Resources for Mindfulness

My Dissertation

I BREATHE THE WORDS: Childhood Mindfulness in Daily Life, a Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study”

Click to read my dissertation online

Episode 4 of the Mindful Sports Podcast featured me.

Mindfulness with Children – In this episode, Sam talks with Dr.Joanie Terrizzi, who recently completed a research study exploring children’s experience with mindfulness in their daily lives.”

Listen on the Mindful Sports Podcast website

A student of mine explains the layout of his brain and the benefits of mindful breathing for memory and concentration.

Click on the image to open in a box by itself

How mindfulness improves testing days for me — and for my students

Last week, when I asked fourth and fifth graders at my school how they felt when they thought about the test, they responded, “stressed,” “pressured,” “anxious,” “angry,” “butterflies in my stomach,” “fear of the unknown,” and “really, really, really, really nervous.”

So I was grateful that we were about to engage in mindfulness — the evidence-based practice that has helped me access calm, resilience, and joy during the hectic work day. I first came to mindfulness out of curiosity, and immediately noticed a drastic decrease in my own stress levels. After undergoing a yearlong training with the organization Mindful Schools, I started bringing the practices to my students. Three years ago, I adapted the practices specifically for state testing for the first time.

Research suggests that students who practice mindfulness show increases in attention, focus, and emotional regulation — all of which can be elusive in our frenetic world. A few years ago, my library was filled with students reacting to the large space and the absence of their regular teacher by running and screaming. After integrating mindfulness, I would see kids draped quietly over chairs, with their faces, minds, and imaginations lost in books. The same students (from the same challenging backgrounds) have more learning-ready brains that it is clear they are putting to use. I have transferred to a new school this year, and have been delighted to see the impacts of mindfulness on my new students.

(read the rest of this article)

Joanie Terrizzi

Chalkbeat.org Article