Schoolutions – S2 E38: Here's to Whole-School Mindfulness with School Counselor & Mindfulness Director, Christy Lynn Anana
[00:00:00] Olivia: Welcome to Schoolutions, where listening will leave you inspired by solutions to issues you or others you know may be struggling with in the public education system today. I am Olivia Wahl, and I am honored to welcome my guest today, Christy Lynn Anana. Christy is a doctoral candidate at the University of Washington's Educational Leadership L4L Program.
[00:00:26] Olivia: And the Mindfulness Director at Quil Ceda Tulalip Elementary located on the land of the Tulalip Tribes in Washington State, north of Seattle. She has been a yoga teacher for over 14 years and became passionate about body-centered contemplative practices as a pathway to increase her own well-being as well as building educator resiliency.
[00:00:51] Olivia: Christy has published a book series called I Am Healing (she will share about today), and it's also important to note that Christy was named Washington State School Counselor of the Year in 2016. It is my honor to welcome you as a guest on Schoolutions, Christy. Thank you so much. for joining us.
[00:01:10] Christy: Thank you so much. It's an honor to be here, Olivia.
[00:01:13] Olivia: Yeah, and something that I want listeners to have the gift of doing alongside your calming voice is doing some breathing exercises to center our conversation. Can you take us through the three deep breath process that you do that helps me calm down as well?
[00:01:32] Christy: Absolutely, and this is a lovely way to start a parent meeting, a professional development. Anything that might seem tense or not - like you're rushing from the school day into a new thing that you wanna be super present for. We wanna be present all the time.
[00:01:52] Christy: So you can arrive in this space any way you want to, but how I'm gonna do it, and you're welcome to join me, is to notice where your feet are and just feel them on the ground. Just take a moment for yourself and then notice where you're sitting, what parts of the chair are supporting you, or if you're standing, feeling ground underneath you, just lifting you up and then bringing your shoulders back and down from your ears.
[00:02:23] Christy: A gentle lift to the chin and imaginary string pulling you up to the ceiling. And let's just take three deep breaths together. With my first breath, I'm just gonna be with my breath. I don't have to change it. Maybe I feel it in my nose, or my chest, or my belly. And just gently release. My next breath, I'm gonna try and relax my body just a little bit more.
[00:02:52] Christy: Notice any place of tension in my inhalation and through my exhalation, releasing down. And with my third breath, I'm gonna set an intention for our time together to have this lovely conversation that other people will glean something from and offer some healing to educators in this rough time, this rough year that we've completed and plan to rejuvenate over the summer to feel better so that we are whole people, whole educators, and then we give that gift to the people we serve.
[00:03:32] Olivia: Yes.
[00:03:40] Christy: Just notice the difference. See where you could utilize that in your own life.
[00:03:48] Olivia: It's a nice way to pause and to center, and a way I love to begin every conversation is with inspiration. So I'd love to hear who some of the inspiring educators are in your life over the years.
[00:04:04] Christy: The first person that came to mind is someone that we are both very familiar with, and that's Dr. Anthony Craig. You've had him on the podcast as well, and he inspires me on a daily basis. I've watched him grow into the leader that he is today, and when, uh, I first met him, he was a literacy coach, and I was the school counselor.
[00:04:26] Christy: I was with him while he was doing his doctoral work and his research to help bring indigenous knowledges into the school so that kids felt like they could be who they are and be a student. And helping teachers to understand that history and increase their sense of belonging and, uh, and build into that so that we're a community.
[00:04:50] Christy: He's just so inspiring to me. His advocacy for educational justice. So now that he's the University of Washington Educational Leadership L4L Program Director, and I am one of the doctoral students, so I get to spend time with him in that way, in a very different way.
[00:05:10] Christy: And I get to be led by him and how to lead in this very interesting way as a school counselor, which is a bit interesting. I wanna be in a place where my voice is heard in this very compassionate, kind, mindful way, and make that part of what school is about and the context that you serve.
[00:05:32] Olivia: And I would say right now, an issue I want to address and why I wanted you to be a guest is adults and children alike are struggling with connection, and the needs for counseling are higher than ever before. And positions like yours, a Mindfulness Director, are a beautiful solution alongside the organization that you're working with, Whole School Mindfulness, to support public school systems.
[00:06:00] Olivia: So I'm really excited for listeners to get a better understanding of what your role is with this school system, um, and how it impacts the children that you're supporting. So let's begin the conversation. What does your current role as a Mindfulness Director entail?
[00:06:16] Christy: Yeah, absolutely. And just a year ago, I was a school counselor, and I ran into this organization, i's a nonprofit, Whole School Mindfulness. And what they do is they support Mindfulness Directors in public schools. And so they are funding 75% of my position. And some schools, they use other funding to support the rest.
[00:06:43] Christy: For me, it's grants that are funding the rest of me, so I don't impact FTE or anything like that. So that's an exciting model. And each year, Whole School Mindfulness hopes to see that the school sees the benefit through some of the data that we're collecting, that they'll take on more of that financial role, which makes sense.
[00:07:05] Christy: But it's just a lovely way to infuse mindfulness systemically. As a school counselor, I would do all my other jobs and then I could teach a little bit of mindfulness or see where I could fit it in. But with this role, I get to focus completely on building this in. Not that I teach mindfulness a hundred percent of the time. Sometimes I'm just the calm person in the boat.
[00:07:34] Olivia: Yeah.
[00:07:34] Christy: When we're talking about 18 million dollars of budget cuts that need to happen and people are freaking out and, and that makes sense.
[00:07:44] Olivia: And how would you define mindfulness for listeners then?
[00:07:48] Christy: Yeah, I think it's getting in touch with our inner life, and that could take many different turns. It, it could be some mindful breaths, it could be some deep guided imagery visualization. It could be talking about healing strategies that you do when you're having this big storm of emotion. You could do it with kids; adults go through those storms of emotions.
[00:08:12] Christy: We'll do a guided meditation a little bit later. But I do offer some staff mindfulness classes where we go deep into mindfulness. I do that once a week, and then I also do a couple times a week just a, a grounding before the day. Come and join me, and we’ll ground ourselves so that the rest of our day goes really well.
[00:08:35] Christy: I go into classrooms and sometimes I have a plan, and sometimes that plan is for K-2, it's like Rainbow Dance, which is this beautiful system of attunement attachment, working with a parachute and these songs and guided movements, and that is through Boston Children's Foundation. I learned about that a few years ago and ran those groups with the whole classroom, and they're so excited to do that.
[00:09:02] Christy: Then they feel the sense of belonging and attachment to the adults in the room, and, uh, they just feel really engaged and happy. Sometimes I do a little bit of guided, mindful movement with kids, and that helps them to release stuff that's stuck in their body and blockages and so that they can focus on the day.
[00:09:20] Christy: Sometimes it's a transition, like after they come back from recess or lunch, and they're kind of in need to let go what happened on the playground and get back into a little bit of learning. So I, I do all of those things, and then sometimes I do some individual coaching with adults that are having a rough time or have ideas and questions about how kids are behaving and what they can do.
[00:09:47] Christy: So I'm, I'm happy to bring in my counseling skills into whatever people need. With fifth graders, it's been really fun because I've done some design thinking lessons with them and giving them the project. How do we spread mindfulness to our whole school? You've practiced it for a little bit. There's other kids who haven't tried it out yet.
[00:10:09] Christy: What do you think would be helpful for them to know, and how can you, as the big kids, the leaders of our school, the Siab, how can you guide the little ones to help them realize that they don't have to be so frenetic or lost in thought or feeling like they're stuck in this traumatic memory. What can we do to be here right now and notice the good things that are happening?
[00:10:35] Christy: So that has been fun to give that job to the fifth graders. That's indigenous knowledge, to have generational learning be put with them. And sometimes, it seems like right now, people are too busy to even do a little bit of mindfulness. So what I've done is I've expanded and, uh, done some YouTube videos myself, some TikToks, believe it or not.
[00:10:59] Christy: And uh, Dr. Bruce Perry says that it only takes 90 seconds to get back into regulation, and so 90 seconds of just breathing with me on a TikTok will do the trick.
[00:11:12] Olivia: I've watched your videos, and I've gotta tell you, even since we began our conversation, going through those three breaths and pausing, it completely calibrated, and my whole body feels calmer. I always get so excited to have conversations with brilliant people like yourself. And yet it riddles me with anxiety at the same time because I just, I want the conversation to elicit everything it can.
[00:11:39] Olivia: So that idea of mindfulness is, imperative. I love that your role is not just limited to working with children. That you are there to support the whole community. I think that's a critical facet, that it's okay to acknowledge if you need support on any given day, whether you're an adult or you're a child.
[00:12:03] Olivia: I also really appreciate the idea of autonomy and agency. That you're offering not only those fifth graders as being mentors and guides for the younger children, but that model transcends. And so the third graders will experience that and want to support the kindergartners. So that idea of fostering this amongst the children, um, I think it's powerful.
[00:12:29] Olivia: I do. Also spreading your voice and your messages through your beautiful book series called I Am Healing. So I'd love for listeners to know a little bit more about the books within that series and your intent.
[00:12:43] Christy: Yes, I'm really excited to be able to share beyond individual school, and I've had some great feedback from folks when they've been able to have these books in their presence. The I Am Healing series came about, um, when I felt like my toolkit as a school counselor was incomplete. I would have a child come in, and they would be stuck in a traumatic memory.
[00:13:10] Christy: They would tell me these stories, tragic things that they weren't ready to be in their classroom learning, which is where they needed to be. And you know, as a compassionate person, you wanna listen. Oh, then what happened after that? And how did you feel with that? And you take up a lot of time in hearing the story again and again.
[00:13:31] Christy: And I wondered if that was useful to tell the story over and over again without an idea of how to help you feel better. So my first book is, I Can Feel Better, and it's a tapping story. And what this utilizes Emotional Freedom Technique and traditional Chinese medicine. They believe that our energy flows on rivers that they call meridians.
[00:13:53] Christy: And when we're feeling good, it's because the river is flowing, and there's no blockages. But when we feel bad, there's a blockage in the river somewhere. It could be emotional. It could be physical. It could be a combination. But by tapping on these acupressure, acupuncture points, this basic system that I'm teaching with kids, Then you unloosen some of those blockages so that your river starts to flow. And you not only tap, but you say these affirmations where you're affirming that you feel this way and you accept that you feel this way.
[00:14:28] Christy: And someone might be going; why would I accept that I feel terrible?
[00:14:32] Olivia: Yeah.
[00:14:32] Christy: And we stay stuck because we don't accept it. That we go, we wanna resist like: Oh no, I'm, I'm okay. Or, you know, it's not really that bad. Um, but if we talk about it and we accept it and we, you know, we listen to ourselves, and we love ourselves, I tell kids, you've gotta love yourself.
[00:14:52] Olivia: Yeah.
[00:14:52] Christy: One technique that will change your life is if every time you wash your hands and brush your teeth, you look in your eyes, and you say: Olivia, I love you. I really, really love you. Do that every time you're looking in the mirror. Anytime and you do it for 30 days, and you will change how you feel about yourself.
[00:15:14] Olivia: I'll give it a go.
[00:15:15] Christy: So this- Yes, please do! And share it with everyone. I, I did that with my young daughters, and I even wrote on their mirror; if you take dry-erase marker and you write on mirror, it will come right off and won't stay forever. Um, but I wrote their names like Eden, I love you. I really, really love you and Isabelle, I love you, I really, really love you.
[00:15:35] Christy: To remind them, make sure you say this every time you look in the mirror. Then the next morning I saw in my mirror: Mom, I love you. I really, really love you.
[00:15:47] Olivia: Oh, good on you, mama.
[00:15:52] Christy: I can't bear to clean my mirror because it just is like…
[00:15:57] Olivia: No! You think you should have said Sharpie at this point. Because I don't think I'd ever wanna take that off. No dry erase here. Oh, that's beautiful. Gosh. Wow. Um, what other books are in your series as well?
[00:16:09] Christy: Last year I added to, uh, the I Am Healing series, A Safe Place. And so this book is about really feeling your feelings and doing a little bit of guided EMDR. So it's asking kids to look at something on the left side of the room and on the right and do that a few times to center themselves, and then it guides them on a way to think about a safe place in nature that they could create in their brain.
[00:16:39] Christy: What does it smell like? What do you hear? What's the temperature like? Is there wind? Is there sun? And then you guide into this little house. It could be a beach house, it could be a log cabin, and you see the color of the door, and you go in, and there's someone there that is really familiar to you, a safe person. And they give you some snacks and then you tell them what's going on and you listen to their good words, and then it's time to leave.
[00:17:07] Christy: But then, you know, you can always come back to this space whenever you need to. And so that is a lovely book. And I had a first-grade teacher who said: Okay, guys, everyone take out a piece of paper. Draw your safe place. It was such a beautiful extended activity.
[00:17:25] Olivia: Yeah.
[00:17:25] Christy: And then they wrote about it, and they used those sensory words to really make it real. And it was amazing what they came up with. Such detail. And then they said things like, I think my dad needs a safe place. I think I wanna tell him about this so that he can feel better too. And it was like, oh.
[00:17:47] Olivia: That's big, that's big. And I know even people experiencing treatments like cancer treatments, they often, before they go in, If it's an MRI that's traumatic, they're often told to go to a safe place. So what you're offering is a technique, not just for someone that's experienced past trauma, but for someone that needs to go into that meditative state.
[00:18:12] Olivia: The idea of that safe place is incredibly valuable.
[00:18:16] Christy: There's so much that can be done with it that I'm always surprised and happy to know where people could go: Hey, this book could be used for this too.
[00:18:26] Olivia: Yeah. Yeah, it absolutely could. And would you define, I think, it was ENDR? What does that mean?
[00:18:33] Christy: EMDR, so that is eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. So that is, uh, a technique that was invented by Dr. Francine Shapiro. She was a psychologist and, and she was in her car with this very strong emotion. And it was raining in her car, and the windshield wipers were going back and forth and back and forth.
[00:18:55] Christy: And she noticed that when she was watching intensely, and her eyes were moving back and forth while she was still thinking that tough emotion. It started to loosen, and it started to make her feel better, and that's how it began. And then there was lots of research and things like that. I became EMDR certified after there was a tragedy in our school district.
[00:19:19] Christy: And it was so helpful. Like EFT, the emotional freedom techniques, that is like a country road that will take you out of the blockage, out of the stuck emotion, and it will get you there. EMDR is like 3:00 AM on the highway.
[00:19:38] Olivia: Got it.
[00:19:38] Christy: It just. It takes you away from that big feeling and installs instead, this future template of, I can feel better.
[00:19:48] Christy: I don't have to live with this. This is a thought. This was a story. This is done, and I've got so much left. And it gives hope to, to people who've gone through really tough things. I've used it personally, and I've seen it happen that the healing is dramatic and swift, and really beautiful.
[00:20:10] Olivia: Something I have thought about for years because Anthony, Dr. Anthony Craig, but Anthony to me is a really close friend, and something he taught me a long time ago is around circling up. I feel like in a lot of schools I see children being “othered” or removed from a situation if they're struggling with big emotions.
[00:20:33] Olivia: And I picture Anthony's face in my mind saying, Nope, this is not what we need to do. Some children obviously do need space, but I think about that notion of circling up in tribal communities, you know, giving that person the support and space to just experience the emotions and name them, um, but know that we're walking alongside you.
[00:20:58] Olivia: And I feel like so much of what you're talking about, it pertains to the classroom setting of how can we start the school year off with the tone that if someone is experiencing a traumatic memory or just a big emotion, how can we circle up around that person to support them in the way that they need?
[00:21:21] Olivia: So what can you offer teachers when it comes to tips for a child or a member of their community that's struggling right in that actual moment? You've mentioned a couple different techniques. Anything else?
[00:21:33] Christy: Olivia, that's beautiful. And it, it makes me feel more secure in the books. The book series is a way to, to read it to kids, to give everybody strategies, and with the climate and the culture that you create as a teacher, that is about safety. Kids will tell you things and they'll tell the class things, and then we'll know them better.
[00:21:59] Christy: And it's okay to have these big feelings because, you know what? By you telling us how you're feeling, I remember a time I felt that way too, and I had a rough time with it. So these books are tools to help kids feel better in the classroom in the setting that they exist. And so the third book that just came out is called Waves of Emotions.
[00:22:21] Christy: Which builds on that understanding that we all have this superpower within us, this awareness. And this guiding system of our body that when we've got a tightness in our throat. You ever felt that? Like that's right before you cry, you feel that tight feeling in your throat, like kids are going uhhuh, yeah.
[00:22:40] Christy: I feel that sometimes too. Or if you feel like there's butterflies in your stomach, well, that's a clue you might be excited or maybe worried. And you can explore that. And then that guides them on a little journey where they are in a boat, and it's a very sturdy boat, and they feel very safe in this boat.
[00:22:58] Christy: And there's creatures up above and wind that they don't feel alone. And then there's a rainbow that kind of guides them to a place where they can dock. And uh, then there's another little safe place for them to enter into and get some guidance and someone that's familiar to them. And then they can come back. And come back to their place and feel their feet on the ground and take some deep breaths and use that breath whenever they need to help themselves feel better.
[00:23:25] Christy: And as I read this to classrooms, and it's amazing they, whether they're kindergartners or fourth graders haven't made it to the fifth grade yet with this book. But it's like they get really calm and they like: Oh yeah, this is something we can do together. So teachers can do this. It's also a tool for counselors if, you know, sometimes they don't know where to start with a child who is anxious, and this could be a starting place.
[00:23:55] Christy: Could be for a family that they're struggling with: Why is my child acting differently right now? What's happening? They're not talking about it. But maybe if we start talking about what's going on in their body when they're going to school, that anxiety has popped up; let’s talk about that and what we can do to help them feel a little bit better. The fourth book in the series is A Guide for Lonely Kids.
[00:24:21] Christy: And this was the book I needed when I was a kid, and it's helping them understand it gives them 11 ways to feel better. And so I'm excited to to share that too. And there's more on its way. I just keep waiting for them to pop up.
[00:24:38] Olivia: Well, and I adore that you use not only your own experiences, but the gaps in the school counseling system to create books that can help foster awareness and take children on their own path of mindfulness. So this series I Am Healing, it's just a brilliant solution in itself alongside your work. And you've shared some favorite moments of your work supporting children in schools and with teachers.
[00:25:05] Olivia: Any other memories or favorite moments of supporting families? Because your work goes beyond the walls of the school building.
[00:25:13] Christy: Yeah, it is an honor to be with families at their deepest, darkest times.
[00:25:21] Olivia: Mm-hmm.
[00:25:22] Christy: And, um, I've attended more funerals than I'd like to tell you. And I appreciate the indigenous way of, of honoring the lost ones at funerals, where by grieving with them, by attending, you're doing the work too, and you're supporting the families.
[00:25:48] Christy: So as I've done that over and over again, it, it's an honor. It really truly is. And then to see them, life goes on, there is recovery, there's life after this unimaginable thing that happened.
[00:26:07] Olivia: Mm-hmm.
[00:26:07] Christy: And um, yeah, that brings me a lot of hope and joy to know that I can be part of that work. And to have that trust, which took a lot of time to develop. Um, yeah, that's what I can say.
[00:26:25] Olivia: Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's important for listeners to also understand the difference between mindfulness work and school counseling because you have many other accreditations at this point, beyond the school counselor that you've done on your own and navigated. So how would you define that difference for listeners?
[00:26:47] Christy: Yeah. Um, it gets pretty mixed up right now, honestly, but, yeah, there is a difference, and I'm Nationally Board Certified, so there's a lot of colonized ways that I had to jump through hoops to do this. And our state is doing some interesting things to make sure that school counselors are spending like at least 80% of our time doing direct service work.
[00:27:13] Christy: Which I think is good intention, but there's also lots of things that get put on a school counselor's plate that aren't so productive and aren't exactly what I get excited about when it comes to healing and being there, uh, as a compassionate listener, cultivating children's own healing abilities, family's own healing abilities.
[00:27:42] Christy: That's what gets me up in the morning. Some of the other things of facilitating meetings is a little hard. But I do it because, or I did do it when that was my role. Because I mean, you are with people, and you're doing your best to help people feel comfortable talking about tough things and trying to advocate for students.
[00:28:02] Christy: And the system sort of pokes its way in and says: No, you can't do that. That costs money. And I'm like, but we're here for kids. Right? So, I think that's the rub. When the system is overpowering and trying to make it more challenging to do the things that you know are right by kids.
[00:28:24] Olivia: Yeah, and I would also say right now, teachers, in general, are leaving the profession. It's for many different reasons, but I think a huge reason is respect, and there's a level of exhaustion, and I worry so much as well about school counselors and support folks in buildings that are changing buildings because they're exhausted and, um, it's just, it's such an important job.
[00:28:52] Olivia: So I'm thrilled that Whole School Mindfulness is offering a kind of out of the box solution to providing this work. But is there also a school counselor in the role at Quil Ceda Tulalip Elementary?
[00:29:08] Christy: Yeah. There was a really unique situation, so I was at Tulalip Elementary as their school counselor, and then there was a school counselor at Quil Ceda Elementary, and I think at some point they were like: Oh, let's combine 'em, and then we can get rid of one of these positions. And then nope, that wasn't gonna work because the needs really required two school counselors and so that that is how it still is and still needs to be.
[00:29:34] Christy: Every day as a school counselor, it's like a gift, cuz you never know what it's gonna be. It's also like a Kobayashi Maru, which I don't know if you're a Star Trek fan, but it's like this conundrum that is impossible to solve and you're gonna fail. It's just Kobayashi Maru. You’re gonna fail. But Kirk, you know the league guy, he cheats, and then he solves the problem, and he wins.
[00:29:59] Christy: He's a win-win situation. So, every day was like, how do I win-win this situation because it's, uh, impossible to, to win this.
[00:30:10] Olivia: So your role now as a Mindfulness Director, you work alongside the school counselors?
[00:30:17] Christy: Yes. So, uh, the school counselors are bound by the district to do the lessons that they need to, and have to run the meetings that they need to, and they split it up in an equitable kind of way. And I'm not bound by the district, which is sort of like a very new thing. And so when I see a need, then I just go for it.
[00:30:43] Christy: Um, I, I try not to step on toes, you know…
[00:31:06] Olivia: Yeah.
[00:31:06] Christy: …all of that. But there's gifts within both of them and the ways that they interact with kids and what they get to do. But sometimes, you know, there are some unique gifts that I'm able to share, and then I get pulled in, and I'm happy to do that as well.
[00:31:06] Olivia: It's wonderful, and I think it's also important for listeners to understand statistic-wise, um, what you have seen with trends, with families needing support and counseling over the last five years, I would say; Definitely since the pandemic ensued. But what statistics can you offer listeners? Because the more school counselors, the more Mindfulness Directors, I think the better off will be in general to create better human beings in the public school system.
[00:31:34] Christy: Absolutely. The developmental gaps that have occurred during the pandemic and developmental gaps, you know, kids were without being with one another for a couple of years consistently. And you don't just go: let's go back to normal. It's gonna take intentional teaching, and my phone would go off the hook with parents, families, just: What's going on? My kid is having a panic attack.
[00:32:02] Christy: We're hearing about that in third and fourth grade. I had never heard of that to that extent prior to pandemic. And then teachers are forced to get those test scores back up. You know, for a second, for a second, we started to go, oh, SEL and mental health is really important.
[00:32:22] Christy: And that made me so hopeful. Like, oh yeah, finally, here we go. And that lasted not very long. And then it was back to: Let's talk about academics and pushing forward, and why aren't these test scores up to standard and, and on and on. And then the pressure goes on the teacher to get it back. And we have to do some intentional, guided learning together, feeling like we belong, getting back into the culture of a classroom.
[00:32:53] Christy: Having these pro-social behavior supports for not just the kids, but for the teachers too; For the educators, because they suffered too. You know, I had two really important people in my life pass away during COVID time. And I'm still dealing with that, you know? And everyone has those stories, right?
[00:33:16] Olivia: Yeah.
[00:33:16] Christy: Where they've lost somebody, and then they couldn't grieve it because we couldn't be together, and the stories are endless, and we're not - we didn't have a chance to tell anyone we were alone in all of this. And so that's my hope with The Guide For Lonely Kids. That book is to help people feel not so alone in all of it. And remember that it takes time. We have to rest.
[00:33:45] Christy: There's a great new book: Tricia Hersey, Rest is Resistance. And Capitalism wants us to just get back on the horse and ride as fast as we can, and we have to take this time. We have to rest, and it's gonna take as long as it's gonna take. And if we push it the way we have been pushing it, we're gonna drive everybody out. It's not gonna be good.
[00:34:07] Olivia: No, I guess the irony to me is I, I go back to March of 2020, and I think about teachers were revered and had to step up in ways that many had never had to navigate before, especially with technology, but just trying to meet the needs of children in that remote way. And how so quickly, as you said, the tides turned back to testing, academics, and Sam Bennett has this beautiful visual model around engagement.
[00:34:40] Olivia: And so often when we think engagement in a school setting, we think of kids actively being involved in their learning. And yet Sam has three circles that are all interconnected, and one of them is behavioral engagement. One of them is emotional engagement, and one of them is also cognitive engagement.
[00:35:01] Olivia: But without all three being connected at that center heart, children are not able to be active and own their learning journey. And we also confuse (thanks to Sam's tutelage), the idea of behavioral engagement and compliance. That's not what I'm looking for when we say behavioral; I don't need a child to sit and comply.
[00:35:27] Olivia: I want children that express themselves. But I think it's important to pause, and as you and I speak to a call to action, a huge call to action is also to define what does it mean to be engaged with ourself. And so then we can take in what's happening around us in a productive way. So you've mentioned several resources.
[00:35:54] Olivia: I'm so excited to link in the show notes. What call to action would you offer listeners when it comes to supporting school counselors and the mindfulness work?
[00:36:03] Christy: Right! I think advocating and letting them know that they're important parts of our community and making sure that they feel like they're being supported too. It's not an easy position to be in. And I always felt, uh, like my community backed me up, and that was huge. So we appreciate it. We're out here, too, doing the work.
[00:36:28] Christy: Sometimes during teacher appreciation week, teachers are getting all these things and I'm like, oh, that's okay. But when I get like a note from a kid, I'm like, oh, this is good. This is good stuff.
[00:36:38] Olivia: Yeah. It is good stuff.
[00:36:39] Olivia: It is. So, I know you mentioned as well your TikTok account as well as YouTube. What's the best way for listeners to find you and get in touch with your resources?
[00:36:51] Christy: Yeah, those are great ways. I also have a website. It's my name christylynnanana.com. And yeah, I'm dipping my toe in the water to see if maybe other schools or districts would be interested in some mindfulness coaching. And how could you get started? You could also look at Whole School Mindfulness and see if that would be the place where you could, you know, get a Mindfulness Director of your own.
[00:37:15] Olivia: Wonderful. Well, Christy, it's been a gift to have you as a guest.
[00:37:18] Christy: Yeah. Should we do some mindfulness?
[00:37:20] Olivia: I think we should. I think we need to wrap with some mindfulness, so lead us through it. Thank you.
[00:37:25] Christy: Okay, let's do it. And again, thank you for letting me be here with you, Olivia. And share these resources and support and listening and compassion. Let's come together once again and just be where you are. Whatever feels good to you, you're feeling the ground underneath you, and you're feeling any parts of your body, that are supported.
[00:37:52] Christy: And you're drawing your attention to your shoulders, bringing them out and down, and feeling a sense of relaxation. And the intention of the practice that we're gonna do is to offer a practice to notice thoughts. And bring a normalcy to the constant deluge of thoughts. Be able to separate yourself from thoughts when there's chaos around us as there is for us in education.
[00:38:22] Christy: And my hope is this meditation, this mindfulness time, will also become a book. So you can think if that would, what kind of visualizations you come up with as we do this work together. As you settle in, and you can decide if you wanna close your eyes, unless you're listening on the road, then don't close your eyes.
[00:38:42] Olivia: Don't close them.
[00:38:44] Christy: Just be, uh, aware, um, but if you can close your eyes, go for it. As you settle in, imagine a storm is just passed through. That feeling of quiet all around you. And the air is clear.
[00:39:07] Christy: You feel a light breeze and you feel like you can have a good real rest where you can feel calm and peaceful
[00:39:23] Christy: And notice any places in your body that feel tension.
[00:39:32] Christy: Maybe your neck or your shoulders or where you're sitting. And let's put our full attention on our breath. Notice the air coming into your nose and make your exhalation long as you release your shoulders down from your ears. And doing it again, breathing in and breathing out with a sigh, letting go.
[00:40:09] Christy: And always in a third movement just to make sure everything is out. Breathing in and letting go with a sign.
[00:40:21] Christy: Notice your feet where they're touching the ground. And imagine you can hear the sound of water
[00:40:33] Christy: And you can see yourself sitting next to a gentle flowing stream. And there's so many leaves that have fallen from the storm. And you decide to sit on a small pile and look at all the leaves moving swiftly in the water.
[00:40:56] Christy: Our minds can feel like there's a storm inside. There's so many thoughts.
[00:41:06] Christy: And so when you notice a thought pop up, imagine placing that thought on a leaf and let it float downstream until you can no longer see it.
[00:41:23] Christy: Keep doing this with each thought. It doesn't even have to be a difficult thought, just anything that comes to mind. Place it on a leaf and let it float on by, outta sight.
[00:41:47] Christy: Maybe one of those leaves gets hung up on some rocks. Thoughts do that sometimes. They get hung up, and they wanna hang out for a while.
[00:42:03] Christy: That's okay. Let's wait a bit. Breathe in and then let it go. The leaf will get nudged along soon enough and drift on downstream, outta sight. And let's stay here a while.
[00:42:32] Christy: Keep putting the thoughts on. The leaves are floating on by.
[00:42:46] Christy: Notice how you feel knowing you can use this strategy anytime you wanna let go. When you have so many feelings and thoughts filling up your brain, just find a leaf and let it float on downstream.
[00:43:10] Christy: And maybe you feel like you have this big storm of emotions and thoughts. It's such a big storm. It feels like a tornado or a hurricane. And a hurricane has these massively strong spinning winds. But the center of a hurricane is where you find calm from the storm. It can be like that for you. All around you are strong feelings and thoughts and sensations, but you can find the center in your eye.
[00:43:55] Christy: You can center yourself in your eye.
[00:44:03] Christy: How do you connect with your eye? By breathing in and breathing out and staying in connection with your breath. And if thoughts, try to push in, as thoughts do, know that you're not your thoughts. Just observe the thought like you would watch the wind. You're not the wind, and you're not your thoughts. Put your thought on a leaf and let it float downstream outta sight.
[00:44:46] Christy: Stay in your eye, breathing with curiosity.
[00:44:57] Christy: And we're doing this work together.
[00:45:03] Christy: You're not alone in this. We all feel this hurricane all around us, but we found our eye.
[00:45:24] Christy: Notice how this feels. Knowing you can come back, and you can come back as often as you need to.
[00:45:47] Christy: And gently wiggling your fingers and your toes.
[00:45:58] Christy: When you feel ready, give yourself a little stretch, opening up your eyes, feeling all the good feelings that come with getting your body some rest, some calm, and sharing your calm with others.
[00:46:25] Christy: How you doing, Olivia?
[00:46:27] Olivia: I feel very calm, very relaxed, and I think this is a perfect way to send listeners off into summer, and I plan on rewinding both the beginning meditation for myself and listening to it often as well as the guided meditation you just took us through, because I need to experience that again. And I think that's what we all need permission to do, to just take space and time to let our bodies and our minds rest.
[00:46:58] Olivia: And so we'll be ready to take on the challenges that are around the corner of the next school year. Christy, I can't thank you enough for your wisdom for your charge to put these healing resources in the hands of our public school teachers and children, and just thank you for your important work.
[00:47:20] Christy: Thank you so much, Olivia. Thank you for finding me and, uh, bringing it to more people. I just wanna help get these looks into the hands of children and families and schools to, to, um, serve out my purpose of helping people to heal.
[00:47:39] Olivia: Well, you're certainly doing that tenfold. Thank you, Christy. Take care.
[00:47:44] Christy: Thank you. You too.
[00:47:48] Olivia: Schoolutions is a podcast created, produced, and edited by me, Olivia Wahl. Special thanks to my guest, Christy Anana. Thanks to my older son Benjamin, who created the music that's playing in the background. If you like Schoolutions, please share, rate, review, and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @schoolutionspodcast.
[00:48:09] Olivia: Although this is our last episode of Season Two, look for season three to release in September of 2023 and our expansion to YouTube and TikTok. Happy Summer, and I will look forward to continue finding inspiration together in the new school year. Take care.