Mission Be — Teaching Children Mindfulness

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola. Originally published Dec. 24, 2023 and now archived on https://takecontrol.substack.com/

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

Mission Be, a nonprofit organization that brings mindfulness into schools, was founded in 2013 by social worker and yoga instructor, Carin Winter. Mission Be’s curriculum is based on evidence-based practices like breath, movement, visualizations, affirmations, sharing circles and silent seated meditation. Play is a meditative state — the purpose of meditation is to get into a timeless moment where you’re just in the present moment, which is the very definition of mindfulness.

Where Mission Be Is Today

Mission Be was created in 2013, while Winter was a social worker at Islip High School. By then, she’d been working with adolescents for 14 years, both in the foster care system and in school settings. This year, Mission Be serviced 26 schools in New York and 10 schools in California, providing mindfulness training once a week for several weeks.

Mission Be’s Curriculum

Mission Be’s curriculum is based on evidence-based practices like breath, movement, visualizations, affirmations, sharing circles and silent seated meditation. Each class is 40 minutes. Typically, the class begins with four to five minutes of gentle stretching, followed by a two- to five-minute guided mindfulness practice, depending on the age of the students. After that, they do a standing circle share, where students are encouraged to share how they’re feeling, something they're grateful for, or something they love about themselves.

How to Support Mission Be

You can support Mission Be either by making a tax-deductible donation or by signing up as a volunteer. For more information, check out Mission Be’s website at missionbe.org.

Integrative Mental Health University is dedicated to acknowledging how spiritual practices and spiritual experiences can improve mental health. Our full roster of courses is available at https://courses.imhu.org/pages/all-courses