Mindful activities have been shown to have preventative and reparative properties.  We can use regular mindful activities to help our brains stay in a mindful (cool, calm, collected) state and we can use mindful activities to help our brains return to cool, calm, collected states if/when triggered. Mindfulness can lower the levels of cortisol and adrenaline in the body and reset the brain into balance.

The students are learning they have the most power in the “pause”(space) between the negative event that occurred with an accompanying negative feeling (e.g.,  didn’t get a turn on the swings at recess so feeling frustrated) and their response to it (e.g., throw a fit; dwell on being mad about it; thinking about some problem solving options for next recess to get a turn on the swing, etc.).  In order to exercise the best response, one must be using the Pre-Frontal Cortex and not staying stuck in the amygdala being reactive.  Mindful activities can fill that pause (space) and help re-engage the PFC.