The Mental Funny Bone

Bare Bones Banter: Tara Segree

• Gaster Girls • Episode 5

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In this uplifting episode of 'Bare Bones Banter,' Christine and Sarah welcome Tara Segree, author of 'Bringing Mindfulness Into the Classroom.' Expect plenty of laughter as they reconnect with Tara, who shares her personal journey with mindfulness and meditation, from her early fascination with the Rosary to becoming a certified meditation instructor. Tara offers practical advice for educators and parents on how to incorporate mindfulness and meditation into daily routines. She discusses the ripple effects of mindfulness on mental well-being, cognitive function, and even the aging process. The conversation also delves into the importance of setting a peaceful example for students and ensuring self-care practices. Stay tuned for insights on overcoming resistance, practical classroom tips, and the broader impact of mindfulness both in and out of the classroom. Whether you're an educator or a parent, this episode is packed with valuable takeaways to help bring a little more calm and presence into your life.

How to find mental health help when you're struggling. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists
https://washingtoncountyhumanservices.com/agencies/behavioral-health-developmental-services
https://www.alleghenycounty.us/Services/Human-Services-DHS/Publications/Resource-Guides
Apps - Just search mental health where you get your apps.
EAP programs are a great place to look for help!!

Additional Resources (Sports Related):
https://globalsportmatters.com/health/2020/12/04/mental-health-resources-2/

Sarah:

Hello and welcome to another installment of Bare Bones Banter. Joining us today is Tara Segree, author of Bringing Mindfulness Into the Classroom, where she explores how we can help students navigate challenges with confidence, mental being, and presence. yay! Welcome to the show, Tara. Thank you for joining us.

Tara:

Thank you so much for having me. What an honor to be on your fantastic podcast. Truly is. It's an

Sarah:

honor. It's

Chris:

an honor.

Tara:

It is. She's

Chris:

not wrong. She's not wrong. No. No. Tara, it's nice to see you. I don't think I've seen you face to face in about five or six years. it is lovely.

Tara:

Yes. To take Too long.

Chris:

Wait, it always way too long because I think that there are memes on Facebook that tell me that Being a grown up is just all about trying to schedule that next meet up with people that you like. So

Tara:

true

Chris:

here's where we are It is, it's so nice to be able to reconnect with you and talk about things that, that we both think are important and be able to get that message out. so thanks. I really appreciate you coming on and talking to us about your book and your meditation experience. And I'm sure Sarah has a lot of meditation questions because right now she and I are trying to learn. how to do the meditation and, I did a little 10 minute before we got on today.

Tara:

Lucky you, I didn't have time. So I just took some breaths right before clicking the join button.

Sarah:

Yeah. I think even just the breaths though, it's just that always helps, but yeah, I did a little 10 minute and, Owen is home who Tara is my son. So he was making noises and I had to block those out, your

Tara:

attention back

Sarah:

to whatever

Tara:

it is. Thanks.

Sarah:

It's awesome. We love it. So we're gonna go ahead. I do have some questions I know that I believe Sissy told you which that's what I call Christine. Yes. okay So to start out, can you share with us a little bit about your own personal journey with mindfulness meditation and How you came to be so involved or passionate about it?

Tara:

Sure. I think my entire life I've been mindful. I've always been aware of my surroundings, what's happening. I was raised Roman Catholic. And in the Roman Catholic religion, we have the rosary where, you know, the beads where you say the Our Father, Hail, and then you go along the rosary and do that. And I was always drawn to it from like a young child. So let's say seven years old, I would say part of it, if not all of it, there were certain parts of my life, but I would say them. And even into adulthood, when I was in spots where I wasn't like necessarily saying the rosary or parts of the rosary, like whenever I would get anxious or nervous or starting my day, walking into a building, doing something new. I would just be like a quick Hail Mary. So I think that's where it started. from there, fast forward, I'm a mother of four girls. And I have been teaching for over 20 years. Before I was a mother, I was teaching, then teaching for the county, Anne Arundel County Public Schools here in Annapolis, Maryland, for, I guess three years. I had moved around. I had lived, I had taught in Florida for a bit. I had moved around. And when I took this 14 year hiatus from teaching full time, I was teaching part time. And teaching preschool yoga and teaching at this place called art start, which brought in art. So I was teaching kinder music and, all these for preschool right beginnings. And so all these different facets where I would bring in mindfulness, I'd bring in breathing and breathe, bring in positive affirmations and asking the questions. How can you make this world a better place? So like my four year old or two year old or three year old kid yoga class, before they would leave and they'd get a stamp on their hand, what are you gonna do today to make this world a better place? I'm going to draw a picture for my grandma, I'm going to pick up some trash, I'm going to be nice to my brother, whatever it is, even like then, and then still transfer that over. I teach high school right now and even transfer that over into higher education because I've taught for Notre Dame of Maryland University, their school of education, teaching in their master level classes. All of us can answer that question. How can we make this world a better place? So that's what I've always thought, even when I was living in Florida and walking on the beach along the Gulf of Mexico, what am I going to be when I grow up? And still asking that question as a 51 year old woman, but just really being contemplative and really listening to my heart and my internal compass. That always shows you the way. If you're willing to listen, if you're willing to be conscious, if you're willing not to numb in all the different facets that we numb in our society, that are almost like, the BS rules of it's part of, it's conforming to society norms. You get home and you crack open a beer, have a glass of wine, you watch Bravo TV or You know, stream 20 shows in a row, which there's nothing wrong with that time and place, but also let's give time to listen to ourselves. So I think I've always just been one who has been very contemplative and has always sought direction and answers in nature. I don't live on a beach. I do live on the water, but I have a path through the woods instead, not on the Gulf of Mexico. and I do, I go out in nature and get direction that way. But just being contemplative, just being and breathing. It brings this peace about you and this calm and this confidence to do your own thing and not to conform.

Sarah:

I love that. I love that this started for you at such a young age with the Rosary. I think that's an awesome story. I love. I think back to when I was that young and the rosary, I was like, Hey, can I just throw that around my neck? That's really weird. Like

Tara:

Madonna. And my mother was like, Oh my

Sarah:

gosh,

Tara:

but yes, I think that's where, yeah, I think it's where it started. I actually taught like religion classes at my church right before COVID in like their prep classes, their CCD classes. And was teaching, I forget what grade it was, Miley. It was like second or third grade. And these kids were crazy. They were crazy. And they gave them to me because they knew I was an educator. They knew that I was a special educator. They knew I could handle it. And I had 15 kids and the kids under the table, kicking the table. And I was like, Oh my gosh. Okay, everybody we're in a circle. And I got this huge box of rosaries and I taught them how to do the rosary. And. Everybody became calm and then I could actually teach the lesson. So it was, that was, it was, that was the beginning. Now in class it's different and teaching high school English in ninth and 10th grade, I'm not doing that. We got to keep. Church and state separate for sure. And,

but,

Tara:

but it's different. It's bringing mindfulness into the classroom can be done in so many other ways that just evoke that same calmness

and

Tara:

that peace and taking that time for stillness.

Sarah:

Which is super important. I think we all forget it. And again, like at the age of 46, I'm just learning how to do it. Yeah, but that's the awesome thing about it is it's never too late to learn how to do it. So going from that, you started bringing it into the classroom before you decided to write the book. What really was the catalyst to say, all right, this book is needed. I need to do this for other educators.

Tara:

I think that I've just have done it for so long. that all of these tools and planning with other teachers and developing curriculum. And as a special educator too, seeing students really struggle with academics because they don't have the confidence. And there's tons of other reasons why, obviously, but going back to the basics of, okay, let's meet you where you are. And build upon your strengths and that goes for anybody. and so I think I just saw the need and I work with a great group of teachers that we just were implementing things and really seeing like any sort of behavior problems dissipate for the most part. And then also in 2020, I became officially certified in meditation. And started like a side business of doing online meditations for corporate accounts and groups and individuals and kids and teens and for sports teams. And I did all of this and I was a keynote speaker a few times. And was on these different panels and I was like, I really need to write this stuff down. And I was writing it down, but like really pull it all together to use and to share. And so the book just came about. It was, I didn't have a choice. It was just, throwing up all the information of everything in my mind about it. And just came together and for, formed into, using this 30 day challenge in the classroom. But before we can teach our students, we have to be good ourselves. So we have to make sure that we are conscious, that we are making conscious decisions. That we're listening to our heart, that we are finding time to be still, that we know what brings us joy. And that is one of the first things I have that seven day, meditation challenge in the book. And the book's not just for educators, it's for parents as well. Even my mom and her girlfriends have read it and have talked about it and, think it's great for anybody. And, we cannot pour from an empty cup if we're stretched too thin. If we're stressed out, everybody's around us is going to feel that energy. But if we are taking care of ourselves, if we are getting up a little early to move our body, to exercise a bit, you don't have to necessarily go to the gym, but like just doing some things in your living room, in your bedroom, taking time to just be still and feel your breath and taking that time for yourself, then you can present yourself. To the world with a more peaceful presence and then that presence ripples out to the rest of the world to all of those you encounter and It's important. It starts with us. It

Sarah:

has to yeah, and thank you. I love after reading your book and we also just started reading the let them theory and the beginning of your book and starting to read that as well, I've now started getting out of bed without hitting snooze. Yeah. So I'm a big snoozer. I'm a big fan of the snooze. So yeah. So now I get up, I'm trying to get up a little bit earlier and then do a little bit of meditation before I get into the day. So that's thanks to you and the Lethem.

Tara:

And Mel Robbins. Yeah. She is fantastic. I haven't read that book yet, but love everything she talks about. Thanks. Put it on your list. Oh, it is. For sure. Sarah, real quick, I wanted to say about that not pressing snooze button. Yeah. So take that snooze time and like I come downstairs into my living room, I have one chair that's for my meditation. I sit there and there's like already 22 minutes set or sometimes it's only seven minutes, whatever it is. And then I sit there, I was okay. And I like feel my breath and sometimes I will fall back asleep, but as I start to feel my head drop, then I like can breathe in and bring my awareness back to my breath or to the positive affirmation I'm saying or to whatever it is I'm visualizing. But there's only three things that can happen when you meditate. You can fall asleep. Have thoughts or sit in your stillness and having thoughts is part of the process. So like when you and Christy were like, we're trying to learn how to meditate, you know how to do it. It's easy peasy. You're going to have thoughts because we have 60, 000 to 80, 000 thoughts a day. that's how many times things go through your head. And so you can't turn it off. It's just part of the brain. And thank God we have that many thoughts because that's what makes us creative. That's what keeps us alive. That's what reminds us to do things. But you see the thought, let it pass by as if it's a cloud and then gently come back to your breath.

Sarah:

Yeah, that's what I always do. This like this is okay. There it is. And I think that's the biggest misconception about meditation is that you have to sit down and just clear your head. I know

Tara:

in my like, sometimes my legs are up in like semi lotus position, like crisscross applesauce. But Most of the time they're just flat on the floor. And yeah, so you can just, instead of having that snooze button, pull yourself into another room. You start to have this like lucid dreaming and you can just sit and. practice bringing your awareness back.

Sarah:

Yeah, I love that. I think that's great. Christine, I'm sorry, you keep on muting and I keep talking and I feel like I'm not letting you talk. So welcome to the party.

Chris:

Hey, thanks guys. I appreciate you letting me talk. No, I think that the one thing that, that I wanted to touch on that. Tara said was about how accessible the book is. So yeah, it says it's for educators, but it's really for everybody. And it really highlights the benefits of just taking a little bit of time and being able to do this, based on. My experience, what I get out of meditation is the pause before the hyperactive act, right? Like it's the pause to let me make a good decision. So I find if I do get the chance to meditate, I'm not so much running from this to this. It's I'm doing the thing. I'm able to take a second and be like, okay, what's the next thing that I can do now? That's going to be the most productive. What's the next thing that I can do now that, that needs to get done and. It's very similar to how I feel when I'm very appropriately medicated. So if that makes sense to you guys. So it helps me to do the things that, that I need to do in a way that makes sense, not just, running from the next thing and, jumping from here to here to here to here. And it gives me the chance to build on that activity and make it work for me. Okay.

Tara:

And we all have our challenges. We all have our daily challenges as human beings, but like you're saying, When we take that pause, we respond to the challenges instead of reacting. And there's a huge emotional difference there than when we don't take that time. When we don't take that time and we already feel stressed, like that's the energy, that's our wound. we get wound up, but if we can take that time, yeah, because meditation. sharpens your cognitive ability. It makes you more decisive. It makes you more creative. It makes you more empathetic so that you can collaborate with others and really lean in and hear what they're saying. It takes you away from your ego that wants to prove its point. And this is what I have to say, but instead sit back and listen and to respond. And then besides all of those, like interactions that we have throughout the day, internally, our immune system becomes stronger. We get better sleep. It even reverses the aging process and I'm not even kidding about this. there was three scientists who won the Nobel Peace Prize in physics, I believe the year was 2017. for finding that Telomerase or telomerase, and probably, I know I'm saying it wrong, but maybe it is telomerase. So your DNA cells, they, when you get older, they split. And the bottom of the DNA, I'm totally getting this so wrong, a medical doctor is going to be like, this is so wrong, but the gist is correct. I'm pretty

Sarah:

sure we

Tara:

don't have all that

Sarah:

many of

Tara:

those listening. It has these telomerase at the bottom that are like shoe caps, like on your shoelaces, like the little shoelace caps. And so when they split, the shoelace caps disintegrate and that's where we start aging and getting, diseases and our immune system goes down. But with meditation, these three scientists from physics found out that your telomerase grow back. It literally helps reverse the aging process. Slows down the aging process, at least, let's say, and makes you healthier. So for anything, I'm like, Oh, that's awesome. But of course you get all the other benefits as well that come along with just taking 12 minutes a day. Oh, and that was with 12 minutes a day with their study was with 12 minutes a day or even seven minutes or whatever it is.

Sarah:

We all have 12 minutes, right? And that's the deal. Of course.

Tara:

When you dedicate this time, you make up for it tenfold during the day, because you have more clarity. Christy's saying that she's able to do the next thing and make decisive decisions about what needs to be done next. Where do I need to place my energy? Because you're level headed, you're clearer, you're, you're able to focus more. And with all of our students and people in the world who have AD, like ADD, ADHD, It's actually a gift if you can handle it. People who have attention issues are our creators. They're the ones who think outside the box, even though they might struggle in school, they're actually better learners sometimes because they have to overcompensate and. When you meditate though, and you're sitting there and it's, you're in your meditation and you're thinking about having to go pick up dry cleaning or whatever else. You're like, wait a second, I'm meditating. I'm not gonna think about that. Then you gently bring your awareness back to your breath. And so you're training your brain to focus better. You're training your reaction or response, let me say, to, instead of getting on yourself like, gosh darn it, I've been scrolling on TikTok, no, like you bring yourself back to what it is you're supposed to be doing.

Sarah:

I love that. I love the neuroplasticity. Because that's my, that's one of my favorite words.

Chris:

Yes. Yes. And I will say, in full disclosure, I haven't had a chance to pee yet today. sometimes you just don't, you just don't have the opportunity, but we're not talking about. No. Do you need, is that what we're going for here? Do you need to take a potty break? No. I have a point. Okay. I have a point. Of course you do. Every day, is not like this. So every day, I generally have a couple of minutes. And just because I wasn't able to do it today doesn't mean that I can't do it tomorrow. I think another thing that we get caught up in is, I'm obviously not a meditator because I didn't do it today. So I'm just gonna sweep that habit aside and decide that it's not for me. It's Harris's Daily ish. Nupping perfect. It's about a practice, so you just practice when you can practice. And if you can find the time, great. If not, you can just remind yourself like, hey, yeah, you're a spastic nup all today who didn't have a chance to pee, but every day isn't like this and you can remember that, that yesterday you did have the chance to, you did have the chance to pee and you had about 15 minutes. at lunchtime to breathe, thanks to your sister and do a little bit of, of meditation. So you can squeeze it in, you can, but even

Tara:

if it doesn't even need to be like a time frame, sometimes, like when my kids were younger and I was picking them up from soccer practice or lacrosse or about to go into the grocery store, you can just stop for a minute, close your eyes and just breathe. feel your body breathe for you and notice how you're breathing. that's all part of it. Just notice. feel your body breathe right now. How are you breathing? How do you breathe

Chris:

naturally? Do you breathe in and out? like an animal that's caught in a trap.

Tara:

Okay. So do you breathe in and out of your nose or in and out of your mouth or a combination of the two? And you're going to find sometimes it changes. But what I'm saying is. Gaster, the next time that you don't have time to pee or meditate, before you get home, then you're like, oh, okay, wait a second, and just notice your breath and notice how your body's breathing for you. It's really great to be able to take deep breaths in and out and feel like we're cleaning our lungs. I love that. But sometimes, just notice. And then you'll find yourself doing like a deep breath.

Sarah:

Sissy, do you remember when we were talking about when we first started meditating, how we thought we were bad at breathing? Just that awareness of how you breathe, I was like, wow, I'm terrible at this whole breathing thing.

just in general.

Chris:

Like, how am I actively taking in enough oxygen to support a human body? It's a marvel. I think it was nervousness starting. Yeah. We were trying something new.

Sarah:

Yeah. I felt like that's what it was with me. So about, I'm going to go back to the book. I just want to, no, but I just want to make a statement about the book for anyone who's thinking about picking it up. Don't hesitate. Please get it. It's a super simple read. And that's what I really loved about it is that it was a quick read. Yet it in, it includes so much information that could be truly helpful. And again, not just educators, but also to parents. So I just love how the book was written. I know Sissy, we had chatted about that as well.

Tara:

thank you. And it, it also has the, there's a workbook within it. there's the journal prompts. It gives you pages for those journal prompts because part of figuring out. Who you are, where you want to place your energy. What is it that's important to you is all about. That reflection and the way that you can get to that one way is through journaling. So there's tons of journal prompts in there as well.

Sarah:

I love that. I like that too. Yeah. I'm gonna, I'm gonna use it. I'm going to use the workbook parts. I'm going to go through the seven days. So I'm excited about doing all of that. In fact, that was one of my thoughts while I was meditating today. I was like, Oh, I'll think about that later. But anyway, so as educators, what do you think, educators who are new to this, what do you think their biggest challenge is getting started and how do, how can they overcome that? The biggest

Tara:

challenge with everything in life is just doing it. Whenever you're starting something new and, of course it gives you all sorts of ideas of what you can do. I'll tell you, teaching ninth and 10th grade, beginning of the semester, I work in a collaborative classroom. So there's two teachers. I have my master's in leadership and teaching. Ashley Goldberg has her master's in English. And then my ninth grade class. Megan Welsh has her master's in English, and I have my master's in leadership and teaching. So we come together, and it's a collaborative classroom where there's two teachers because half of the students have IEPs or 504s, which are set in place, individual education plans for students. Who struggle academically. So I'm able to meet these students where they are, figure out what their strengths are, figure out how they learn best, figure out how to assess them best. And then we go from there and we can do all sorts of scaffolding. and we have, it's just a standard English 10 class or standard English nine class. It's not honors where you're required to do a lot of independent work. It's not AP. So the beginning of every semester, start off, instead of, getting to know you, walk around and make a friend or do whatever, we do a number of different things, but that's not one of them. It's Google, get out your phone, go ahead, for this time, because we don't allow any phones in our class, but for right now, go ahead and get out your phone. Find an inspirational quote that means something to you. And then they find a quote that they can resonate with and then we have them put it on a Google slide and then why does this quote resonate with you? We'll ask them that. And then they turn that into us. For one, it teaches us a lot about our students and helps us build rapport with them. But also then we have like warmups every day on the smart board, like where they have to answer questions or they have to do something. And we'll put one of their quotes up there, and we won't put their name, we won't say Christy Gaster. it'll say, it'll just have the quote, and if the person who said it Theodore Roosevelt, whoever, Abe Lincoln, whoever. Yeah, whoever, we'll put that down. But then that way students come in and they're like, ah, let's make a quote. So besides the quotes, every day in both ninth and tenth grade, we start off the day with independent reading. And when we're not reading a novel, we take the students to the media center, they pick out a self selected book. So they can pick out, a novel. They can pick out a personal growth book. They can pick out a historical biography on somebody, even a magazine or a cookbook even. It doesn't matter. We just want them reading. But so then the first 10 minutes of class when students come in or first 15, 20 in 10th grade, if they have to answer a question or whatever, then they go right to their independent reading. It brings them this calm. So here you have this chaos of a high school in the hallways, they're crowded. You remember high school, and then they can come in. And just have this moment of peace and then they're ready to learn and they're engaged. We have zero discipline issues, really. I think I can think of one this year and it was with a ninth grader because ninth grade is a big transition year too, but it was like, it took care of it right away because I had a rapport. But regardless, what I'm saying is like discipline issues in the classroom disintegrate. Completely melt away because you're allowing students that moment of calm and then they stay in that moment of calm. So we do that and then we also do in English 9 typically a quick write and sometimes it's related to the curriculum of the day and sometimes it's introspective and where they have to journal about themselves some in fact all of those journals within Bringing mindfulness into the classroom, my book I have used in the classroom. it's easy, something like that. Or the other thing I do every day is just play music, classical music, beats, play, whatever it is that doesn't have lyrics so that when students are doing their independent work or even reading, like I just have it on when I can all the time. They just hit and that's Oh, that's

pretty nice.

Tara:

Yeah. So those are just simple things that, that we do. And then of course, meeting the students at the door every day and saying hello, talking to them, if you know that they just had a play. Oh, how was your play or, whatever it is, just building that relationship with them. But that's all about being conscious and mindful. Also making sure that you as the teacher have taken time to do whatever sort of routine you need. To get yourself in a place where you can pour, and you can pour that peace, pour that calm into your students.

Sarah:

It's really important to make sure that we remember that we have to take care of ourselves. Put your mask on first.

Tara:

Yeah. And then, yeah,

Sarah:

and

Tara:

then, in the book I talk about, the collaborative podcast that I have with Global Tinker, which. It's on YouTube, but then all podcast platforms. Yeah. And so there is a visual version that is an animated scene of a city at sunrise and there's just some kites going back and forth and there's some wind chimes and you hear my voice doing like a five, seven minute meditation. There's 27 of them on YouTube. 23 of them are in English, four are in Ukrainian, and they have had, they have over two million views. Oh, wow. I checked that out the other day. I was just curious. I was like, how many of these do I have? like, how many? And I was like, oh my gosh, there's 29, 27, 27, 27.

Sarah:

That's

Tara:

awesome. And then, I'm in the midst of doing another collaborative meditation project with Global Tinker. We do them all the time, but it's like a, the organization for, like a national organization for eating disorders, and it's all about like body gratitude and Okay. Self compassion. I'm in the midst of recording those right now. But when I was talking to my producer, my two producers, Olivia Levenson and Seth Riahi through email about this, and I told him, I was like, do you realize we have 2 million, over 2 million views on YouTube? He's it's actually more than that. He's and the podcast itself has been downloaded in over 50 different countries.

Sarah:

That's awesome.

Tara:

that's

Sarah:

It's amazing. Super

Tara:

great.

Sarah:

Yeah. For sure. And all of this stuff, we'll put links, Christine, Becca, somebody, write down links, the links are in the book. I know that I saw the YouTube stuff, we'll make sure that we have all of these links for our listeners to easily get to, to check that stuff out. Because I know I'm definitely going to be checking out the YouTube stuff for sure.

Tara:

But easy, something like that. And that's like part of that 30 day challenge for teachers is put on one of the YouTubes. And so for seven minutes, like students can meditate or they can watch the screen, especially when you're first starting out and they're not quite sure. What to do and so everybody else closing their eyes, but I don't I even say you don't have to close your eyes You can just rest your gaze somewhere in front

Sarah:

of you. Yeah, what was funny is I'm reading last night I have a few different things. I'm reading but I always end my night with my nonsense fiction rom com Maybe a little spicy book at the end of the night and, the one I'm reading now is a cute little rom com and the girl in it is a teacher. And the last bit I read last night, she's finishing up, class for the year or whatever. And she was like, all right, we're going to do one more journal. And she went through, like she did exactly this in this book. This is what she did with her class. And I thought that was really cool. Yeah. I was like, wow, it's funny how all that shit works out. I knew we were doing this today and I read that. So that was really cool. That's

Tara:

awesome. Yeah. And it's, and I know that there's other people, in fact, I know other teachers who are involved with wellness and do some of these things or their own thing, but I want to make it the norm. Yeah. I want as many teachers to feel comfortable to make this the norm, to change. The trajectory of education, and we are in such a crisis, obviously, you ladies know this, and we have to help people come back to their heart, right? And if we can, this is the deal. Students spend seven hours a day in a school on a random Tuesday night. When you get home at 330 or whatever time, seven hours, like they, they spend more waking hours in a school, especially if they're younger than they do with their parents. And so teachers have become life coaches. We have, whether we want to or not, we are life coaches. These kids are coming in with their baggage, with, getting in a fight with their best friend, or their mom is in a bad mood, or their dog is sick, or whatever. All the whatevers.

Yeah.

Tara:

And. They come in and then they're trying to remember to raise their hand or to engage in the learning process. And let's face it, our competition is the phone. Yeah, for

Sarah:

sure. TikTok

Tara:

is our competition. And part of that with TikTok and everything else, we have artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is telling you exactly what to think and exactly what to wear and seeing your friends and having FOMO and all the things. But artificial intelligence cannot touch your heart. It cannot touch your soul and That is why it is also so important to instill this in education Five minutes a day ten minutes a day Whatever it might be and it doesn't need to be the meditations the music the quotes It could be take a walk outside touch a tree notice the clouds feel the grass Take off your shoes walk around the grass like there's so many different things you can do draw a picture Whatever it may be, write a thank you card to your

Chris:

grandparents, to your neighbor, whatever. That's so important. as we were going through the pandemic and as we were It, as Olivia is coming out of inpatient therapy and, in, in coming out to a complete lack of resources, right? So it's just me and her and, I'm working just as much as I was ever working, probably more during that time, trying to make up for. Everything that, that we couldn't get done any other way. I'm like, okay, let's meditate. Me and you, we're gonna meditate. And she was so resistant to it. She's that seems so stupid. I've just been through this horrific, traumatic, horrible thing that, that happened to me. And you want me to sit down and breathe while we hold hands? She's first, I'm 14. This seems

dumb.

Chris:

And I'm like, okay, I'm gonna do it by myself. But the thing that she could latch on to that was really helpful for her was doing the adult, Sir, what's it called when you have the crayons and the pencils?

Sarah:

Coloring book.

Chris:

That's it. It's not a coloring book. It's a coloring book. And yeah, you guys get it, but that's what she could latch onto. And it wasn't so much like it wasn't meditation. It wasn't, going for a walk. It was just taking some time to be totally focused on this one activity. and that is, she said that is still probably one of the best ways that, that she. Gets her shit together. Oh, she's like it seems like a waste of time. It seems like a waste of time to other people She's but it's not for me It's how I it's how I get organized and how I can go about continuing through my day. So it doesn't She recognizes that

Tara:

as a 14 year old or a 15 year old, however old she was when she found that. How great that she has that tool, Because the alternative is we go off into life and we numb ourselves instead. Because we're afraid to look within or we don't really quite know how to even though it's innate and it should be innate as human Beings but we're so distracted by life that

Chris:

it's not

Tara:

anymore.

Chris:

Yeah, it's so nice for her To have that and she never would have gotten there if I would have been like, oh, this is like meditator This is meditate like I think everyone gets caught up on. Oh, I'm not a meditator Yeah. You can be a thinker and you can be a person who pays attention. You can be all these things without being a meditator. You just have to find your path to it and it doesn't have to be sitting down in lotus position and doing a little alming. It can be, it can be like go for a walk. Whatever works for you. Just get yourself into a place where you can do some thinking and you can be able to connect with who you are. I think that's the trick that a lot of people miss. Whatever you're going to call it, do yoga. It's just meditation with stretching. Do something else. You don't have to say, oh, I'm a meditator. you can get religion like Sarah did and be like the, meditation evangelist or you can find little spots for it in your life or whatever accomplishes the same goal. Yeah. Whatever gives you the ability to connect with who you want to be and how you can get there. And I think that's the biggest gift meditation can give any of us. Yeah. said. said. Every once in a while I'll throw something in there. Yeah. I love it. I do a podcast. I think big thoughts. Yeah, you do. Big

Sarah:

thoughts. Big thoughts.

Chris:

But I think just to, because, because now you guys have let me talk, no, I'm kidding. It's a constant theme throughout what Sarah and I have been trying to do for the last year is being able to understand who you are. And that is, I think what we have discovered is the single hardest thing that a human being can do. it's two sentences, right? Like figure out who you are and be that is the best advice, but it's hard. who am I? I don't

Tara:

know. And we want to evolve.

Chris:

Yeah. Exactly. Like

Tara:

we constantly want to be like moving towards the highest version of ourselves. It's a little bit better than I

Sarah:

was yesterday. Just a little bit better than I was yesterday.

Tara:

But don't put pressure on yourself, it's something you have to do, like on the to do list, Figure out what's

Chris:

important.

Tara:

Yeah. But just consciously making choices.

Chris:

It's the most interesting piece of the past 12 months for me has been, when I say my values, what do And thinking some sinking, thinking some thoughts about what are my values? What do I care about? What's important to me? all of this has changed in the past two years for me, sending Olivia off to college and then, trying to figure out. Okay, I don't have soccer practice every day. I don't have things to do every weekend. I don't have to make sure that someone gets home every night. what do I do with my time? What's important to me now has been really a journey and fun too, to figure it out. Hard, challenging. Impossible Sundays and really a, an experience to get to do that with, with Becca, the intern.

Sarah:

I'm, I'm not going to let Owen get his driver's license just so I have something to do for the next three years. Why do

Chris:

that to yourself? Yeah, it seems like a good strategy, right?

Sarah:

No, we'll just print it out. We just printed out all the stuff that we need to do because that's coming up. That's exciting. I feel like he just learned how to tie his shoes, so I'm nervous. And I'm literal there. I swear to God, he just learned how to tie his shoes. You

Tara:

got

Sarah:

him like

Tara:

velcro his whole life or he was wearing Crocs. Yeah, pretty much.

Sarah:

He was just wearing

Tara:

Crocs

Sarah:

and Uggs. Yeah, anything you just slip on. him and Papi, their shoes were always matching.

Chris:

My god. All right. I'm sorry guys. I feel like I derailed us, but I did want to bring, draw the connection between it, you don't have to call it meditation. You just have to be able to connect with your inner self and you have to take the time to do that. Every self help book that you read is gonna be a relatively interesting and, you're going to love every second of it, but nothing is going to change until you can figure out how to connect with yourself. Yeah.

Sarah:

Good job, Christine. I don't know why I keep telling you good job.

Chris:

I appreciate that. I will give myself an A for today.

Sarah:

As you should. As you should. All right. Next question. Gold star for you. Tara, do you find Give Tara one too. Tara gets all the gold stars. You just get one of them. Tara gets the rest of them. I'll

Chris:

pass them out to everybody else. She was always nice like that.

Sarah:

Tara, do you find, have you run into any resistance from, parents, administrators, specific students or anything that they've really pushed against it?

Tara:

I have not. I'm always respectful to other people and their energy and how they feel. So if I did have a student who didn't want to participate in whatever it is, That's fine. They can sit back. more I think of like now being in high school, being a high school teacher for the past 70 years. I haven't. And even again, like Maryland and all the county public schools is pretty progressive as far as wanting to make sure all schools have some sort of wellness in place, or at least they're getting there. they have somebody at the board of ed who is in charge of the umbrella for wellness and all the schools. And she's doing an amazing job getting it into every single school. So I haven't had any sort of resistance. And when I was doing like my meditation classes, like I did meditation and yoga classes for kids at some different studios. And when I was doing, people come there because they wanna be there. Yeah. same with my online meditations. I did, I was a keynote speaker in Florida at a private school for a football team. Couple years ago and so some of the football players Really, it was just like a couple of them were hesitant at first But then when they got into it and understood like the visualization that I was doing they like completely got into it you know just like anything else in life I think you just need to respect other people where they are meet people where they are And build upon that strength. So meeting you where you are and teaching you just to feel your breath. And look how simple that is, and then going from there and maybe adding in a positive affirmation, adding in a visualization, the more and more you do it and the more confident you become in yourself, but it's really just simple. It's life being given to you and you recognizing. That you are breathing and life is given to you and what are you going to do with that life? What are you going to do with the breath that you have with the life that you have and sometimes? And sometimes it's just placing your energy on going and making dinner, and that's okay Sometimes it's just all we have is right here in this moment. That's it us on this podcast having this great conversation being with three fabulous women and Enjoying the energy and intellect and conversation. This is all we have at the moment. And who knows what tomorrow will bring. So just take in for right now what it is. I think that's the

Sarah:

best part of it. at least for me, that's the best part of it because I'm a very anxious person and I'm always ahead, like trying to think too far ahead. Or the other way, I'm thinking about the regrets from the past. Like I'm Don't go back into the past. Before getting into this stuff, that's Yeah. I was in either of those places. I was very rarely here. No.

Tara:

You gotta be here right now.

Sarah:

And it makes a huge difference.

Tara:

Now Sarah, when you start to get anxious, do you ever say any positive affirmations?

Sarah:

I've started to. Okay. So I started, in working with Michelle Kapotz, I've learned some ways to, to cope. she did start, we started doing the tapping. I forget what the actual, what the EF, I want to say EFT, but isn't that, is that what it is?

Tara:

EMT is that's, I don't know. EFT. Electronic

Sarah:

funds transfer is not what it is.

Tara:

it's in my book because I have her quoted in my book. She has a little

Sarah:

section. so we started, working on that a little bit, but I haven't really stuck with that. you find what works for you. But there's, and the other day I was in a meeting, one of our higher ups, it's a meeting that would make, normally make me anxious. And while I was waiting for him to join. I was actually writing, doodling in my notepad. you are awesome.

Yeah. You're ready for

Sarah:

this. You got, making little notes for myself. And I find that really helpful. And it's simple. Like you said, it's simple stuff like that's, at least for me, really helpful. So next, let's see. If a teacher wants to, so we know they need to go out and get this book and let's start with this book. They're not someone who, this is new to them. Oops. But. They're intrigued by all of this and they really want to get it into their classrooms and get themselves started. They go out, they get the book, what's the next, what's the next step? Read it

Tara:

from page one so that they understand why they are making the choice to bring this into their classroom. Every day, if possible, but also to realize why they need to start with them and then take the 30 day challenge, just do all the things that I've even laid out and all the extra things that aren't even in that 30 day challenge that's in the book. My book has a website, bringingmindfulnessintotheclassroom. com and on that website are links to the animated version of the podcast on YouTube and also links to the podcast as well. And that'll be Uploaded with different things as the months go on as well, different resources that teachers can use.

Sarah:

I also, I was actually on the website today, and that's what I have over here that I'm looking at. A couple of things that I noticed that I thought were pretty cool is our whatever, our grammar ever. And I was just about to say the website's super easy to navigate and it really is. Oh good, thank you. Yeah, here we go. The workshop for parents, assembly for students, professional development for teachers. So you do all of that. I do. You offer those. I do. go onto your website and take a look into that.

Tara:

Yes. Yes. So I have professional developments for teachers where I'll go to a school and we'll teach them these tools. We'll teach them, like we'll do a meditation so that they see how easy. It is. And there's a scripted one in the book as well, which I just recorded the audio version a couple of weeks ago. So that'll be out in audio format where they could even just play it if they wanted to. But

the

Tara:

professional development will give teachers the tools, will give time for, discussion, reflection. questions, all of that, and then also, what would be really great about that is popping into different classrooms as well, and just helping them with specifics. and then assemblies for students where, just because I've worked with so many children of all ages from two through master's level, in higher education and teaching them how to be mindful. Different ways of being mindful using, I have a couple of manipulatives that I use in showing about the thoughts and then how the breath settles the thoughts. and then workshops for parents and really with parents, helping them to realize that their child is its own being. And. They have their own path to walk in life, and we can't keep trying to steer them back to the path we want them to be on because it's not our path. It's their path. And part of our issue with our mental health crisis is We're a generation that grew up with, a little better than the generation before of the depression scarcity generation. We're like two generations out of that. And so we can had. Forenza or Outback Red, like all the different, we were like the first generation to get what we wanted and to conform to these trends, if you will. And so we're now bringing up our children in the same way. We want them to be on the best soccer team, the best lacrosse team. we want them to have private voice lessons. We want them to have Suzuki training and violin. We want the best for our kids, which of course we do. And if we are privileged enough to be able to afford these things, we want them for our child, but our child might not want that. And it's a lot of pressure, a lot of pressure. And it's also a lot of pressure when we're like, why did you get a B? You should try harder next time in physics. and it's not everybody is a scientist and not everybody is really great at math or French doesn't come easy to them and we have to grant grace to our children. But again, before we can grant grace to our children, we have to grant grace to ourselves. Be like, it's okay. And being a perfectionist is not the way to live. And keeping up with the Joneses is not what you want to do. There's so much about our parenting and we really need to accept our children for who they are.

Sarah:

which can be really difficult sometimes when your kid. Just want to wear sweatpants and dirty ass shirt and not wash his face. Like this kid just doesn't give a shit about any

Tara:

but the thing is though is like sometimes natural consequences are okay.

Sarah:

Yeah, that's I'm like, all right, dude, fine.

Tara:

Yeah, pick and choose.

Sarah:

Yeah, it can change your

Tara:

battles

Sarah:

for sure.

Tara:

yeah, so I do all of that I'm giving a parent workshop at a local Bookstore here in Saverna Park, Maryland at Perk Books. So I'm giving a parent workshop in early April There's a non profit group That Parenting for a Different World, fantastic group that you guys actually should check them out. and they, the group was formed from one of the families losing a daughter to suicide. Because there was too much pressure coming at her. And so this is the goodness that has come out of that loss of life. these waves, these ripple effects, there's always good in everything that happens. Whatever divine intervention, the divine unfolding of life. There's always good that comes out of everything. But anyway, so they're a great nonprofit group local around here that I'll be doing that parent workshop. And then, yeah, see, I'm speaking next week at a convention in New Orleans, have a room full of, university professors and teachers and student teachers. It's the National Association for Professional Development Schools, which is university school partnerships. that'll be really great to just talk to them about bringing mindfulness into the classroom, especially with student teachers, with those who are, getting certified to teach in our schools, like coming fresh out of college, how great it is, this young energy, this fresh energy, fresh perspective, and being able to implement this. so early in their career will be fantastic for them as well as the students because teachers, there's a lot of pressure. There's a lot of burnout. We're losing teachers left and right. And but yeah, that's, those are just some of the things that I offer and just taking this to a, the next level and helping parents, helping educators.

Sarah:

We need it. They need it. Everybody needs it, for sure. So is there anything else? I'm going to wrap us up with one more question. is there anything else that we didn't talk about that you feel our listeners need to know that there's anything, just anything that we missed that you might want to share with everybody. And you could say, no, we got it.

Tara:

I don't, what's coming to me is that we all want the same things in life, right? We want to feel loved. We want to, give love. We want to be healthy. We want to have a roof over our head. We want to have peace. And. The only way that's going to happen is to start with us and do the little bit we can to bring peace to our world and allow that to ripple out and to ripple out into our communities, into our state, into our country and blanket this earth with peace, which is what is so desperately needed. But

Sarah:

for sure,

Tara:

it's gotta start with us. So drag yourself into that chair, sit for as long as you can, and just feel your breath. Add in a positive affirmation. I am strong, I am resilient, I am light, I am love, I trust, or just thank you. Like just having those moments of gratitude, thank you, and just repeating that. Let it just start with us. It has to. It has to.

Sarah:

Awesome. I don't think I could have wrapped it up any better than that. No. No. I was going to

Chris:

try.

Sarah:

No. Yeah. I think. I'm good. Yeah. I think that wraps it up for us. What Tara said. Yeah. Tara, thank you so much for taking the time to, to do this with us. We really appreciate it. I'm super excited to share this book, like I said, with my educator friends and of course with all of my parent friends. I'm sure that Christine will do the same and just for all of our listeners, any of the links that we mentioned, all of Tara's information, we'll have that all in our show notes as well. And I think that's it. Awesome. Thank you, ladies.

Chris:

Tara, I will tell you the same thing I tell my sister when we're done with these things. I love you. I miss you. Yep.

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Christine Kanalis

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Sarah Leibhart

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