We believe mindfulness empowers young people to…
…connect with themselves
…discover their innate strengths
…realise their potential
Youth Mindfulness
Kids Programme (for 7 - 11 Year olds)
The Youth Mindfulness Kids Programme consists of 16 one-hour lessons, designed to be delivered over 8 weeks. Each lesson is packed full of inspiring videos, games, and kinaesthetic activities, bringing mindfulness to life in a way that is fun, relevant and engaging.
Each lesson includes mindful sitting, lying and movement practices as well as compassionate enquiry – a powerful way of exploring experience in classroom discussion.
The Kids Programme was featured in the All-Party Parliamentary Group Report: Mindful Nation UK, and is recognised as one of the UK’s leading mindfulness programmes for children.
The programme is an in-depth foundation in mindfulness, enabling children to activate their inner potential. It comprises several themes which build on each other sequentially, with the first six lessons focusing on developing the foundations of mindfulness: embodied, present-moment awareness.
After this, the children explore how mindfulness can help them be happier by being present for the good things in life, and also help them be more resilient and cope with stress and difficulty, particularly difficult thoughts and emotions.
We then then focus on the cultivation of kindness: first to ourselves and then towards others. Finally the children explore questions of purpose and agency: How do I want to be in the world? How do I want to act?
SOMA Programme (12 - 21 Year olds)
The basic aim of the SOMA course is to try and get young people to recognise the potential they have within themselves and show them how they can nurture these qualities and access their inner resources. Mindfulness is a practice that empowers this potential.
SOMA helps young people to grow the foundations of wellbeing: Social connection, Openness to enjoyment, Meaning & purpose, and Action & agency. Inspiring and interactive, the programme is a flexible and responsive strengths-based approach grounded in leading frameworks of what contributes to wellbeing.
With so many young people experiencing chronic stress (which can lead to fragmented attention, poor impulse control, hyper alertness to threat, and difficulty in sitting still), it can be unpleasant for them to connect to their body as it is in a state of stress. When they are in this state, mindfulness can be difficult as the inner resources needed are not available. We know mindfulness can be helpful as it reduces stress, but it can be difficult.
SOMA looks at how we dial down the stress and dial up the mindfulness practice - the answer is in relationships. We aim to create a positive relational environment where young people know that we care about their wellbeing. Positive vibes start to dial down the stress and create a platform for mindfulness practice.
For young people to be willing to explore mindfulness, they need to feel safe and free from judgment. Without this, no learning is going to take place. The most powerful way to build this sense of safety is through positive social connection. For this reason, the SOMA Programme takes an approach we call “relationship before content”.
“All teenagers and young adults have amazing strengths within.
Qualities like kindness, resilience and wisdom.
Mindfulness is the practice that empowers this potential.
In an uncertain world, now is the time to support young people’s flourishing.”
The Programme has been designed to be trauma informed and mindfulness can be helpful, maybe essential, to healing, as it enables regulation of attention and emotions and activates the calm and connect system as opposed to the threat system. However, it is important to note that this should be an element included as part of a wider approach. If young people are able to learn and develop mindfulness through their formulative years, hopefully we can give them a solid base of wellbeing.
The curriculum isn’t death by power point! Instead, it's packed with activities that are designed to foster interaction, connection and trust. This is the basis for learning!
The course has flexibility built into it therefore adapting to meet the needs of individual groups for example, a short course before exams, social anxiety, high school to university transition etc. We can work together to determine the target group and their needs. The course tends to work best in smaller groups as with larger groups, it can become more informational.