Modern society and work requirements push people to multi-task. Retired Durango teacher JoAnne Hibbard is promoting the opposite - mindfulness, or focusing on one thing at a time.
"I'm a good multi-tasker, but each thing is kind of shoddy," she told members of the Pine River Centennial Rotary Club on June 10. "This is what technology has done to us. ... Society is too busy, too much pressure to perform, too much media. The result is less efficiency, problems with attention, impulse behavior, depression, anxiety, sleep problems."
Pressure to multi-task at work makes employees less effective, she asserted.
Hibbard defined mindfulness as "intentional focus on the present, without judgment. Focus on one thing at a time, which is the opposite of multi-tasking." Ability to focus on one thing is "what we don't have in this present day society. We're always busy on our cell phones, all these distractions."
She said she taught for 31 years in Durango schools and is now an educational consultant.
"Increasingly, I became less and less enamored with data and curriculum. I decided to present a different perspective, to teach kids to be mindful."
Hibbard cited research on people who do mindfulness meditation. They have fewer health problems, more social interactions, and better self-regulation. Mindfulness training is being used in hospitals, in therapy, in education and government, and even the armed forces and prisons, she said.
Hibbard showed a brain diagram that she uses with kids. She said mindfulness mediation strengthens and enlarges the pre-frontal cortex. "That's where executive functioning happens. It's planning, analyzing, higher level thinking. Animals don't have that," she said. "It coordinates all the functions in your brain, so you want it to get stronger and bigger."
In contrast, the amygdala in the bottom center of the brain controls the primitive fight or flight reflex. "In our world today, we're in a constant state of stress and alert. That releases cortisol, the stress hormone. That's where you get disease and heart attacks," Hibbard said. Under that influence, the amygdala gets bigger and the pre-frontal cortex gets smaller.
Also affected is the hippocampus, which Hibbard said is the memory center. "Mindfulness calms the amygdala and the hippocampus, and strengthens the pre-frontal cortex. Kids understand that." She said, "I've done this with kindergartners."
She said discipline incidents have gone down at Park Elementary School in Durango, where she has done mindfulness training.
So how does one develop mindfulness? Hibbard said to start by sitting in a quiet place and focusing on your breathing. That initiates a relaxation response, which in turn changes things in your brain. As you focus on your breathing, "Your mind starts jumping around like a little monkey," she said, thus the term "monkey mind." Notice each intruding thought without judgment, and let it go, she said. "Even if it's 200 times in one minute. You've caught yourself. That's part of being mindful."
The focus on breathing can be enhanced by placing hands on "anchor spots," one just above the belly button, and one over the heart, or "wherever you can find your breath," she said. Eating is another occasion to practice mindfulness, she said. Pay attention and savor each bite instead of wolfing your food.
"Kids become more focussed. This changes lives," for both kids and adults, Hibbard said. "This has to be a concerted practice. It becomes easier." She acknowledged it will be harder for kids who have attention deficit disorder. She reiterated, "It has to be a concerted practice."
Hibbard is running two mindfulness camps this summer. Both are full with waiting lists, she said.
