SHOW NOTES – Interview with Janet Etty-Leal

EPISODE 4, SERIES 1

Mindfulness in Education with Janet Etty-Leal

About Janet:

Janet is an author, speaker and Mindfulness Educator. Her consultancy, Meditation Capsules has provided Mindful life-skill programs for organizations in Victoria, interstate and overseas. She has worked across a diverse range of sectors; including education, health, the corporate sector, sport and community wellbeing. Janet’s key focus is to bring Mindfulness to life in Education, with heart, mind and hands-on practices. Her creative Mindful Meditation programs have enhanced curriculum for thousands of students from ELC to Year 12. In 2010 she published Meditation Capsules: A Mindfulness Program for Children. Studies based on this Program have been undertaken by Masters/PhD candidates in Universities in W.A., S.A., Victoria, New Zealand, Hong Kong, the US and Puerto Rico. In 2015 Janet developed Primary and Secondary Nature- Based Mindfulness curriculum for ‘Cool Australia’/ ‘Planet Ark’. Janet’s new book: A Head-Heart Start for Life: Creative Mindful Discoveries for Young Children was published in April 2018. Janet is Secretary of the Board of the Meditation Association of Australia and a member of the ‘Confluence’ Committee with the University of Divinity, which aims to promote dialogue between Meditation traditions.

Key information:

• Practical ways to engage school communities with wellbeing and mindfulness practices.
• How can stories such as Alice in Wonderland or the Wizard of Oz be used in mindfulness classes?
• What age should you start teaching mindfulness practices?
• Teaching mindfulness in a religious school.
• What is the relationship with mindfulness and religion?
• How to engage with a new group of students that may be apprehensive about a new teacher and lesson structure.
• What to avoid when teaching mindfulness.

Episode Content:

00:00 – Introduction and welcome
02:16 – What inspired Janet to begin her work in mindfulness education?
04:15 – What is Janet’s professional background?
04:39 – What advice does Janet have for teachers?
10:13 – How does Janet use stories and metaphors in her lessons?
12:05 – Janet’s insights on mindfulness from working in religious schools
14:44 – When is the best time to introduce young people to mindfulness?
17:50 – Using Alice in Wonderland in Janet’s lessons
21:36 – Using the Yellow Brick Road lesson prop
22:59 – What are some of Janet’s observations of the impacts and benefits of mindfulness classes?
27:30 – What are some of the things that have worked when training teachers to engage in mindfulness with their students
30:05 – How does Janet approach mindfulness with students that are affected by trauma?
31:57 – What are Janet’s thoughts on breathing exercises and the way that mindfulness is usually taught in schools?
33:27 – What advice does Janet have for teachers who work with secondary students on how to get them to engage with mindfulness?
35:47 – What advice does Janet have for schools who aren’t able to fully implement an all-in approach to their mindfulness program?
38:10 – An example of one of Janet’s lessons involving visual props that the students make.
40:45 – Where can people find out more about what Janet does?
42:23 – Where would Janet suggest that educators start with mindfulness if they’re at the beginning of their journey?
43:57 – Wrap-up and farewell

Episode Resources:

• Meditation Capsules
• Meditation Capsules: A Mindfulness Program for Children
• A Head-Heart Start for Life: Creative Mindful Discoveries for Young Children
• Life with Full Attention: A Practical Course in Mindfulness by Maitreyabandhu 

Thank you for listening!

Thanks for joining us for Series 1 of The Positive Education Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review.

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