mindful er

Days of Mindfulness for classes

during a stay in Lower Austria

Origin

In November 2020 I (Ingrid) responded to an invitation in a newsletter I had received by the project Bildünger. In it, they were looking to promote mindfulness events aimed at the educational sector on their social media platforms. On an impulse I agreed, and by doing so, the idea to offer a mindfulness course online was born.

When in January 2021 the non-profit organization MARA got officially approved by the Viennese police department, the initial idea expanded into a cooperative event Mindfulness across the Austrian edu­ca­tional landscape. We wanted to point to what was already being offered in this field in Austria.

While researching which expert on mindfulness to possibly include, Jakob Brunner of MARA got in touch with David Kammerer, a mindfulness teacher at the Burgerhof in South Tyrol. During a con­ver­sation with David, he had the idea to expand the event. Therefore, the originally conceived topic changed to Mindfulness across the German-speaking educational landscape.

At our online event in April 2021 we saw an enormous amount of traffic. Approximately 80 interested people, who came from all parts of the educational field, contacted us, and around 60 participants signed up and took part. This fact substantiated and showed us a clear demand for mindfulness when it came to education.

Main idea & Target group

mindful er is an extracurricular program for classes and teachers of focus schools in Vienna, and high schools in Lower Austria.
The idea behind this project is to offer a place in nature for students to study mindfulness in Lower Austria. A suitable place could be a farm, or a craft business, for instance.

Over the course of a few days while experiencing joint actions human skills are being fostered. We assist students and teachers in observing and respecting their inner and outer boundaries, enabling trust in oneself and in the group.
We offer space to release whichever emotion might crop up, to become aware of it and to find its appro­priate handling. By providing mindfulness exercises as ways to cope, solutions to conflicts can be found.

Students become more aware of how they appear in front of others and receive important feedback. Teachers are being offered ways on how to effectively integrate these experiences into the classroom. By working with the target group, concrete actions are being generated automatically.
We take as reference the programs that are currently being offered at the Burgerhof in South Tyrol, which was founded in 2015.

Implementation

Working closely with the Burgerhof we get to know the content of the program and its mode of operation. Subsequently in dialogue with teachers and pupils we compile a demand analysis of schools in Vienna and Lower Austria in regards to the personal and interpersonal challenges of teaching. Elaboration and definition of a multiple-day, on site program takes place together with schoolteachers and students. A run of two pilot phases, followed by an evaluation is scheduled. This results in a standard offer for classes. Simultaneously, we draw up a hands-on manual for teachers, parents and headmasters.

The implementation of mindful er takes place in collaboration with the Burgerhof, schools across Vienna and Lower Austria, colleges and universities.

Funding

At the moment we are still looking for possible funding for this project.

We would love your support and to collaborate with you!
Just write us an email or give us a call

+43 670 55 88 192