I promised in my IVE commission over December 2022 – January 2023 to share my findings on my website, so here we are. I originally applied for the commission because over the past few years I have noticed a trend within all my children’s sessions, regardless of the age or ability, that mental health has a real impact on young people’s approach to the sessions. I always start my sessions asking for a word for how they feel – recurrent words I received being tired, stressed, bad, ‘ngh’ or just a shake of the head. Naturally others were more positive, but the negative/unhappy words outweighed the positive on most occasions across most age groups. More often than not they cited mental health as a reason for participating in the sessions alongside the expected reasons to have fun, make friends and learn new skills. As we as a society become increasingly aware of the importance of mental health I wanted to explore ways to embed mental health and mindfulness within my physical teaching practice and support the learning of my participants.
What did I do with the commission?
My commission aimed to research how to embed mindfulness and mental health into my movement / dance teaching for children and young people. This activity was broken down into four strands:
- Meeting with artists who already embed mental health or mindfulness into their movement practice
- Time to read and research about mindfulness, breath and mental health to figure out how I can practically apply this to my teaching.
- Buying resources including books, blankets, colouring pencils and pens, and colouring books.
- Test bedding mindfulness, relaxation and meditation ideas within my youth groups and evaluating with them how it made them feel.
Meeting with Artists:
This was perhaps the most valuable out of my initial research phase, as allowed me to discuss and share ideas, activities, research, experiences and resources with three other artists working in my field. I walked away with lots of practical ideas that I could physically embed in to my work, as well as feeling nourished and reaffirmed as an artist.
I did originally intend to meet with four artists, but due to illness this didn’t happen. The artists I invited: Isla Hurst, Rosemary Spencer and Charlotte Jones, all have a wealth of experience working within varied forms of movement and draw on meditation, mindfulness, yin yoga and play to inform their practices as well as a particular interest in working with children and young people or are a mother themselves.
Aside from the fact we were there to assist me with my research commission, I genuinely enjoyed sharing and holding space with fellow artists. If I had more time and energy, facilitating a peer space like this would be something I would love to offer on a more regular basis as the opportunity to unload, be heard and to listen was so so valuable.,
Feedback from the artists who attended:
“I genuinely had a really good time at the get together. We had some lovely discussions on supporting students with mindfulness, but what I didn’t expect, and what I really appreciated was how the discussion led to us exploring how we can support ourselves and each other as teachers through this practice. I would love for these get togethers to be a regular thing!”
Isla Hurst
“This was a great time to connect with local artists and share experiences. From all the bits that work well, and not so well, for us during sessions. Sharing our curiosities, ideas, and challenges. Creating a local support network. It’s so important for our own mental health, well-being, and artistic practice to remember we are not alone as independent artists. Thank you so much for creating this time and space Char!”
Charlotte Jones
“The artist get together was a really valuable space to share not only knowledge and expertise, but also difficulties and concerns. During the meeting I felt safe to share and heard. I came away with some book titles to delve into, activities for my teaching practice and my own self care. I also felt affirmed in my own practice and inspired to invest in it further.”
Rosemary Spencer
Research:
My first route was to dive into books on mindfulness, breathing and play to inform my research. These books were a balance between lived experience, instructional, and science driven that I felt gave me a good preliminary overview to start my physical research in the “studio”.
Books I read in full or referenced during my commission:
10 Mindful Minutes
– Goldie Hawn
21 Breaths: Breathing Techniques to Change Your lIfe
– Olvier James
How To Be An Explorer Of The World
– Keri Smith
Mindfulness
– Dr Patrizia Collard
Mindfulness for Children
– Sarah Rudell Beach
Yoga for Kids
– Susannah Hoffman
Resources:
With the commissioning fund, I bought 20 blankets, colouring pencils, felt tip pens and colouring books and a variety of books for self-directed research.
Activities:
Formed from my research and the artist discussion I came up with the following tasks and exercises that I could easily embed into my sessions:
- Setting intentions at the beginning of the class
- Affirmations (e.g I am kind, I am intelligent, I am creative) at the beginning of the class
- Mindful breathing (beginning and end of the class)
- Yoga sun salutations
- Mindful seeing and listening
- Mindful walking
- Body scans and relaxations
- Writing and drawing as reflection
These were tested with the following groups: Hillcrest Primary School (Early Years Aged 3-6), LB Academy Performing Arts Classes (Aged 6 – 16), Cookridge Primary School (Year 5), NSCD Youth Technique (12 – 18)
Feedback from students:
The mindfulness I liked best was…
“the body scan because it calmed me.”
“when we did the body scan because it helped me know how I felt when I didn’t know”
“soothing music whilst focusing on breath”
“the isolation where I focus on myself”
“the breathing while laying down #relaxwithchar”
“I slept better and loved the breathing”
“blanket burrito with lavender smell”
Reflections moving forwards:
In my opinion the most successful activities were:
- Relaxation with the blankets and lavender oil
- Mindful breathing exercises
- Setting intentions
- Reflecting afterwards
Moving forwards from the commission, I now bookend classes/workshops with a check in, setting intention and a form of mindfulness whether that’s seeing, listening or moving, and finish the class with breathing and or relaxation.
The commission also allowed me to invest in resources that would have been costly for me as an independent artist to buy upfront. The blankets in particular were popular with my students, aiding relaxation and can be reused over and over again to support other students. Additionally, the books I invested in had multiple practical tasks of which I haven’t the chance to try all of them, and gives me more ideas to try in the future.
Finally, the commission opened up the space to talk more candidly with my students. I built rapport, learnt things about them and also had others confide in me when they hadn’t previously. They now request to do activities that we did during the research project, and they’ve also practiced at home which speaks volumes of the impact.
If you’d like to know more about the commission, my research findings or have a chat about embedding mindfulness into your teaching please get in touch here.
Charlotte Arnold 