Embodied Mindfulness Practices

for You & Your Classroom

Leah Kalish, MA: leah@move-with-me.com
www.move-with-me.com
818-667-3689 1
Objectives
• Understand why more movement as well as self-
regulation skills are essential for well-being & well-doing.
• Understand Triune Brain, coherence & entrainment.

• Learn Mindfulness & Self-Care Tools you can practice

and share daily to enhance well-being & well-doing.

• Be inspired to drink more water & regularly utilize at

least 4 of the techniques / activities introduced.

• Become a mindful movement & self-care/regulation skill

teacher and advocate.
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 Pre-Activity
• Turn head to left.
– Notice how it feels.
– Notice range of peripheral vision.
• Turn head to right.
– Notice sensation and vision.
• Fold from hips into forward bend
– Notice sensation and range of motion, touch your
fingers lightly on your knees or shins to mark ROM
• Snap Test
– Notice ease or difficulty.

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A B C D E F G
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H I J K L M N
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O P Q R S T U
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V W X Y Z
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4 Self-Care Tools

*Ordered to coincide with Brain Gym®’s PACE

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Post-Activity
• Turn head to left.
– Notice how it feels.
– Notice range of peripheral vision.
• Turn head to right.
– Notice sensation and vision.
• Fold from hips into forward bend
– Notice sensation and range of motion, touch your
fingers lightly on your knees or shins to mark ROM
• Snap Test
– Notice ease or difficulty.

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A B C D E F G
l r t r l r t

H I J K L M N
l l r l r r t

O P Q R S T U
l t r l t r r

V W X Y Z
l t t l r

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 Results
What?
• Greater range of motion
• Greater ease with cognitive tasks
• Greater enjoyment, confidence, relaxation

Why?
• Mindful self-care – shifts your state & your stress
• Movement – shifts your state & enables access to exec. function

Mind-body activities support a positive state - chemistry,

physical energy, mental clarity and emotional stability.

Your “state” dictates what is possible for you.

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Triune Brain Theory
-Professor Paul D. McLean

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 BE – DO - HAVE
• BEING = your mind-body state / vibration
• DOING = your thoughts / emotions/ actions
• HAVING = your experience
Per brain/educational researchers, Eric Jensen, Carla
Hannaford, and many others, our mind-body state dictates
the quality of our choices and the intentions of our actions.
• When you are stressed, what kinds of foods do you choose?
• When you are tired / frustrated, how present or kind are you?
• When you are worried, how careful or caring can you be?
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 Yoga Poses
Chair Stretches

Standing Stretches Partner Poses

Self-Care Benefits
• Increased self-awareness & neutrality
• Situational insight
• Clarity of thought
• Impulse control
• Physical coordination
• Enhanced health
• Greater enjoyment & quality of life
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Self–Care Messages
• I value and care for myself.
• My well-being is important.
• I can help myself feel well.
• When I feel well, I can do well.
• I can ground, soothe, shift, and focus myself.
• I am full of love, health, and intelligence.
• I respect & support others as I do myself.
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 Mindfulness
• Is a relational process, in which you are harnessing the
overlapping social–emotional brain and the regulatory
executive circuits of the brain = EF.
• Is a way of coming into relationship with your Self &
becoming your own best friend.
• Is a practice of maintaining present awareness of our
thoughts, feelings, sensations, and environment.
• Cultivates self-compassion, curiosity & metabolism.
• Develops ability to See/Mirror without interpretation.
• Enhances the ability to Be With without judgment.
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Drink Water
Drink water regularly to sustain your
• well-being
• clear thinking
• ____________
Enhances:
• Electro-chemical activity in CNS
• Processing speed
• Metabolism
• Stress release
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Humming Breath

Rub spots under collarbone with thumb and fingers.

Hold other hand over navel and move just eyes slowly side to
side. Deep breath in and HUMMMMMMM... To calm and focus.
Stimulates:
• Flow of oxygen to the brain
• Hemispheric integration
• Binocular vision - eye teaming
• Reticular Activating System –filter sensory info
*Similar to Brain Buttons in Brain Gym® 17
 Monkey Wisdom
Energize the body and wake up the brain by alternately
touching hand/elbow to opposite knee - crossing midline
of the body.
Enhances:
• Hemispheric integration
• Binocular vision
• Binaural hearing
• Left right coordination
• Stability in the walking gait
*Cross Crawl in Brain Gym®
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Cross-Lateral Movement
• Energizes body and mind
• Releases tension
• Activates both sides of the brain
• Prep for fine motor skills
• Supports whole brain thinking
• Enhances comprehension & learning
• Cross-lateral ability develops between 4 - 6

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Deep Down Wisdom
Cross ankles and wrists. Thumbs down.
Clasp hands & rest them at sternum.
Breathe & think of something you love.
Supports:
• Emotional centering
• Grounding
• Respiration
• Self-control
• Boundaries

*Hook ups in Brain Gym® 20

 Entrainment
• Quantum physics – everything is a vibration / wave
• The principle of entrainment - tendency for two oscillating bodies
to shift to vibrate in harmony
– Universal - appearing in music, chemistry, biology, medicine,
psychology, sociology, education
– You affect everyone around you non-verbally
– Your Heart reads vibration – signals to brain – you react
• Coherent Waves & Incoherent Waves
– Even, smooth, organized, regular = relaxed & able
– Uneven, static, chaotic, irregular = stressed & less able

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Sustain Your Coherence
• Prioritize WELL-BEING over TO DO List
• Use - Share Tools / Techniques / Activities
• Designate 6 x a day to:
– Pause
– Reflect
– Self-Care/Regulate (move, rest, breathe mindfully)
• Notice and acknowledge shifts in your:
– Physical Sensations & Sensory Awareness
– Resilience & Compassion
– Stress & Neutrality
– Communication & Leadership 22
Power of Imagery
Be a Mountain – Be strong/stable/mindful
• Stand as soldier – tense, stiff, straight. Test for stability.
• Stand as MT – test for stability. What the difference?
• When trying hard or tensing – energy moves up.
• When relaxed / coherent – energy moves down.
• Once the distinction is embodied, practice dropping into
Mt quickly, solidly.
• Play upbeat music & dance around the space.
• When music stops, Be a MT (not freeze!).
• Test for relaxed stability.
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Positive Energy
Be a Rainbow – Embody the colors/qualities.
Enjoy good posture, easy breathing, being centered.
Feel alert, kind, creative.
Red – I’m strong
Orange – I’m joyful
Yellow – I know I can
Green – I’m caring
Blue – I tell the truth
Indigo – I’m smart
Violet – Understanding
I’m a Rainbow!
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Embodying Mindfulness
• Regularity – 20 min a day personal practice and
6 x daily for 1-10 min classroom practice
• Repetition – builds new neural pathways
• Reflection – notice the shifts and differences in
your sensations and thoughts - strengthens new
neural pathways
• Personalization – experiment & learn which
techniques & practices work best for you
Reminders & Questions
Slow Down (bring inner speed to idle)
Root Down (let gravity hold you)
Rest Back – Widen Out (let yourself be supported)
Notice Sensations (observing with curiosity)
Breathe – Be With (attune to health / wholeness)
Align with Image or Intention (coherent beingness)
As you practice, notice which resources help you to:
– Be more present, aware, neutral?
– Sustain your own coherence?
– Calm, slow down, de-stress?
– Integrate, energize, clear/metabolize/process?
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