19th September 2022
Mumbai

A workshop on ‘Mindfulness’ was organized by Prof. Dr. Giselle D'souza for the F.Y.B.Ed students of St.Teresa's Institute of Education on 19th September, 2022. The resource person was Asst. Prof. Dr. Megha D'souza, from Kapila Khandwala College of Education. The topic "mindfulness'' was related to the subject of "Understanding the Self". The workshop aimed at making student-teachers aware about mindfulness and helping them integrate mindfulness in their daily lives.

This session was full of engaging and enriching activities that were aimed to facilitate mindfulness of one’s self and others.

Education is not only for the mind but also for the heart. Dr. Megha D'souza commenced the session with an enlightening story of Gautam Buddha, which beautifully delivered the message to loosen the knot we tie ourselves with which tightens us in difficult situations and instead start to make peace with ourselves. Then she demonstrated an experiment using a jar and glitter in it, relating it to our thoughts and being aware of our mind and that experiment was so innovative driving home important morals of how we need to quieten our thoughts and become more aware of ourselves.

Mindfulness is a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts and bodily sensations. Ma'am explained about three components of mindfulness, namely, paying attention, being present at the given moment and being non-judgemental. She made us aware about the importance of mindfulness and made us understand that accepting our problems rather than denying them is always a better choice. Because, "What we resist, persists and what we accept, transforms"

She also elaborated on the formal and informal practice of mindfulness, where Yoga and meditation are formal and familiar practices that humans follow for physical and mental wellbeing. Emotions and feelings sometimes overrule our life and we make hasty decisions driven by emotions. Taking decisions diligently and refining emotions, as and when required, can be successfully achieved when one is aware and conscious of what one experiences through the senses. When we bring in that awareness, we are being mindful. Practicing mindfulness helps us to obtain self-control, self-mastery and self-discipline.

Dr. Megha also made us aware about the importance of a mindful pause. She then made us engage in several mindful activities, the first of which was "mindful listening" wherein one person had to speak for 2 minutes, uninterrupted and the other had to listen without being judgmental and speaking. This was followed by another activity of "mindful walking" where we all were feeling the coldness of the floor with our bare feet and being more sensitive and alert of each step of ours. The next activity was a "mindful share-pair activity" where we were supposed to share our moments of regret in our lives. Last but not the least was “mindful dancing" where we felt the rhythm and the music through every step we performed.

We really enjoyed all those activities and were involved in each one of them with great enthusiasm. The session ended with a vote of thanks, to the resource person proposed by Ms Umme Kulsum. Overall, it was truly an excellent session!