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Mindfulness as focused attention and awareness with acceptance is increasingly being promoted and used as a professional development tool for educators to improve their own as well as students’ well-being, stress, and learning climate. Twenty-six K-12 Hawaii teachers and counselors participated in a three-day mindfulness training course as part of a professional development opportunity. Phenomenological, content analyses of educators’ reflections on personal practices revealed feelings of stress associated with classroom/student management and lack of self-care. Reflections also revealed mindfulness practices helping them to become more aware of their unskillful emotional and mental habit patterns, and how to manage stress. Their reflections on implementing three simple mindfulness lesson plans with students revealed favorable perceptions of mindfulness to improve the lives of their students, the ease as well as challenges of incorporating the practices into the classroom, and the enthusiastic adoption and uptake by the students. Research and policy recommendations as well as implications are discussed, particularly as it relates to current challenges and criticisms of secular mindfulness in education.
In this article, we contend that an ancient, contemplative practice called mindfulness, often associated with the Buddhist tradition, shares much resonance with the indigenous wisdom of Aloha, the lifestyle and livelihood of Native Hawaiians.
In this article, we contend that an ancient, contemplative practice called mindfulness, often associated with the Buddhist tradition, shares much resonance with the indigenous wisdom of Aloha, the lifestyle and livelihood of Native Hawaiians. In fact, we propose that mindfulness is one tool and one form of mental energy that facilitates the discovery, recovery, and uncovery of the Aloha response leading to the experiential awareness and embodiment of Aloha. We also discuss how mindfulness in Hawai‘i can nurture individual and collective consciousness to respond with Aloha, thereby recovering the Native Hawaiian spirit on the islands. As they interact with clients and the community, social work practitioners in Hawai‘i can play a key, pivotal role in modeling aloha and encouraging others to engage with aloha.