This month is racing by and April showers are bringing lots of April flowers. The students in the Inner Strength classes are getting antsy, staring out the windows and wishing they could be outside rather than in school buildings all day. Perfectly understandable!
We bid a fond farewell to Charmayne Thompson, our Associate Director, as she moves on to start her own ambitious entrepreneurial venture, and we welcome our new Associate Director & Program Manager Alyson Showell LaPorta (profile coming next month!) We've been graced with great staff and are looking forward to this new phase, new talents, new expansions.
The very first Inner Strength Teen Leaders cohort has been doing exceptionally well. I got to see them in action on a site visit, and was truly impressed by how authentically and originally they were able to speak about what they are learning with their mindfulness practices, what it means to them to be able to share these tools and lead their friends, and how it has changed their experience of high school. Very inspiring.
We are also cooking up a new Inner Strength app, which will enable students to stay in touch after they finish the 12-week program, allow them to chat with each other, and receive meditations and love & kindness reminders on their phones. Look for our article on this next month. And keep your eye out for the email inviting corporate sponsorship. We are opening up the app for special co-branding.
If you want to get ahead of the crowd and find out how you can co-brand and have our new app "powered by YOUR COMPANY" email me right away.
Enjoy the Spring, keep your spirits high, there are small bits of magic and happiness in every day, keep your focus there. The more we notice the things that make us happy, the more we allow ourselves to experience the wonder of being alive (which helps strengthen us through all the inevitable challenges). Enjoy!
Warm regards, Amy
First Teen MindFulness Leaders
Program
Through the dedicated work of Julie Coopersmith and Debbie Wigrizer, the first Teen Mindfulness Leaders program was launched at Bodine High School this year. Seven students made the time in their schedule to commit to "staffing" the Sanctuary Room for other students once a week during their lunch periods. They help their peers practice calm and self awareness exercises, and become familiar with self-care and self discovery tools. Students come in on their lunch breaks to practice and "chill." As Lexa, one teen leader said, I like doing the exercises myself and I like leading my friends.
On their own initiative, the teen leaders asked their classroom teachers if, prior to a test, they could lead stress reduction meditations to support focus and calm and help all students could do their best. In a competitive school, these kids are learning that shared effort helps everyone do their best.
Do you run a Pennsylvania Business?
Would you like to bring more teen mindfulness programs to schools and receive a generous tax credit for doing so? Contact us hereand we will share the details.
DECOMMISSIONING WHITENESS
A 6-month reflection for Inner Strength Instructors
This month we completed the first ISF Instructor inquiry program on decommissioning white privilege. This six-month journey was a powerful, illuminating, and often humbling experience as our Inner Strength instructors who identify as white leaned into the societal and personal structures of racial privilege and its impact.
Facilitated by Prof. Jonathan Miller-Lane of Middlebury College, a deep contemplative practitioner, Aikido teacher, and passionate engager in this work, we met for two weekends, by video conference, and engaged in our own reflections. Working with passages from several books including these two seminal works, we leaned in to ideas, beliefs, expectations, triggers, and somatic reactions that revealed the inequities and effects of the assumptions of white privilege that we have absorbed through culture. A critical and ongoing exploration, we are already planning the continuation for next year.
CONSCIOUS CLASSROOM Monthly webinar
April 18
The Dynamics of Calm
Calm doesn’t always look “quiet.” Quiet isn’t always calm. Calm doesn’t always look still. Stillness isn’t always calm. Learn more about how to create authentic calm, ease of being, and openness in your classroom. Learn how to identify when your students are benefitting from that experience of calm and when their quietness or stillness is more a sign of apathy, lethargy, or disengagement. Mindfulness promotes alert attentiveness, curiosity or interest in life, warmth and a caring connectedness. As always, we’ll do some practices to experience calm and to promote calm in the classroom.
On April 27 from 1 - 3 PM, ISF Founder Amy Edelstein will participate in a panel discussion about implementing mindfulness programs in school settings.
Lovett Library, 6945 Germantown Ave. Phila, PA 19119
Registration is free and open to the public. We look forward to answering your questions at the panel!
My friend, colleague, and neighbor Gail Silver just released this beautiful children's book Mindful Bea & the Worry Tree on managing anxiety. This week is launch, support her wonderful work by ordering your copy!
Thank You Councilman Squilla
For your support of Inner Strength Classes at Howard Furness High School.
Every school has its own character. This neighborhood High Schools hosts students from 27 countries, speaking 20 different languages. From Burmese to Tibetan to Pashtang to Chinese, Croatian, and Spanish, students are learning how to center themselves and find inner stability in the midst of an often chaotic experience. The kids are grateful for your support!
