With these funds I will...

Purchase a book called “Sitting Still Like a Frog” by Eline Snel, a singing bowl, and enroll in a 6-week online course to teach me about mindfulness. I love my job. I mainly teach students who have autism and/or a speech and language impairment.  My students are the best.  They are high energy, active, and witty.  However, they struggle with attention, focus, and concentration.  They are active throughout the day and can hard stay calm and still.  

Being mindful is being in the present; taking away all the “bad energy” (worries, feelings, etc) and focusing on what is happening now.  The book will teach my students how to be mindful and suggest simple exercises to help with being mindful.  It will teach breathing exercises, listening exercises as well as other exercises the students can then take anywhere to practice mindfulness.  The singing bowl will help with listening exercises.  It makes a bell like sound for students to concentrate to.  As I encourage my students to become mindful, I need to build my own mindful practice and learn more about mindfulness.  In the 6-week course on Mindfulness Fundamentals led by mindfulschools.org, I will learn about the basics of mindfulness, “how mindfulness plays in communication and interaction”, techniques and “practices that cultivate positive states of mind like gratitude, kindness, joy, and compassion”, and other fundamentals to begin my own practice.

Sitting Still Like a Frog Book ($11.50): http://www.amazon.com/Sitting-Still-Like-Frog-Mindfulness/dp/1611800587/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1457797541&sr=1-1&keywords=sitting+still+like+a+frog

Singing Bowl ($27): http://www.amazon.com/DharmaObjects-Tibetan-Meditation-Singing-Cushion/dp/B011VSNVXC/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1457797982&sr=8-15&keywords=singing+bowl

6-week Mindfulness Fundamentals Course by mindfulschools.org ($125): http://www.mindfulschools.org/training/mindfulness-fundamentals/

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