“I said ‘You’ll get it next time.MindUP for Life, the signature program of the Goldie Hawn Foundation, announced today the launch of MindUP for Life Digital - an interactive online learning platform bringing MindUP's evidence-based mental fitness program to children, families, educators, senior-leaders, and adults nationwide. “In P.E., I was playing football, and then someone dropped passes,” he said. Jack Weiss took one that said “cheer someone up.” How did he do it? Students take a Post-it from the door, and after they perform the deed, crumple it up and toss it in a clear receptacle hanging from the wall in the hall. In a creative exercise to encourage such behavior, Infusio covered the door in multicolored Post-its, each scrawled with doing something nice, such as “give your mom a hug” or “walk away from gossip.” “Because the prefrontal cortex makes decisions, but when you’re not calm your amygdala is actively taking over your entire brain,” Alicia said, referring to the portion of the brain responsible for processing emotional reactions.Īccording to MindUP methodology, research shows that the brain also releases dopamine when people perform acts of kindness. A hand shot up and she called on a girl named Alicia. “Why do you make better decisions when you are calm?” she asked the class. “That’s a nice practice to do also, especially if you’re kind of bummed.”īecause it was the last day of class - the second semester begins Monday - Infusio also moderated a discussion recapping the highlights of what was learned. “When we focus on the happy memory, we get a little boost of dopamine, which is a feel-good neurotransmitter,” she said. For instance, Infusio encourages the class to think happy thoughts for reasons that are surprisingly clinical. The class spends a fair amount of time discussing the science of the brain. ![]() “But you can choose to be optimistic, empathetic or compassionate.” “We tend to think that whether we are optimistic or not - that that’s just the way we are,” said Patricia Escalante, superintendent of the Hermosa Beach City School District. In a sense, it’s centered on the premise that people can learn to be better adjusted and happy. (Manhattan Beach Unified discontinued its MindUP program this year.) ![]() Locally, the training was provided to a behavioral health coordinator with the Beach Cities Health District, who in turn has trained teachers in the Hermosa and Redondo Beach school districts. It has since expanded to the older grades in Hermosa, as well as to Redondo Beach’s eight elementary schools and a middle school, Parras.īilled as a research-based program, MindUP is a an initiative of the Goldie Hawn Foundation, which trains teachers in the methodology. The MindUP program has had a presence in Hermosa Beach’s elementary schools since 2011, when a pilot version was launched for grades kindergarten through second grade. “But it’s when we practice in times that it’s difficult that it really makes us get better at that focus - on ourselves, rather than external distractions.” “We sort of know that they are watching us, they’re taking pictures, and so it’s very hard to not let all of our thoughts totally take over,” she said. ![]() For two full minutes, the students sat still and focused on their breathing.ĭuring this exercise, the room grew so silent that the click of the shutter on a photographer’s camera was conspicuous.Īfterward, Infusio led the students on a matter-of-fact discussion of how it felt to do the exercise with two visitors present - all for the purpose of gaining an awareness of their own thoughts and feelings. On Friday, Erin Infusio’s class at Hermosa Valley School began as it always does - with the ding of a digital chime that gradually faded into silence. In many ways, it is about trying to get kids to think about the present in an environment where everybody else is telling them to think about the future.
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