On October 5th for our 773 class period we ventured over to the interfaith chapel at UVic. This is somewhere I have been to several time for work meetings but I had never participated in mindfulness or spiritual practices in this place. I found this a really engaging and meaningful activity as we got to learn about our the two chaplains leading our session, Henri Loche and Soshin McMurchy, and the work they do at the Interfaith chapel. They provided us with a ton of resources that we could use for our own well being, as well as for our students.

We began our meditation through an activity that got us to feel, hear, smell and taste a raisin as if we had never encountered one before. I found this a really interesting experience as it truly helped me to focus my mind on the one thing in front of me and forget about the other things going on in my life in that moment. The firts time we did this activity it was guided by Henri and as we did it a second time we were self-guided. I found it really helpful to be guided through this meditation process first and I would certainly begin in this way in my own classroom if I was to do a similar activity. We were then brought back for conversation about this activity before we began an extended, silent meditation for about 20 minutes. This I found a lot harder. It was very difficult for me to focus my mind on my thoughts without judging those thoughts and not place a judgement of emotion on those feelings. While I was able to remain quiet and still for about 10 minutes, the remaining time I felt antsy and unfocused. This is something I hope to work on in the future for sure.

This experience can be brought in to the social studies classroom and into my teaching practice in many ways. I think it is an effective way to help students check in with themselves and how they are feeling on certain days. It also helps in focusing students energy and creating a focused spaced for learning. It is an opportunity for people to reflect on what is going on in their life or in their day and can be beneficial for mental health and controlling anxiety. I don't think this activity is specifically religious in any way and as such, many students can use it whether they have used meditation in a religious context before or not. In a content specific way, mindfulness is a great gateway to learning about religious and cultural practice as it is used in various ways in many religions and cultures.