Educators, Therapists, Performers & Meditation Practices
Public High School Teacher Phil D’Arcangelis (Leesburg, VA)
Tell me about your educational and mindfulness path and how you got there.
I am a philosophy and religions teacher in a high school in the Virginia Public Schools. Originally I started using meditation for myself. I realized meditation could help kids because they’re so stressed out. If something works for you, you owe it to the world to pass it along to somebody else and it will mean a lot. I began putting meditations into mini lessons at school. I started out with sensational observations everyday, which turned into every few days. Mindfulness means living in the moment. My school runs a program called Wellness Wednesdays. Students can choose their activity from a number of options inuculding soccer, friendship bracelets, Wii bowling, etc. I offer Mindfulness and Mental Quiet. Mental Quiet means to just show up and be calm. I will run a meditation from the calm app or lead a guided meditation and kids can come and do what they want with the time as long as they are all quiet and mindful.
In a classroom, how can a teacher begin to integrate meditation or a meditation practice? Any special trusted resources you use?
Calm app. But in my experience, there’s not much for resources. As soon as you learn how to live in the moment and you can remind yourself to live in the moment, talking to yourself or God or no one is all a distraction from the noise. We run from work to dinner to our phones and it’s easy to get lost.
In your school experience, are mindfulness practices reserved mostly for students with IEPS or behavioral patterns?
For me specifically it’s something that I do on the side. I’ve never seen anyone’s IEP as containing structured meditation. “School within a school” is a program in our district where students can leave and take a walk when they need it. I’m lucky in that I’ve earned enough trust in my students and bosses that they are fine if I take tangents off my subject matter to tie in aspects like this.
Observations on direct benefits of meditation?
Often times it calms my class down. It might not last forever but it brings everyone down for a moment. Especially with my group, I’ve had a lot of kids over the years say that it was helpful for them. I can think of one student in particular who started pursuing it on their own time. It’s not a lot, but the kids keep coming back for it. Kids who come to my group on Wellness Wednesdays keep coming back. Each month they can sign up for something different, and I begin the school year with 20 students and end up at the end with about 15. You can’t help them all, because they don’t want your help, so I’ve changed my focus and work really hard with the ones who are with me.
Do you practice meditation yourself?
Not as often as I should. More important that meditation, I grab myself and breathe, observe, feel the air, hear the fish tank bubbling. I also try to find some quiet time during the day. Every night I get on my acupressure mat.
Any other thoughts?
Unfortunately yes. A million.
4/22/23
Kindergarten Teacher Kelsey Crawford-Vasquez
Tell me a little about your educational and mindfulness path and how you got here.
I am in my fourth year teaching kindergarten, my (collectively) sixth year teaching, and my fifth (or so) year practicing mindfulness.
I wanted to be a teacher my whole life, I graduated with my teaching license and degree in 2015. However, I was terrified to step into the field of education once I graduated. I continued serving at a restaurant because it was familiar, I was good at it, and I made decent money. I did not feel the push to leave. Until someone I knew had an “in” at a daycare center. I left serving, picking up shifts part time, to try my hand at teaching preschool at the daycare center. I HATED it. It was not the teaching I wanted and after about a year in preschool I left to go back to where I knew I was doing something good, serving.
Sidenote: I have suffered from anxiety and panic since high school. I finally got help for my anxiety through therapy and medication before I was at the center teaching preschool. Around the same time I left the preschool gig and was back at my restaurant, I had lost my therapist and psychiatrist due to issues with health insurance. My anxiety and panic started to get much harder to manage. There was one shift in particular where I had a complete panic attack and had to be taken off the floor during one of the busiest nights of the year. It was in this recovery (from the panic attack) that I was introduced to Headspace, the mindfulness app.
Through Headspace I learned the basics of meditation, I took courses to help manage anxiety a little better, and began to learn how to reflect on myself. It was because of this, I began to realize I was ANXIOUS and scared to follow my dreams. I was mad at myself for not being a teacher. I had a pit in my stomach. I had tried and failed trying to get a classroom position (4th grade) and was scared to try again. Until I found another “in” through another friend at a different school. This time, second grade, at a charter school, in a fellowship position. I got to work under a mentor, I got to teach a few lessons at a time and get feedback on how to better manage my time, how to better manage a classroom, I was given the opportunity to reflect on the good teaching I was doing, the relationships I was making. It was hard, but I found myself saying at one point… I don’t have enough time to be anxious. Because I was finally doing something that I loved.
From there I was offered a position teaching Kindergarten, which I did at that school for three more years. While completing my fellowship I observed another teaching incorporating Headspace in her classroom and I discovered there are meditation and mindfulness practices that young kids could do. So, once I had my own classroom, I decided to implement mindfulness and meditation to help teach character building, empathy, a growth mindset, and how to calm down after a lot of stimulation (i.e. recess, behavior meltdowns, etc.).
I now meditate every morning before school, and meditate with my kids about twice a month.
In a classroom, how can a teacher begin to integrate meditation or a meditation practice? Any special trusted resources you use?
I have integrated meditation and mindfulness as a practice of calmness and reflection. When introducing meditation, I explain it as a chance to “chill” and “calm” ourselves, verbiage kindergarteners can understand. Through that, I let Headspace be my guide. We listen to guided meditations geared toward young kids. Depending on the maturity of my kids I will use either the meditations for “kids under 5” or “kids 6-8” years old. The meditation focuses vary from cooling down, to finding positivity, being kind, and paying attention. There are some guidance videos that even feature Sesame Street characters!
Q: In your school experience, are mindfulness practices reserved mostly for students with IEPS or behavioral patterns?
My experience is a little skewed… when teaching in Boston, at the charter school I was at, I would say that mindfulness was encouraged for all students regardless of their academic or behavioral patterns. While teaching in rural Connecticut, it has been my experience that mindfulness is geared toward students who have been labeled with a disability such as Autism Spectrum Disorder or with behavior concerns.
In my current school (in rural CT), it seems like mindfulness practices such as self reflection, deep breathing, and leading with an empathetic mind, is only rolled out and introduced once students have shown that they struggle with behaving at the “norm.” Deep breathing is only really introduced (by special education teachers or social workers) to students who have a tough time dealing with big feelings and their teachers have exhausted all of their classroom management strategies to try and engage a student in distress.
Do you find limitations around the ages of children?
I think every kid can access meditation and mindfulness. I think, especially if using Headspace, kids can find meaning and can engage when the practice is presented to them in a way which holds value to them. We talk in my room about being kind, determined, respectful, safe— talking about these values on a daily basis makes it easy to introduce a specific guided meditation to help ourselves be better at our classroom values. I think it’s also important to remember children are children and they are not going to be perfect at meditation, and we (educators) should not expect them to fully sit still and be perfectly at peace and in their mind focusing on where exactly they feel their breath. There will be some wiggles. It will take practice. But it is all dependent on how the practice is framed for them– if they can reflect on the deeper meaning behind the meditation, then they are getting it. And at this point in the year, they get excited to meditate!
Observations on direct benefits of meditation?
The clearest observation is feeling the vibe switch in my classroom. When things are off, when the kids have lots of pent up energy, or we are being very silly, or are not doing a great job at focusing, you can feel and see that shift immediately. All of a sudden we are better listeners or it’s easier to sit still, or maybe they are kinder with their words. Whatever they were just guided through in meditation practice, there is usually an immediate shift from tenseness to contentedness.
Do you practice meditation yourself?
Yes, but I practice meditation to guide myself toward joy and to better manage anxiety, so practice is much different than what I work on with my kids. I start my day with at least 5 minutes of meditation to put myself in a positive mindset, to remind myself to be kind to myself, to lead with grace and confidence.
Any other thoughts?
I encourage EVERY person to explore practicing meditation and mindfulness. It is so important to listen to yourself, and give space for yourself to just BE!
5/1/23
Music Therapist Abigail D’Arcangelis (Winchester, VA)
Tell me a little about your educational and mindfulness path and how you got there.
Music therapy school teaches “music assisted relaxation”. My internship was in Outpatient Psychiatry so I did a lot of mindfulness practices with them.
What types of meditation have helped you in your life?
Breathing exercises, Metta meditation, dharma talks by mindfulness teachers (Tara Brach, Jack Kornfield, Thich Nhat Hanh). Plenty of resources on YouTube and the Calm app.
Any special trusted resources you use with your residents?
Exercises from Brianna Rose, and Mindful Reminders. In Music Therapy School we learn progressive muscle relaxation, toning and chanting to connect with breath and to relax your body, and we learn to create our own guided meditation scripts. Mindful Shenandoah https://mindfulvalley.com (mindfulness stress-based reduction in Virginia) is a more traditional Buddhist meditation.
In your nursing home experience, are mindfulness practices reserved mostly for one type of resident?
Residents with little to no cognitive impairment. Residents who have specific anxiety needs. Group is more of a wellness approach without self-reporting.
Do you find limitations within your specific community?
Diagnoses. Any kind of breathing with Parkinson’s can make them dizzy. Progressive muscle relaxation is tenuous if they have pain issues.
Observations on direct benefits of meditation?
One resident reported that going to the dentist was anxiety inducing, and her dentist thought she was crazy but chanting helped her get through the experience. Other residents don’t want to leave the room when the meditation is over. They find it easier to meditate in a group while guided, as opposed to self-directed practice. One resident uses techniques for bedtime. I also ask the group to rate themselves individually, how they would rate themsevles on a scale of 1-10 at the beginning and end of the practice. Some residents volunteer information and self-report.
Any other thoughts?
I always tell my residents there are so many different ways to meditate and practice mindfulness. I have a hard time being silent, so I use music or chants to get into my zone. It’s called a practice because you have to keep using it. It;s like the gym- one day you’ll respond to some things and another not…I use sense meditation. Find things that work for you. Mantra meditation, breath meditation, guided meditations. Tempo is around the same rate as a relaxed heartbeat. Sedative music (very little change in dynamics or meter).
4/22/23