Kailey Lefko is a teacher, co-founder of Educalme and co-host of The Balanced Educator Podcast. She helps educators create calm classrooms with Educalme’s ready-to-use resources.
379 Mindfulness for Kids
Kailey Lefko
You have definitely heard or experienced yourself the benefits of mindfulness—better emotional regulation, more calm, and clearer thinking. So what about your kids? Many adults want to share mindfulness for kids but there are definitely some DOs and some DON’Ts. Hunter talks to Kailey Lefko is a teacher, co-founder of Educalme about how we should share mindfulness with kids.
Mindfulness For Kids - Kailey Lefko [379]
Read the Transcript 🡮
*This is an auto-generated transcript*
[00:00:00] Kailey Lefko: The best thing you can do as an adult. Is to teach mindfulness practices, especially Mindful breathing on a routine basis in small little ways when they're already calm.
[00:00:16] Hunter: You are listening to the Mindful Mama Podcast, episode number 379. Today we're talking about mindfulness for kids with Kaylee Leko.
Welcome to the Mindful Mama podcast. Here it's about becoming a less irritable, more joyful parent. At Mindful Mama, we know that you cannot give what you do not have. And when you have calm and peace within, then you can give it to your children. I'm your host, hunter Clark Fields. I help smart, thoughtful parents stay calm so they can have strong, connected relationships with their children.
I've been practicing mindfulness for over 20 years. I'm the crater of Mindful parent. And I'm the author of the best selling book, raising Good Humans, A Mindful Guide to Breaking the Cycle of Reactive Parenting, and Raising Kind Confident Kids. Welcome back, dear listener. So glad to connect with you. If you haven't done so yet, please subscribe so you don't miss any of these amazing episodes.
And if you've gotten some something from this podcast, if you've ever gotten any value from this podcast, please go over to Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave us a rating and. Both places is better. It just helps the podcast grow more. It will take 30 seconds, and I greatly appreciate it in just a moment, I'm going to be sitting down with Kaylee Leko, a teacher and co-founder of EduCom and co-host of the Balanced Educator Podcast.
She helps educators create com classrooms with coms. easy, ready to use resources, and we're gonna talk about the value of mindfulness in the classroom, but also how we can share mindfulness with our kids. And you've definitely heard here about the benefits of mindfulness or maybe you ever ex.
Experiencing them yourself. So you want to share them with your kids, right? Better emotional regulation, more calm, clearer thinking, and we wanna share this, but there are definitely some dos and some don'ts. So we're gonna talk to Kaleigh about the best ways to share mindfulness with kids today.
Join me at the table as I talk to Kaylee Lef. I am looking forward to talking to you, and we're gonna be talking about mindfulness for kids. You've told me that parents overcomplicate it, so we're gonna be working on keeping it simple, but I know that nobody gets into mindfulness for kids. Just, there's always like our own story kind of behind this, so I know that what was it that brought you to mindfulness and what.
[00:02:48] Kailey Lefko: For me I was always that keener kid. Like I loved to do really my whole life. My parents never had to set high expectations for me. I always set highest expectations for myself and wanted to meet those expectations. And I learned when I first started my teaching career that kind of, these expectations I was putting on myself.
Kind of perfectionism mindset wasn't serving me well. It was causing a lot of stress. It was causing anxiety. It was causing me to do a lot of overworking. . And so as I started to recognize that in myself earlier in my career, I started searching for practices that I could do to find a better balance in my life and learn how to manage these emotions and manage the stress.
So through that, I started with yoga and really liked the Physical aspect of that practice, but it was really the mindfulness that I started learning that stuck with me that I really loved. So I dove into my own mindfulness practice and started making it a daily routine. and it was then that I started asking myself this question this practice is so useful.
Why didn't I learn this when I was a kid? Now being a teacher, my next question was how do I teach this to my students? I wish I had learned this growing up in the classroom. It would've. Served me so well throughout all the stages of my life. So how can I make that a reality for the next generation?
And that's where my journey began. .
[00:04:19] Hunter: That's beautiful. So you te for a lot of people struggle to create their own. Meditation practice, their own mindfulness practice. What did it look like for you in the beginning?
[00:04:33] Kailey Lefko: For me, it started off very small. I recognized early on when I was struggling to make it a routine that I was just setting too high of expectations for myself.
I would. Expect to do this hour long morning routine before going and leaving for work. And that just wasn't realistic and I could never stick to it. So I started really small. I started saying, okay, I'm gonna do a one minute mindfulness practice. And I used a meditation app. I had started with the call app, which I really enjoyed because there was a variety of lengths that I could choose from, and it was easy to turn it into a routine using that app.
So that's how I started with a one minute mindfulness practice. And then as I started recognizing the benefits of the practice, then I went, okay, I like this. I'm, it's helping me. It would actually feel great to do five minutes. And then my mind would say, okay yeah, you've got five minutes.
So I would do the five minutes and then eventually . I got really intense into it. I started getting into, different teachers and learning from their offerings and got to a point where I was doing like 45 minute practices in the morning. But that wasn't sustainable , that was in my like, excitement of this new practice and wanting phase.
Yes, exactly. And then after that, I. That wasn't realistic in the long term. So I bounced back to a more consistent, like 10 minute practice, 20 minute practice, depending on the day. And now my practice has evolved to turn into just a quiet morning where I sit and drink my coffee and it isn't complicated.
But then I practice mindfulness in my classroom with my students twice per day. So that's nice too. So I feel like that kind of integrates into my mindfulness practice every day. .
[00:06:21] Hunter: Yeah. Yeah. And did you , I'm psyched to hear that the app was so successful for you that's so accessible and that makes it like accessible for so for many people, did you come across any like obstacles or hiccups?
Did you have the feeling of I. Oh, I can't do this. Did you have that noble failure moment, ?
[00:06:46] Kailey Lefko: Yeah, I definitely had many moments where I would feel that it was all or nothing. If I couldn't do my 45 minute practice, I might as well just not do it at all. And over time I just recognized that wasn't sustainable and it wasn't useful for me.
And at around that time I started getting really interested in learning about habit formation and how our brain forms habit. So I learned this great trick from the power of habit where you just sandwich the new routine you're trying to create between two routines that you already have. So I got into the routine of every morning, I would always brush my teeth when I first woke up, and then I, my next step would be to make my coffee.
So I just started. , waking up, brushing my teeth and then saying, you can't start your coffee until you do your mindfulness practice. And every time your brain says, I don't have time, just reduce the amount of time. If I wanted to do a 10 minute practice, and then I'm like, oh, it's, I'm too rushed this morning.
I slept in a bit too late. I don't have time. Then instead of not doing it, I would say, okay, I'll do five minutes or four minutes, or three minutes or two minutes, whatever it was that my brain would agree, yes, you have time for it, and then only after. Mindfulness practice, would I start making my coffee?
So that, that formula really worked for me and really helped me to just make it part of my day every day.
[00:08:07] Hunter: I love that. I think that's gonna be really helpful for a lot of people. And what were some of the benefits that you saw in your life? You were said you bef, you were stressed before, obviously it was some, there was some help with your stress, but what were those benefits that.
[00:08:23] Kailey Lefko: I definitely found that I was better able to recognize the signs of stress in my body in the past. I would always get to the point of burnout before I even recognize that I was pushing myself too hard. So this daily practice of just. Tuning in and checking in with myself. How am I today? Am I feeling tired?
Am I feeling anxious? Am I feeling, is it hard to sit still or am I falling asleep during this practice? It was just this kind of moment to check in with myself and be like, how are you and how can I support you today? And that really, I feel like has helped me to stop having these super high highs and super low lows and have a bit more like levelness through my kind of emotional changes throughout my life and throughout the seasons of my life.
So that was really beneficial that check-in. Definitely the skills that I was learning for reducing stress. I'm a very empathetic person and so being in a classroom with many students, I find it very hard to not get overwhelmed by the emotion I feel for my students. Like I care for them so deeply that it hurts sometimes, and I have had to learn to find a way to detach and.
Create a separation between, how my students are feeling and then how I'm feeling. And so the mindfulness practice has really helped me to tune into my own emotions, recognize them, recognize when like I'm feeling something that isn't mine, to feel like it's some that's someone else's emotion, or it's the story I'm putting on it that's making me feel too, I don't wanna say too deeply.
I think it's a. Good aspect of my personalities that I care. But it isn't sustainable when I'm always caring too much, if that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's just the emotional intelligence that I've gained from doing this mindfulness practice that has been super beneficial to me in all aspects of my life, in my relationships, in my career, in everything
[00:10:36] Hunter: Yeah, I'd have to agree like this. For me, it was like this equanimity, like I just was like, I used to be really rollercoaster. Like really? I was really upward. I was really down. I would fall into these down. I would feel things so intensely and. , I am much more even keeled and that there's this, there's a freedom in that, like where I'm not being like, pushed and pulled, I'm not like being pulled down a hole in a way that I can't, I can, I have this awareness of Oh, here's that thought, and here's that thing, and it. Then that awareness is just interrupting those down. I just end up interrupting those downward spirals that it used to just take me. Yes.
[00:11:25] Kailey Lefko: I feel that. Yeah. Sorry, . No. It's it's very similar to that. It's like I have this space between, it's almost like I, I can watch my emotional reaction.
And choose to get in that boat or just watch the boat. Float by, and it's that detachment. Whereas before, like you said, I would just feel everything so deeply and now I can watch my feelings, watch my thoughts, watch my reactions, or the way that I am prone to react and give myself a little space to choose a different reaction.
And
[00:11:59] Hunter: Oddly enough, like you've. Feel things more. I find like you talked about, like you would feel things so deeply before. And I think what because I can really relate to what you're saying and what I think, like before I would just, I would also have a lot of resistance to everything I was feeling, so I would be pushing it away and then it would be pulling me and I would be pushing it away. And ironically now, like I feel things more. And sometimes, but it's doesn't, it doesn't like, it's like it's okay, I'm, I can accept that I'm, I can tolerate that, and then it changes and then there's something else.
It's not it, cuz I, I want, I could hear, maybe the listener hearing oh, I, I used to feel things so deeply and it doesn't mean Kaylee and I are like robots now. Unfeeling. Cuz a lot of things I feel even more deeply than before. Yes. Would you agree with that in some ways?
[00:12:55] Kailey Lefko: Yeah, definitely. I definitely know what you're saying. It's like I, yeah, I feel all the feelings and also I can be okay with it. Like one of my main mantras is I'm feeling emotion and that's okay. So like I'm feeling stress. and that's okay. Let's feel this stress. Let's ride this wave. Because I, I.
learned through this practice of self-discovery, self-study that, nothing stays the same for long. I, and it's okay if I'm feeling really tired this week, that's okay. I can feel tired. I'm allowed to have that emotion. I'm allowed to have that feeling in my body. And okay, so what can I do to support myself during this time rather than trying to push against I shouldn't feel tired.
It's wrong to feel tired, or I shouldn't feel. There's something wrong with me if I'm feeling stressed, it's like I feel this emotion. I observe it, I almost study it. I'm okay with it. And I feel all of the emotions with appreciation. .
[00:14:00] Hunter: Yeah. And then it changes. I know, I think the idea that.
I completely understand where you're saying, but I think sometimes the idea that we, we exist in a mode of, I shouldn't feel this. We don't even realize that, we don't even realize the resistance that we have when we're unaware of our sensations, our thoughts and feelings at any given time, because we're always on autopilot and just going, and doing.
We don't even. So for to your listener, like if. Haven't started a meditation practice or mindfulness practice yet. You might be saying I don't do that, but you might be surprised, like you may be like, pushing things away completely unconsciously or completely unconsciously telling yourself the story that I shouldn't be having this feeling and and.
Kind of shaming yourself for having difficult feelings. It happens really often that it's completely unconscious that people are doing
[00:15:08] Kailey Lefko: this. I totally agree, and I would say that it took me a number of years to get to the point where I was conscious of the, of my mind judging myself.
And that only really made sense to me. During my yoga teacher training, this intensive. 200 hour, 30 day training where you are meditating and doing yoga and studying, all hours of all the days, . And there was just this one moment where in one of our classes, my teacher had explained this, recognizing your emotion and then recognizing if you are judging that emotion and how that's just piling more on top of that emotion.
And I was like, oh my gosh, what a revelation. Yes, that's true. I judge. For for my feelings. And so that became a big study for me of just like recognizing when that was the case. But that didn't come right away. It took with, it took time to, to get to that point. And that's the really cool thing about a mindfulness practice is You're never done.
You just keep discovering new layers. And when you think there's no, you're never trying to perfect it. That isn't the goal. It's just this continuous change. As your life changes, as new experiences come up, as different seasons in your life come up, you get to see yourself and your reactions. in different ways and it's cool.
[00:16:34] Hunter: Yeah. That like non-judgmental curiosity. It is cool. . And I'm really glad you pointed out that like the, these things take time. It's not like before and after. Like super simple like that. Yeah. I hope it, sorry if that sounded like that Jared listener. This is awesome. Obviously there's all these unfolding benefits that we've been talking about.
that really unfold over time and over life. But there are benefits that happen really quickly with a mindfulness practice. And this is where we talk about how your work would like how you bring it into school and with kids. So what you bring it into school, you teach it to kids, and what are some of the immediate benefits that happen with kids?
[00:17:19] Kailey Lefko: I think one thing that's really interesting is that I do a lot of teacher training as well, so I ta train teachers on how to teach mindfulness in the classroom and people are always amazed with how. Kids enjoy this practice. I think adults tend to assume that kids won't enjoy it, but they really do and it's amazing how quickly they can tune in.
I think they've developed less layers of resistance as adults have, and so usually the practice. Actually comes a lot easier to them than adults. So definitely within the first practice that I do with students, whether that be in kindergarten or all the way to high school, when I ask them, so what did you notice during that practice?
They all have. And are surprised to explain that they feel calmer or they just enjoyed it or they thought it was cool. When we'll do things like, I'll ask them to just become aware of the sensations in their feet and ask them if they can feel any tingling in their feet. And then they're all so amazed oh, there was tingling in my feet.
I didn't realize that before. How neat is that ? There's this really cool curiosity that kids have and interest, and they dive right into it. It's.
[00:18:41] Hunter: That's awesome. I love that. I wish there was like I wanna bring it to my kids' schools since they're very resistant to learning it from me.
But you say that we as adults, we overcomplicate it. We make it a little harder than it needs to be. So what are some can, maybe you can give us some dos and don't, as it comes to sharing mindfulness practices with kids.
[00:19:05] Kailey Lefko: Yes. I would say the first do and don't is don't expect their practice to look like an adult's practice.
Depending on the age, if they are, four to eight years old, sitting completely still during the practice isn't necessary and isn't really the goal. Our goal is to allow them to listen to the guided practice or do the exercise in a way that makes sense for them. It isn't bad to be moving or fidgeting.
And it's okay if they kind of tune in and out. Adults do that too. It's just less obvious. . So I think the main do with the mindfulness practice is be open to allowing the kid to practice this in a way that makes sense for them. Another big important thing when you're teaching mindfulness to kids at the beginning is to teach it to them when they're already calm.
Oftentimes as adults we see mindfulness as a fix to a problem behavior, or a tantrum or an outburst or a big emotional moment. You see a kid having a meltdown and then as an adult you wanna say, oh, let's just take some deep Mindful breaths. But if they don't have that experience of what a deep Mindful breath feels like, , then they don't know how to do that, especially when their brain is full of emotion.
It's shut off from learning new th things, and it just isn't ready to try that strategy. So the best thing you can do as an adult is to teach mindfulness practices, especially Mindful breathing on a. Routine basis in small little ways when they're already calm. And then once they have integrated those little strategies that you've taught them, then we can start to use them in moments where we're feeling big emotions that are more difficult to manage.
[00:20:58] Hunter: I've definitely made that mistake, just so you know, dear listener, like I lo, I wanna confess all my like challenges, so you know that I'm not perfect either and none of us are. But yeah, I've definitely made that mistake of A kid and a really cha a daughter and a really challenging moment being like, come on, take a deep breath into your belly.
And she's leave me alone .
[00:21:19] Kailey Lefko: Yes. And I made that mistake too when I first, the first time I ever tried teaching mindfulness in my classroom was on a day. I was teaching grade eight that year, and my students came in after recess. And they had this big dramatic thing that happened among their friends group, and everyone was just in this high emotional state.
And my response as a teacher was like, okay, I can't teach until you guys are calm. So let's do an exercise that's gonna calm you down. So man, it took me, Probably 10 minutes just to get them to sit down and then, tried to play an audio for them that just, they're giggling and they weren't into it.
And I learned right there, okay, , this is now it's done. Gotta try different strategies. So I played with so many different strategies and so many different techniques with my students until I found a formula that really worked. Then once I found that formula and it worked so well, I was like, I need to create something that's gonna allow other teachers to do this as easily as I have now.
Now that I've figured out all the what not to do, , I can just give you the ready cooked, here's what
[00:22:23] Hunter: to do. . That's so funny. You just made me remember, like I was a teacher for a couple years, like three years, and I was a, for two years I was a teacher in a high school art room and it was like a tough high school and I brought my bell in of mindfulness.
This was like an, gosh, that was like an. It had to be like 2003 or four . And I had all my high school students sit for 30 seconds of silence before we started every class. And sometimes I was like really annoying and controlling about it cuz I'd be like, okay, we have to start again. But a lot of times it helped, I think, make a delineation.
I, I probably could have done it more skillfully, but Interesting. I had completely forgotten about that whole thing. .
[00:23:10] Kailey Lefko: You definitely started, right? The best way to do a mindfulness practice in a classroom is to start right at the beginning of class. So you're setting the tone for the day.
You're giving students time to settle, to get their brains and bodies ready for learning. So you know, they're also learning that your classroom is a safe space where they can come and they know that they're gonna get to relax for the first couple seconds. You're not gonna be grilling them right away.
So it makes them more. Feel like they want to come to your classroom a little more , so you're definitely on the right track. And also just keeping it simple, just using a bell. It doesn't have to be complicated kids. I think what's really important to understand with mindfulness, especially when you are teaching this to kids, whether that be your child or in a c.
Is that they're not gonna learn it right away. This is a skill that has to be developed over time. So the first practice might not go great, actually it probably won't. So don't be offended if it doesn't. Don't feel like you've failed. If it doesn't that would be like, handing your four-year-old a book and saying, okay, read this.
They don't have the skills yet, so how could they do it on their own? So what you do as a parent or as a teacher, is you practice the reading skills over and over and over, and then one day they can read all on their own. And now they have this skill that takes them through all areas of their life and supports them in everything that they wanna do.
The same is true with mind. If we practice just small, short strategies daily and it becomes part of the daily routine, then they start adopting these strategies. They learn these skills, they learn these mindsets and eventually they start taking that into their own lives. For example, classrooms that use our classroom mindfulness program, we get so.
Cute stories of teachers that got emails from parents saying, my five year old, we were in the car and My, the two kids were fighting and then the one that's in your classroom that's been learning mindfulness stopped and said, let's take, let's do five finger breathing together. And they did Mindful breathing and then everything was good.
Or kids that. Try to teach Mindful breathing strategies to their parents when their parents are feeling big emotions. And these kids just start integrating the, these strategies into their lives. And it's so cool. They'll do, a breathing strategy before their soccer game that they're nervous about or things like that.
, it's a skill that needs to be developed over time and you're not gonna see it overnight. Just as adults, we were saying, there's, there were many levels of things that we learned over time and how the practice has changed over time. . It isn't a night and day solution, but rather a skill that we're
[00:26:05] Hunter: teaching.
Yeah. Like a muscle that we're building. . Let's go into some of the strategies. Mindful F five, finger breathing is something that we teach, as a Mindful in our mindfulness. For kids. Po Bonus in the Mindful Parenting membership. Maybe you can describe it for us
[00:26:25] Kailey Lefko: here.
Yeah, absolutely. So you just place one hand in front of you and with the index finger of the other hand, you'll start at the base where your thumb and wrist meet. And then we're just gonna trace our hand as we breathe deeply and slowly. So inhale, as you trace up your thumb, exhale, trace down the other side.
Inhale, trace up your index finger. Exhale, trace down the other side. Inhale, trace up your next finger. Exhale down the other side. Inhale, trace up your next finger. Exhale down the other side. Inhale, trace up your pinky and exhale down the other side and just pause and notice how you feel.
[00:27:17] Hunter: Thank you Kaylee. I like that one. So how might a parent integrate that into the, into daily life?
[00:27:24] Kailey Lefko: So what you would want to do is see what are, what is a routine that I already have in our daily schedule where. Doing this five finger breathing practice would fit where my child is already calm. And it could also help them to prepare for the next thing on the agenda.
So that could be something like if your child brushes their teeth every morning before leaving for school, maybe right after we breath brush our teeth, we do five finger breathing together. Or maybe. Before breakfast or right after breakfast, or we have our shoes and our jacket on. Let's take five finger breathing before we walk out the door so that we're walking into our day from a place of calm clarity, where we're feeling ready for the day.
But if mornings are hectic for you, . Don't try to put something in there that's gonna make mornings feel more hectic. So maybe a nighttime routine. Exactly. Keep it very simple. Maybe nighttime routine is better. A lot of students that practice mindfulness in the classroom say that they use these strategies before they go to bed to help them fall asleep.
Actually have been surprised to learn how many kids have a hard time falling asleep at night. . So there's lots of kids that use these breathing strategies in their. So if that can be part of the nighttime routine, you tuck your child in and then do a breathing strategy together. Five finger breathing, nice and simple.
Do that every night. And then also it can be really great to just have discussions with your child with how could this breathing strategy help you during your day? When would you use. , would you use this? Is this something that you would use? And getting them to reflect on that and understand how could this be helpful for me?
Also helps them with buy-in. It helps 'em to understand what's the point of doing this? Many kids will just do the practice and feel, they get the point already that it's, they feel calmer now. Okay, I get it. But some kids need a little extra help to understand like, why are you making me sit still and breathe, as I trace my hand.
So if you can get them to articulate in their own words how it can be helpful, really helps with the buy-in.
[00:29:36] Hunter: I love this. I love this. This is all incredibly helpful. Maybe we can do just one more strategy, a simple strategy before we let you go, Kaylee.
[00:29:45] Kailey Lefko: Yeah, definitely. Belly breathing is another strategy that we really like to use with kids.
So you place two hands on your belly and can close your eyes and imagine that you have a balloon in your belly. And as you inhale, try to fill up that belly balloon. As you exhale through your nose, just let it empty. Inhale, try to fill that balloon a little deeper. Exhale. Inhale. Feel your belly pressing against your hands.
Exhale, feel the air leaving your belly. No how you feel. And when you're ready, you can open your eyes.
[00:30:33] Hunter: Beautiful. All right, so very. . Very simple, effective, just bringing us back to the present moment, bringing us a little more awareness. A little pause, a little bit of slowing down that go energy that we have, or even giving us some energy.
We're a little tired, like I am. . Thank you so much, Kaylee. I love this. Is there anything that you would wanna leave parents with as far as what they, a as they maybe start to introduce these practices with their children at home?
[00:31:13] Kailey Lefko: Yeah. As you're starting these practices, if you already have a mindfulness practice, you probably have strategies that you find really works for you.
Don't be afraid to share those with your kids, and if your kids don't jump on right away and they don't love it right away, that's okay. Try again on another day. Try in a different way. I think a lot of times we feel like our feelings get hurt when kids, especially when we're passionate about this thing, if they don't like it too, we're like, but why
But just giving them that space to come to the practice on, in their own way and having discussions with them is really helpful. So if you are listening to an audio together, have a discussion after and just say, what did you notice today? And it can be. , a very great bonding experience to just let them talk about what did they notice during that practice.
And there's no right or wrong answer. Mindfulness is about paying attention to the present moment on purpose with no judgment. So as the adult too, it's really important that we demonstrate that non-judgment. If your child says I didn't like that, I, it was boring, sitting still. Okay, so you felt that was boring.
That's interesting. Yeah. Sometimes sitting still can feel really boring. Thanks for. That's it. Thanks for sharing, or I really liked that. I feel calmer now. Okay. Thanks for. . And if parents would like to have, ready to use audios, we do have a free resource on our website that they can check out.
It's created for the classroom, but you can absolutely use it at home. It's on our website@educom.com. Just sign up for the free trial and you'll get 10 ready to use audios in both English and French. If you have any French speaking listeners, . So that can be a really useful resource as. .
[00:33:05] Hunter: Awesome.
Thank you. Thank you so much. And I know there's definitely some, there's teachers who are listeners and there are people who maybe want their teachers to be doing some mindfulness in their classrooms like me, . So tell people about what EduCom does and obviously it's at educom.com, but tell 'em a little bit about.
What you do?
[00:33:29] Kailey Lefko: Yeah. So with EduCom, we have an online ready to use mindfulness program for the classroom. So a big hurdle for teachers in bringing mindfulness into the classroom is that they just don't feel that they are the expert in mindfulness. And it feels awkward for them to try to teach mindfulness in the classroom if they don't feel like the expert.
So what we do at Edgecom is we remove that barrier and we allow the teacher to learn alongside their students. So we. A whole year worth of ready to use audio. So teachers just have to sign in, press play, and listen to the audio with their students. And then of course, we have a ton of supporting resources to help the two, the teachers to understand how to use this, how to set this up in their classroom, how to make a good routine that's gonna work for them and their students and their teaching style.
And then because we're teachers, we also have a lot of resources that can help you to link what. Learning in those different mindfulness units to your regular teaching curriculum. So this can get integrated into languages, it can get integrated into your science courses, into your health units, things like that.
So we've divided The audio's into different themes. So we have many different themes like, the introduction to mindfulness, and then we have kindness and compassion, and we have the five senses. Gratitude all sorts of different th. Themes. So that works really well for our classroom cuz as teachers we like to, have different themes and units throughout the year.
So students get a very well-rounded social emotional learning and mindfulness experience. From this. It helps to create a calm classroom atmosphere where everyone is ready to learn and to thrive.
[00:35:15] Hunter: So you can do I'm gonna be doing and sharing it with your kids' class, your kids', teachers in classroom if you like.
Kaylee, thank you so much. I think this is such a me, I appreciate your story about your own practice and I love what you've done and I think it's such a, The message that we need is just keep it simple. Practice non-judgment, lower our expectations. Just keep practicing just the way we do with our own practice.
So Awesome. Yeah. So thank you so much for coming on the podcast. I really appreciate
[00:35:46] Kailey Lefko: it. Thank you for having me. It was so great to connect with you and with your audience.
[00:35:54] Hunter: Hey, I hope that you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please do me a favor, share it on your Instagram stories and tag me in it at Mindful Mama Mentor, and yeah, and then you'll get more Mindful Parenting inspiration over there. But listen, I wanna give you a personal update going in the holidays. You may have heard last week, I'm on crutches.
I was on Cru. But I got off my crutches today. Yay. I'm shuffling around, but it's so much better to be able to stand. Oh, it's such a blessing to be able to stand. I'm so happy about that. It's amazing how when it's taken away, that contrast makes you really appreciate simple things like standing.
Goodness. So that's my personal update. I hope you are standing and moving and dancing and I hope you're breathing and resting too as we go into this time. I hope you're taking time for yourself cuz it's the foundation for being the best parent you can be, is just to put own needs at the top of the pyramid of priorities.
Because if you're not taking care of your body, your mind, and your heart, you won't be able to really care for your kids the best you can. So that's from me to you, from my heart. I'm wishing you a great week, my friend. Thank you so much for listening. Give me some feedback. If you have some feedback, we'd love to know.
Tag me on Instagram at Mindful Mama mentor. Send me a DM there, email me at hello Mindful Mama mentor.com. I'd love to hear your feedback and I'm wishing you a great week, my friend. Thank you. Thank you so much for listening. Namaste.
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