Mindfulness and Restorative Practice Circles

Learning Activity

Mindful simply means to notice or observe without judgment.  Mindfulness helps with impulse control, self regulation and communication in a nonviolent solution focused way.

One way to incorporate mindfulness with restorative circles is to guide a mindfulness activity then facilitate a debrief circle where students are able to talk about their experience or what they noticed, thought or felt about the experience. 

Sample scripts to help in facilitating the circle include: 

• Tell me about this experience
• What did you notice (in your body, around the room, etc)
• What thoughts were going through your head as you participated in the mindful activity
• How did it make you feel (before, during, after) the activity. 

For brevity purposes, you may want to preface responses by saying something like: I want to respect the time of circle so please say just enough or keep your response under 30 seconds.

Resources

Mindfulness Teacher Manual: Curriculum and Lesson Plan

This manual created by Mindful Schools, mindfulschools.org, is intended to serve as a guide for facilitating mindful activities with students.  It provides information to help prepare for guiding mindful lessons, including suggestions for routines and language.