The Benefits of Mindfulness

 

Mindfulness
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For the past two decades, Dr. Nancy Coogan has successfully served in educational roles that range from assistant principal and principal to executive director and superintendent. Moreover, Dr. Nancy Coogan has authored several research papers that assess the use of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) in schools.

One of Dr. Coogan’s research articles, “Becoming a Mindful Superintendent in a Turnaround District,” was published in the Open Journal of Leadership in 2015. The article posits that mindfully serving students and families nurtures resilience in school superintendents, especially in light of the many challenges they face.

In addition to benefiting performance, mindfulness practices can provide a range of professional, therapeutic, and individual benefits for those who undertake them. In addition to helping manage emotions and improving focus, mindfulness can augment physical health and manage pain. In terms of mental health, mindfulness can improve moods, manage anxiety, and empower individuals to control their own behaviors. Moreover, practicing mindfulness can help build self-confidence and treat emotional suffering.

Ways for Teachers to Improve Resiliency

 

Dr. Nancy Coogan

Dr. Nancy Coogan has published extensively on the usefulness of mindfulness practice in educational leadership. Dr. Nancy Coogan’s dissertation focused on resiliency as applied to the high school principalship, and much of her work has looked at how educators at all levels can benefit by developing this key skill.

Teachers must cultivate resilience or risk burnout or poor student outcomes. Those in a slump should consider changing the ways in which they approach their jobs in order to become more resilient.

Focusing on perspective and taking control of one’s schedule can both help an educator avoid burning out. Cultivating a positive awareness of the ways in which one makes a difference can help sustain a teacher through difficult classes or dealing with problem students. Likewise, scheduling activities and following through with them, whether in or out of school, can create a stronger appreciation for both work and leisure time.

Seeking support from other educators can also help build resilience. The problems one confronts as a teacher are rarely faced in isolation, and other teachers may have useful advice or emotional support to offer. Support-seeking shouldn’t be simple complaining, however, as that can discourage a person from actually solving the problem.

Mindfulness-Based Interventions in Education

 

Dr. Nancy Coogan

An experienced Washington state educator, Dr. Nancy Coogan has performed significant research alongside other professionals regarding mindfulness for educators. Dr. Nancy Coogan has been featured in Mindfulness for Educational Practice, the eighth volume in the Research on Stress and Coping in Education series.

In therapy, mindfulness-based interventions use mindfulness as a means of achieving physical and mental health. Some forms of mindfulness-based interventions include mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, and acceptance and commitment therapy. These approaches were first used in the 1970s in efforts to integrate Buddhist thought into scientific and medical contexts, and became increasingly formalized over the next two to three decades.

For educators, mindfulness-based interventions can serve two primary purposes, both of which improve organizational resiliency. This cultivated awareness of one’s situation can help reduce stress and diminish the chance of burnout, making it easier to perform duties. It also can provide a framework for assessing failures and addressing crises without blame.