Mindfulness in the law classroom - part 1

A level and BTEC law students are a stress ridden bunch. Its usually only a few month in to their qualifications that they start to feel the full weight of exactly what it is they are doing and as they get further through it only gets worse. These qualifications will have a very real impact on their future prospects. They realise that two marks one way or the other in an exam really can make the difference between securing that prized solicitors training contract and going to the job centre.

As a teacher I know that students need to be taking their studies seriously from day one but, at the same time, I am wracked with guilt about the impact this has on their lives. I feel very responsible that they feel the pressure in such an acute way and so I decided that I had to build in to lessons some coping techniques to help them deal with the stress of being a student in an increasingly competitive world.

Mindfulness

I know I'm a little late to the party with the idea of mindfulness meditation in class but it took me a while to understand enough about how mindfulness works to know how to incorporate it into my teaching. The college employs a fantastic student support worker called Anastasia who came and taught my A2 students and myself in a full length session and this was the overview of what she told us. I'm still reflecting on exactly what we were told but the overwhelming take away for me was that we have to do something with this.

The theme of the session was the assertion that feeling overwhelmed with stress is not a fore-drawn conclusion and we do have a choice. To illustrate this Anastasia first of all she showed us this video below with details all of the horrible things that stress does to your body.

Anastasia then went on to explain the concept of 'neuroplasticity' which is a recent discovered ability for the human brain to change and adapt over time. Our brains are not fixed and we have the ability to train our brain in the same way that we build and sculpt our bodies through exercise. Essentially, the more anxious we become and the more we worry about things the better we become at worrying, but we can train our brains to worry less by practicing mindfulness. The video below shows the impact of mindfulness on our brains.

The session plenary was a five minute guided mindfulness meditation which is focusing on breathing in order to try to prevent being bombarded with constant sporadic thoughts. The aim is to reduce the feelings of stress by letting go of all other thoughts and just focus on the 'now'. It is easier said than done.

I was so proud of my learners because they all gave it a go, whether or not they bought in to the idea. I have to admit that, although I closed my eyes and stayed still I listened to the students the whole way through but I didn't hear a single noise from them. At about 4 minutes in I had a look around and they all had their eyes closed and were perfectly still.  I don't think I've ever been so proud of them.

The best part about the session was feedback I received from students afterwards. I had several students tell me that, for a few moments at least, they felt really at peace and in the 'now' for the first time in months. They achieved a momentary escape from the stress they usually feels. This was enough to make me a convert and over the next few weeks I'm going to make a plan as to how to embed these practices further into my teaching.