ACTION RESEARCH AT OSWEGO MIDDLE SCHOOL

BYSEAN CLARKE

CAROLE LLOYDROSH MISHRA

EDU 525Attention & Intention

HeartMath

What is HeartMath? HeartMath’s Mission Statement

The mission of the Heart Math Institute is to help people bring their physical, mental and emotional systems into balanced alignment with their heart’s intuitive guidance. This unfolds the path for becoming heart-empowered

individuals who choose the way of love, which they demonstrate through compassionate care for the well-being of themselves, others and Planet Earth.

Who did we meet? David Parisian

Visiting Assistant Professor at SUNY-Oswego and HeartMath Coach

HeartMath & Our Experiences

Global Coherence at a Glance The growing awareness of the unification and mindful understanding of human

intentions and interactions. Heart Rate Variance Monitor

What does it do? Sympathetic: increases heart rate Parasympathetic: decreases heart rate By monitoring the autonomic nervous system, both the sympathetic and

parasympathetic, it looks to create a balance in the beat to beat of the heart, so that every beat is similar.

Our HRV Results The coherence or relaxation response, moving to green, increases as

Mindful/Focus breathing increased; it moves to red the higher the cortical stress activity (TEST ANXIETY).

Sean remained red, even while looking at photo of his beautiful child on his phone.

Carole fluctuated from red to green as she increased her mindful breathing. Rosh remained at green even after arguing about politics, because she

remained focused on her mindful breathing.

Sean: Classroom First Impression of Mindful Breathing

Breathing works. Stopping is bad.

Very excited, it was fun and students seem to be curious yet cautious.

Initially there was a lot of buy in, but as time went on, fewer students remained interested.

With that said, most students participated at all times.

Population of students included both the 7th and the 8th graders on the OMS West Team.

Collected pre-post data of student's feelings before and after engaging in mindful breathing exercise.

Carole: Classroom First Impression of Mindful Breathing

Students’ first impressions of the mindful breathing was a curiosity of what was to take place.

7th graders were more responsive to the mindfulness concept than the 8th graders.

Most 7th graders participated wholeheartedly with the exercises as well as liked to lead the exercise and data collection.

Rosh: Classroom First Impression of Mindful Breathing

Students were excited about participating because I had spoken with them about the benefits of the growth of their brain and the reduction of their stress and anxiety, as well as possibly increasing the quality of their sleep.

Only did this beginning of my three sections of 8th graders.After the first week, I asked for volunteers to lead the

breathing exercises. The class voted on what breathing techniques were practiced from Daniel’s book.

Every breathing practice ended with Bee Breath to ensure some level of consistency, regardless of who was leading the class.

I was excited, both as a science educator and Yoga instructor.

Sean, Carole, & RoshMethods of Data Collection

Method 1 The SENTEO system seemed to be more cumbersome than it was worth

and it was taking too much class time to do an exercise that really shouldn’t take more than five minutes.

Method 2 (Sean & Carole) or Pre, post emotional feedback scale We put the smiley faces on the chalk board as a means to collect data.

This was so much quicker. We asked the students to put their heads down and close their eyes and

vote by raising his or her hand one of three option: Positive, Negative, or Neutral in terms of feelings.

We practiced our various breathing styles and focusing on our breath. Anchor Breathing was the technique used mostly. Most, if not all, the

students participated and it was quick. We can also feel the difference in the classroom, a calmness.

Method 3 (Sean & Rosh) Journal entries were taken throughout the time period data was collected.

Rosh: Methods of Data Collection

Anecdotal Evidence Only the 8th graders were consistent receiving time

at the start of class to engage in mindful breathing using Daniel Rechtschaffen’s book as well as yoga breathing for seven school weeks.

Collected anecdotal remarks from students who used the breathing to resolve conflicts outside of school and inside the classroom.

Collected ten different student experiences using mindful breathing techniques to help them with stressors in their lives.

Sean, Carole, RoshIntroduction of Mindfulness

Introducing Mindful Breathing to the Students Spider-Man Breathing Anchor Breathing Kung-Fu Panda Breathing Mindful Listening Imaginary Candle Visualization Barracuda Breathing Alligator Breathing Bee Breathing

Sean: Observations of Students’ Reactions

I started the students with a mindfulness exercise at the beginning of class.

I only did this with the sections 8-12 and 8-11 initially and then eventually did the mindful breathing with all of my students.

Both sections seemed somewhat curious about what mindfulness is and why we are doing it.

Many students were hesitant to try the deep breathing and our team anticipated this, so we started with exercises suggested by Daniel Rechtschaffen's in the book The Way of the Mindful Education.

(Please refer to the attached journal for the student data of pre and post feelings feedback)

Carole: Observations of Students’ Reactions

I monitored and observed all five sections of my 7th and 8th grade classes.

I surveyed my students’ states of mind before and after mindful exercises.

The 8th graders, although older, did not take the mindfulness experiment as seriously as the 7th graders.

Data collection statistics were not always consistent as I believe the students thought it was more fun to prove the statistics wrong. However, visually, I could observe that the atmosphere of the

classroom was calmer. (See attached Data Collection)

Rosh: Observations of Students’ Reactions

Students reported that they felt calmer at the beginning of class after participating in the breathing exercise.

This reported calmness was due to the students’ perception of focusing on his or her breathing.

The students became very engaged with their breath after learning much about the science and the physiology of their breathing.

Students asked many questions about proper breathing and its importance in stress reduction, health, and longevity.

Sean: Personal Experiences

At the time, my wife was seven months pregnant with our second child.

Tricia sprained her ankle and was in a lot of pain.

She began to cry and feel contractions. Needless to say, her stress levels just hit

critical overload! There wasn’t much I could do, until I

remembered our Lamaze classes and HeartMath mindfulness breathing techniques.

In short, she is okay.

Carole: Personal Experiences

Breathing exercises (deep, slow, relaxed breathing) lowers blood pressure. I developed high blood pressure when I started teaching. I went to give blood during my first year of teaching high school math. When they took my blood pressure, it was something like 158/95. I never had it before that.

I learned one method of lowering blood pressure was by relaxed, deep breathing. I proved that it worked by taking my blood pressure before breathing, and after, at the grocery store blood pressure machines.

I also saw the results when I was placed on the heart rate variances (HRV) monitor with Dr. Parisian. I had a stressful day at school. I was apprehensive of getting on the monitor, so started deep breathing. My results were much more relaxed than I anticipated seeing.

Rosh: Personal Experience

I attended Mindfulness in Education Conference through Omega institute in New York City to learn from Rechtschaffen and other educators how and why to use breathing techniques in the classroom.

I also attended the Yoga In Schools Symposium at Kripalu Institute for extraordinary living. I spent time with the premier researchers from Harvard, Brown, and other universities on how and why to use Pranayama breathing for increased student engagement, reduction in anxiety, and overall happiness.

Sean: Thoughts & Conclusions

Sometimes, when I have thoughts, they lead me to conclusions.

Mindfulness seemed to be an effective tool for classroom management.

It helped to establish a learning environment that was calm and free of tension.

It seemed that only about 50% of the students retained his or her engagement of the exercises. Many lost interest even though previously they were benefiting from the practice.

(Please refer to the attached Excel document for the student data of pre and post feelings feedback)

Carole: Thoughts & Conclusions

I have realized that focused breathing and thinking positively can help me to develop better clarity and attention to detail.

I predict that starting mindfulness activities early in the year could be more beneficial to my students.

It would be a better predictor of data if we had begun with these activities.

Middle School students this year did not buy into the concepts as well as I would have liked.

7th graders were more receptive (than 8th graders) in authentically participating with more bona fide results.

Rosh: Thoughts & Conclusions

I was over the moon with joy in being able to share the experiences and benefits of mindfulness with my students and my colleagues.

I would love to see mindfulness used as part of the health and wellness policies in public schools.

Mindfulness is a tool that will serve them well for the entirety of their lives.

Bibliography

"Mission and Vision - HeartMath Institute." HeartMath Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015. [https://www.heartmath.org/about-us/hmi-mission]

Rechtschaffen, Daniel J. The Way of Mindful Education: Cultivating Well-being in Teachers and Students. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.