Genius Breaks: How to Bring Mindfulness, Movement and Compassion into Your Classroom

Abstract

BRIEF SESSION DESCRIPTION:

Genius Breaks (Carmack, 2017) are mini-breaks of mindfulness, movement and meaning (self-compassion) that can be practiced in home, office or school settings. Developed over the past 10 years by the author/presenter of this workshop, Genius Breaks have been practiced in over 30 states by over 100 teachers in classrooms, and in workplaces in 89 countries (Carmack, 2012).à In this mini-workshop, practitioners will learn how they can easily practice Genius Breaks to improve student learning, using Carmackââ¬â¢s mindful movement vitamin protocol and chakras of communication framework. Attendees will leave the session knowing how to practice Genius Breaks and how to lead them to others as a Mentor-- in their workplaces, courses, or homes.

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FULL ABSTRACT:

Genius Breaks (Carmack, 2017) are mini-breaks of mindfulness, movement and meaning (self-compassion) that can be practiced in home, office or school settings. Developed over the past 10 years by the author/presenter of this workshop, Genius Breaks have been practiced in over 30 states by over 100 teachers in classrooms, and in workplaces in 89 countries (Carmack, 2012).à In this mini-workshop, practitioners will learn how they can easily practice Genius Breaks to increase student learning, using Carmackââ¬â¢s mindful movement vitamin protocol and chakras of communication framework. Attendees will leave the session knowing how to practice Genius Breaks and how to lead them to others as a Mentor-- in their workplaces, schools, or homes. This workshop has been presented at other conferences internationally; it would be great to share the same successful frameworks 'at home' here at Mason.

à

This session is appropriate for this conference theme, because we need new strategies for connecting our minds, bodies and hearts in our Digital world. We also need ways to promote physical activity (movement) and stress reduction (mindfulness) to students who have "busy minds" today from living and studying in a digital culture. We also need to share strategies for expressing compassion to self and others; the Genius Break model is different than normal "mindful movement' techniques such as yoga because it adds this promotion of "meaning" (positive self-talk; compassion; narrative improvement) and links this to the mindful movement.