Guides are experienced Mindful Schools faculty members who support you in all four weeks of the course. Through the Live Session, emails, and course forums, your Online Course Guide will facilitate discussions, synthesize emerging themes and answer questions. Meet our team:

Educator Voices from 101: Mindfulness Foundations

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Meet Your Lead Teachers

Neena Barreto comes to this work with 20 years as a classroom teacher and teacher leader. She has taught mindfulness in over 30 classrooms from transitional kindergarten through sixth grade. Neena has also coached teachers, provided teacher and staff training, parent classes, as well as educator retreats. A Bay Area native, she now lives in Southern Oregon, where she draws upon the natural world as a deep resource to embody her mindfulness practice. Neena is founder of Into the Forest Revelations, an organization that seeks to bring clarity and wisdom for those seeking their life’s purpose.

Argos Gonzalez is a teacher, lecturer, mindfulness teacher, and yoga instructor. With over 20 years of experience in education, starting in high school classrooms in the Bronx, Argos currently teaches pre-service and in-service teachers at Hunter College School of Education in NY.  Argos is certified through both the Mindful Schools Mindful Teacher Certification Program and Little Flower Yoga. Argos was a contributing editor to Best Practices for Yoga in Schools, and his work has been featured in national media including NPR and The Atlantic. As a frequent speaker at major conferences, Argos is an important contributor to the yoga in schools movement and a trusted expert with feet in the yoga, mindfulness, and education worlds. His deep passion for empowering children and adolescents and supporting other educators to do the same comes through in all aspects of his work.

Jelena Popovic is a school psychologist by training and a peacebuilder by heart. As a mother and Teaching Peace in Schools Leadership Council Lead for The Peace Alliance, Jelena aspires to educate, advocate, and mobilize others in co-creating a culture of peace. Her passion is facilitating dialogs that are grounded in mindful awareness and empathy. Jelena is a facilitation trainer for Soliya and Erasmus + Virtual Exchange, facilitates virtual circles for Millennium Forum and the Peace of Mind, and she serves on the advisory board for Cities4Peace. She guides mindfulness retreats for educators at the Copper Beech Institute, leads international At Home In the World family retreats, and is co-founder of Design to Connect LLC, an educational consulting organization, that assists schools in their efforts in skillful, integrated and sustainable schoolwide implementation of mindfulness, and peace education practices.

Course Creators

Crystal McCreary is registered with Yoga Alliance at the E-RYT-500 level, with a specialty RCYT for children’s yoga. She leads Yoga Alliance certified yoga teacher trainings, facilitates professional development workshops, and speaks nationally about the impact of yoga and mindfulness on the health and well-being of children, adolescents and adults. Crystal also teaches public classes in New York City and curates transformative wellness retreats which explore her own mindful vinyasa practice, her curiosity about anatomy, her passion for intelligent sequences that sow vigor and softness in body, and a more peaceful mind through mindfulness meditation.

Em Morrison has taught mindfulness and served as a youth worker at after-school programs, summer camps, and on adult, young adult, and teen retreats for the past 16 years. In Washington, DC, Em created a flagship restorative justice retreat for youth and made mindfulness practice a central piece of the experience. Em has trained with many teachers over the years and has done trainings with Mindful Schools, Minds Inc., and iBme. Em focuses on Nonviolent Communication and restorative justice along with teaching the practices for personal AND collective liberation.

Course Contributors

Aáron B. Heard started her teaching career in East Oakland teaching ELA, Social Studies, and Theatre and she now facilitates workshops for educators on the topics of Art, Healing, and Social Justice. She is an artist, learner, and educator rooted in love, curiosity, and community. Described as the ‘heart of the team,’ she is grounded in purpose, leads with enthusiasm, questions with a critical curiosity, and prioritizes learning, reflection, and growth. Aáron received her Bachelor’s Degree in English: Creative Writing from University of Southern California, her Master’s in Urban Education from Loyola Marymount University, and holds a certification as an Arts Integration Specialist.

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