I believe the outdoors has so much to offer for taking care of our mental/emotional well being, and so I was curious about different ways I can bring my class outside to practise mindfulness. I also thought I would try them out for myself to see if they are something that would be beneficial. I will list three different ideas below and the reasons why I think they would be beneficial to incorporate in the classroom. Although I am only choosing three that stand out to me, there are many ideas out there for brining mindfulness outside so I will also make sure to include additional resources I find that I would also be interested in taking ideas from.

1. Sit Spot: In my Field Experience Seminar class, each morning we have been meeting at the outdoor classroom and participating in an activity called “sit spot.” For 10-15 minutes we find a place within the trees that feels comfortable and away from people. During this time with a journal that is just for us to see we sit and reflect/write on what we are experiencing in that moment. For example, we think of our senses (what we see, what we are feeling, what we are hearing ext…), sometimes our teachers will give us ideas about what we might want to think about/write about while we are sitting. After the 10 minutes is over a bell in gently rang and we all come back together in a circle and share (sharing is optional) what we have reflected and thought about in our journals. I really like this activity because it gives you 15 minutes of time for yourself and time to be by yourself which is something many of us don’t often get. I think too, it would be really beneficial for students who need space and alone time, even if they didn’t participate in journaling their thoughts, they at least have some time to themselves to think about something else other than what may be going on in their outside of school life.

2. Taking a walk with your senses. I found this idea on a website called mindbodyalign “14 ways to take your mindfulness practise outside. The intention of this mindfulness activity is to choose one sense and only focus on that one sense during your walk (taste, small, sight, tough ext…). During the walk there would be no music or talking as your main focus is to think of that once sense. During Spring I love walking because I always love the smell of the beautiful flowers, it makes me so happy and I see it as a sign that summer is coming around the corner. I think next time I go for a walk I will focus on what I smell in October vs what I smell in Spring. I believe walking is both good for ones physical and mental health, and going for a quiet walk focussing on something you don’t typically focus on and thinking of the moment your living in is overall beneficial for feeling grounded and finding that balance. Below I have put the website I found this activity from, they also have 13 other outdoor mindfulness activity ideas.

https://mindbodyalign.com/14-ways-to-take-your-mindfulness-practice-outside/

3. Finding shapes in the clouds: take your class outside (in the summertime when the ground is dry) have students spread themselves out so they don’t get distracted by their classmates and lie down on the ground and watch the clouds in the sky for 10-15 minutes. Get them to find at least three shapes and when they are done draw these shapes in their journal and describe what the saw. I like this activity because once again for 10-15 minutes the students get some alone time. Additionally, this can be a way to integrate art with Literacy/Language and have them practise mindfulness at the same time! I found this idea on a website called Pathway 2 Success “18 Mindful Activities for Outdoors.”

https://www.thepathway2success.com/18-mindfulness-activities-for-outdoors/

Feature image by Trevor Pye on Unsplash