Episode #8 Season 2 Embracing Mindfulness with Dr. Montminy

Unlock the secrets to a more mindful and effective teaching practice with insights from Dr. Peter Montminy, a renowned clinical psychologist and mindfulness instructor. Together, we explore the mounting emotional challenges faced by children in today's high-speed, tech-driven world and how this impacts teachers. Dr. Montminy shares practical strategies to cope with the chronic stress plaguing educators and students alike. Through self-regulation techniques and mindful practices, discover how you can create a balanced and nurturing environment that truly supports learning and emotional well-being.

In our conversation, we highlight the transformative power of self-regulation and co-regulation for both educators and students. These tools can help you manage classroom disruptions and stress more effectively. With Dr. Montminy's guidance, learn to incorporate a simple yet powerful "reset minute" into daily routines, enhancing focus and calm in any educational setting. Prioritizing self-care is not just about personal well-being; it’s about fostering a legacy of resilience and calm that benefits future generations. Join us and embrace mindful practices that can revolutionize educational environments, ensuring both students and teachers thrive.

Thanks for listening!

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:19

This is Wellness for Educators, episode 8. You need to be well to teach well. That is the motto, seeking a healthy balance. You matter, and so does your health. There is life beyond the classroom. This is Wellness, wednesday, january 8, 2025. Wellness for Educators Lori Maxfield, your host.

Speaker 1 0:42

This is a new calendar year. Usually, this is the time of year that most of the world is making New Year's resolutions and trying to make changes in their lives. As educators, the start of our school year is really when we often try to begin again with a clean slate, but it is nice to honor the new calendar year with adjustments to our own health as well. It is a great honor that I have Dr Peter Montminy here with me today. He has a wealth of knowledge and experiences to share.

Speaker 1 1:12

Dr Peter Montminy is a licensed clinical psychologist and certified mindfulness instructor who's dedicated his 30-year career to the emotional well-being of children and adolescents. For many years, he served as a clinical professor at Penn State University, as the founding director of Mid-State Centers for Child Development and as an international guiding teacher with Mindful Schools. Now he provides mental health consultations to families and schools throughout Pennsylvania and beyond. In his private practice, dr Mamini has treated thousands of youths dealing with a wide variety of life challenges. As a professional speaker, he's trained thousands of parents and teachers in mindfulness-based solutions for children's emotional and behavioral problems.

Speaker 1 2:04

Personally, peter has enjoyed nearly 40 years of being married to his wife, mary, raising their four children and now spoiling their grandchildren in the woods of central Pennsylvania. Dr Peter's motto is restore some sanity to humanity, one child at a time. I know you will thoroughly enjoy the conversation with Dr Montminy today. Dr Peter, welcome. Well, thank you for having me, lori, we're so glad that you're here. Can you share a little bit about your current role with children and parents at the Mindful Village, sure?

Speaker 2 2:41

In my private practice I see children school-aged children, grades K through 12, and their parents to help them with the whole range of stressful conditions in their lives that may be leading to some emotional or behavioral difficulties, and really coach them up on how to manage the stress and manage their own emotions and behaviors more successfully, whether it's at home or school or elsewhere in life.

Speaker 1 3:06

Over the past few years, have you noticed changes in the children of today? If so, do you think technology may have played a role in this change?

Speaker 2 3:18

I do. Certainly there has been a change over the years and we're seeing chronic and, quite frankly, toxic levels of stress in children and in parents and teachers as well, and I think technology has speeded up the pace of life. Very simply, there's many different ways to talk about this, but its impact on children, the digital information age there's constant demands, constant sensory stimulation coming in at all times, and this really has us, just like our nervous system, literally on edge more and the content of the information that's coming at them over and over again, the social media diet that they're digesting as a bigger portion of their daily life experience, is a whole lot of either overly perfectionistic you know, people putting the best of their lives out there and then kids and many adults to feeling like they don't measure up or there's certainly cyber bullying in the darker corners of the web and a lot of really nasty stuff that's coming out with kids nowadays, where they you know you use. There's always been bullying, right, teasing and bullying in school and in life.

Speaker 2 4:29

But you could go home and in your bedroom at night. You get away from it. Right now, you go home and in your bedroom at night, you're deluged with it even more and there's no respite from it. So it's that constant toxic pace that I think is really challenging.

Practicing Mindful Self-Regulation in Education

Speaker 1 4:45

We believe these possible changes in children directly impacts our teachers. We know that teachers that are calm are more effective, but at times this may be challenging. Do you have any tips that may help teachers when they may have a disruptive student?

Speaker 2 5:03

Yeah, sure, Most of my work focuses on helping children with self-regulation. It comes down to that. And when we're stressed out, right, we have the primitive emotionally reactive parts of our brains take over and we go automatically into that fight or flight reactivity. Right, so there's more arguing go automatically into that fight or flight reactivity. Right, so there's more arguing, snapping, avoiding going on when any of us are stressed. And so the children are coming in more dysregulated in their abilities to regulate their attention, regulate their emotions and regulate their impulses and behaviors right, which we know are prerequisites to any academic engagement and productivity. You need the emotional awareness and self-regulation first before you can engage in academic learning. Yeah, so we see kids coming into through the school door more and more dysregulated. And, of course, teachers. You know teachers are people too.

Speaker 2 5:57

We're people too, right, so we're dealing with that life stress too, so we come in with agitated nervous systems, we tend to be more reactive, snap more or avoid more than we would like. What do we do with the reality of that when we think about how do children develop self-regulation? This one sentence has guided my work for at least the last 20-some out of my 30-some years of practice. The last 20-some out of my 30-some years of practice. Children develop self-regulation through attuned relationships with self-regulating adults. Kids calibrate their nervous system on ours, so it makes sense. You know that if you have a crying, screaming, agitated baby, what do you do? Literally what do you do?

Speaker 1 6:42

You try to calm.

Speaker 2 6:43

And how do you try to calm the baby? You squeeze it and you tense up and you yell it to just calm down, stop crying, baby, or knock it off right.

Speaker 2 6:51

We know instinctively, literally, we have soft holding, touch. We're rocking, there's rhythmic movement. We're using a soothing tone of voice, a soft eye gaze. We are communicating as caregivers to that distressed infant calm and stability. I have you, I've got you. I'm literally holding you in distress and we can and will get through this. Guess what. Whether that's a two-week-old infant or a two-year-old toddler tantruming or a 12-year-old middle schooler having fits anything in between elementary high school, the kids are still counting on us to calibrate or be the base for their dysregulated nervous system. So we call that process of us meeting them where they're at ideally calm, cool, collected ourselves as co-regulation. Kids develop self-regulation through the co-regulation with adults. Now sounds good. Yeah, right, but with all the demands in my job, how am I supposed to do that?

Speaker 2 7:54

to your point of. What are some tips for realistically?

Speaker 1 7:57

Right, it's difficult, it's very difficult.

Speaker 2 8:01

So if we have an empathic understanding that what this dysregulated or disruptive child needs is a calm anchoring to their nervous system, we remind ourselves in our best parenting moments, in our best teaching moments, we know that we're able to be calm and stable and meet that child's distress whether it's an infant or a kiddo or a teenager right With. I see you're upset and this is what we can do with that upset feeling. So it's what I call meeting the moment with the mindset and language of yes and yes, I see you, yes, I see you're distressed, yes, I see you don't want to do this work right now, and then redirecting them what they can do. You can take that energy here. You can take that energy here Calm corners perhaps you have in your classroom or some redirected self-soothing activity.

Speaker 2 9:05

Now I understand, just because you say that the kid who's dysregulated isn't going to go. Oh, ok, I'll calm down and go, be quiet and take my breath in the corner right away. It's not that simple, but we do want to start with the idea that am I a self-regulating adult? Am I pausing, breathing and resetting my nervous system to meet the moment with more calm and clarity?

Speaker 1 9:14

Or am I just reacting as?

Speaker 2 9:15

well, catch ourselves with that as best we can, reacting as well. Catch ourselves with that as best we can. Pause, breathe, and that's not just a throwaway line. Pause, take a slow, quiet breath and step into the moment with a little bit more clarity and calm to warmly and firmly redirect the child with what to do with it.

Speaker 2 9:37

Now understand again classroom teachers, one on 20, whatever the number may be, and you have one, two, three kids going off, you know, and you know, maybe you have an assistant teacher or a paraprofessional in the room with you. It is very challenging and yet, the more we can communicate, I see there's distress in the room, I see there's distress in you and I've got this, we've got you. Now, none of us can do that if we're not recharging and replenishing our own nervous systems, which is why your podcast Wellness for Educators is so important, because it really does. Beyond the cliche and people rolling their eyes, self-care here comes the self-care thing again. Right, it's not optional. We're on a trip and our needle gas tank is going to empty and we really want to get to our vacation destination.

Speaker 2 10:23

We don't ignore the gas needle. We don't say I don't want to stop, I just want to get there. We take the exit. We get to the gas station. We take the extra time to fill the gas tank because we know we will not reach our destination if we don't Pause, breathe, refill your own gas tank in whatever way. Soothes you. Every day is vital to then show up and be that co-regulating presence that the kids so desperately need nowadays.

Speaker 1 10:51

We could go on and on, but you get the idea. That is wonderful, wonderful advice. In the past, you have provided mindful minutes for educators. This is something that may not be a practice that everyone has on their daily lives. So, could you take a few moments to explain this process?

Speaker 2 11:14

Sure. So taking mindful minutes in our day is really a vital what I call nervous system reset. It's like a circuit breaker for a nervous system that's ready to blow its fuse, so to speak. And mindfulness what is mindfulness? It is simply a way of paying attention. It's not complicated, it's not all woo-woo. We're talking about awareness or attention here and training your brain to be able to focus your attention on purpose, to the present moment, non-judgmentally, without judgment, criticism, assumptions, biases. It's trying to pause and just say let me bring my attention back to this moment, right here, right now, not with judgment and criticism, but with kindness and curiosity. So stay with me just a minute if you would. It's practicing and training your brain and your students' brains to just do the simple exercise of let's just pause and focus our attention on what's right here, right now and let's bring a kind and curious attention to it.

Speaker 2 12:15

Let's check it out, okay. So let's do the exercise together for a minute, all right?

Speaker 2 12:19

Okay, just kind of get seated comfortably, if you're not already sitting somewhat upright, alert, yet relaxed, not too rigid and tense, not too slouchy and slumpy, but sitting somewhat upright, alert and relaxed. I want you to just bring a really curious attention or mindset to the moment right now, and no right or wrong answers or mindset to the moment right now, and no right or wrong answers. Just get curious and see what you notice when you allow your body to become very still, ready, go, okay, thank you. Now, when we both get, when we all hopefully get very still, the second thing happened automatically. It got very what in here? Very quiet, very quiet. And when we get quiet and still, we can start to notice things we hadn't noticed before. What did you notice, lori, on this?

Speaker 1 13:28

one, I. I felt like I could hear myself breathing. Good to know. Yeah, my heart was beating.

Speaker 2 13:35

Notice the heart beating the breath. Did you notice any particular qualities about the breath as you sat there, quiet and still?

Speaker 1 13:41

I feel relatively calm.

Speaker 2 13:43

Yeah, I felt relatively calm, calm, breath, right. So good to know, good to know, pausing to just notice what's here now, with a kind and curious attention, noticing what's going on around me right now, noticing what's going on inside of me right now, inside of my body, inside of my mind. That awareness is the portal into any other self-regulation skills. Any social emotional skills, any emotional intelligence skills, any behavior management skills has to start with clear, calm, conscious awareness of wait, what's here right now. And from that starting point we reset our nervous system and we can approach more thoughtfully, more wisely how to respond to the situation, rather than just again emotionally react to it because we're under that fight or flight, stress, reactivity, right. So it's just taking a minute to pause. Let's get quiet and still and see what we notice.

Speaker 2 14:38

You may notice that your body started relaxing and calming down. You may notice that you started getting really fidgety or tense or restless. You may have noticed you felt awkward. You may have noticed that you felt tired. You may have noticed that your mind got quiet and clear. You may have noticed a thought or two. You may have noticed monkey mind jumping around with a hundred thoughts. It's all good to know. What matters is you pause and take a moment to become aware of what's here now. Because if you are tense, good to know. Once you know that, you can do something about it. If you are restless, good to know Now, you can do something about it. If you are tired, good to know. Then you can do something about it. If your mind is busy with a whole lot of thoughts, good to know, because then you can say oh, I need to do something about that.

Mindful Reset for Educators

Speaker 1 15:26

It's the first step, and with regular practice, you literally rewire the circuits in the brain to be able to do this easier and easier. Well, this has been wonderful, and I am so grateful that you have given us a mini lesson. You have given us some really important information to calm our minds, and I'm hopeful that teachers will take time for these mindful moments, because they are so important for calming our minds. So is there anything else that you have to share or you feel would be important for teachers to be aware of? This is a new year. Anything that you would like to say, Any tips?

Speaker 2 16:16

Yeah, Just don't be shy or afraid to just say you know what? I need a minute to pause, breathe and check in with myself. You can do this alone. You can do it one-on-one with a student, you can do it with the whole class. Hey, class, we're going to practice and get off to the new year.

Speaker 2 16:31

You know how many of you have ever noticed that you sometimes feel stressed out, that your mind's scattered, that you're kind of feeling tense or nervous or that you're feeling exhausted and slumpy and not in the mood to do this work. We're going to practice having a reset minute to our nervous system at the beginning of each class or each period or shift of activity, and don't be shy about saying playfully and curiously, entering into this and saying let's see what we notice when we all just kind of get quiet and still as best we can and check in and do it as best you can. Regular practice brief periods of awareness, repeated many times becomes automatic and continuous. We know there's only one way to skill development, the P word practice. So I'll leave you with that.

Speaker 1 17:21

So we know that practice does make perfect, so we do hope that this is something that, for the new year, you are going to practice. Remember. I am here cheering for you. Thanks to Ron Coleman for providing the music and thanks to you for being a positive influence to the future generation. You are a true hero. You need to be well to teach well. Find joy in the journey, hopefully, as you, maxfield and I. Thank you for listening to Wellness for Educators. If you have a friend that you believe would benefit from this podcast, please text them a link. I look forward to connecting with you in a few more weeks. Until that time, please practice self-care and always remember you can create a sense of calm, even in times that may appear to be chaotic. Your health matters. Be well to teach well.