Applying to your context

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In 2020 to 2021, I embedded some mindful movement into my first year of Spanish classes, and I was really nervous ’cause I just wasn’t sure how the students were gonna react. I thought whether we’re gonna do the movement at all. So if you do feel nervous about bringing mindful movement into the classroom, then you’re not alone. Even Susan Hrach, who’s a key advocate of using movement for learning, says she feels nervous when she asks the students to do anything physical. Other researchers have reported social acceptability as a barrier to embedding movement into higher education classrooms.

So if you can’t envision bringing movement into your classroom but would like to, there are a few things you can do. First, you could offer movement sessions, somatic practices online, if that’s possible because in that way, students can turn their cameras off. Also, I’d say that remember that with any embodiment activity, there’s a bit of a mantra and it’s, “Choosing is better than doing.” So you can offer students choice in what they do, whether they do the movement activity or they do some other activity related to the course.

You can also offer mindful movement on demand, and this is what I do in my own learning platforms. So students can access the videos in their own time and then can really access them at times when stress is quite high for them, for example, during the assessment period. The other thing I think is really important and that I do when I’m introducing a more unusual mindful movement into my classroom, such as somatic movement, is tell the students why you’re recommending it.

What is the rationale for doing this? You could tell them, for example, that mindful movement and meditative practices themselves are considered brain fitness exercise, or that major organizations such as the World Health Organisation recommend mindful movement because of its effects on the brain and on mental health too. But what I would say is that it’s very important that you feel comfortable with what you’re doing if you’re introducing movement into your classrooms or it just won’t work. So if you don’t feel comfortable embedding mindful movement itself into the classroom and you’d rather maybe recommend it on your learning platform, remember that any movement itself has the sort of positive benefits for mental, physical, and cognitive health that we’ve been mentioning in the course. Just by inviting students to walk or wheel around the classroom or move from their seats like I was doing earlier in the course has real benefits for all of the different aspects of health that we’ve discussed.

Many individuals may feel hesitant to express themselves through movement. Cultural norms, along with feelings of shame or fear, particularly in relation to public speaking, often lead students and faculty to restrict their physical expression. However, all activity, including speech, inherently involves movement. We are in constant motion. How can we harness this movement to enhance the exchange of information essential for learning? How might incorporating brief movement experiences into a lesson be both restorative and enjoyable, while also supporting content retention and understanding?

Susan Hrach (2021), a key advocate for using movement in learning, has also expressed nervousness when introducing any physical activity into her classroom. Research by Cowgill et al. (2021) highlights ‘social acceptability’ as a barrier to integrating movement in higher education—many may feel that it is simply not a conventional practice. Moreover, mindful movement, especially mind-body types, may seem unfamiliar or even strange to some.

For those who feel hesitant about incorporating mindful movement into their classroom, there are a few strategies that can help ease this process:

Explain the benefits. It’s helpful to explain to students why mindful movement is being introduced. Describing it as “brain fitness exercise” and referencing studies from major organisations like the WHO and the John W. Brick Mental Health Foundation, which highlight the mental and cognitive benefits of mindful movement, can help students understand the purpose of the activity.
Encourage choice over participation. It is crucial to build choice into any activity. Instead of requiring participation, students could be given the option to engage in the mindful movement or to choose another activity for the 2-3 minutes dedicated to movement.
Offer movement online. One approach is to provide mindful movements in an online format, where students can turn off their cameras. This allows for a more private experience and may reduce any self-consciousness students feel.
Provide movement on demand. Another effective approach is to make the mindful movement videos available on demand. These can be embedded into the course platform, allowing students to access them during stressful times such as assessments. One way of doing that is by sharing links to Hugging Arms Watch here, Wrist Rotations Watch here, Peeling Off a Top Watch here, or others found online.
Ensure personal comfort. It is essential that the educator feels comfortable with the type of movement being introduced. If there is a lack of confidence in incorporating mindful movement into the classroom, any form of movement – mindful or not – can still provide positive health benefits. The WHO (2020) emphasises that even small activities, such as a 2–3-minute walk or simple seated movement while discussing a concept learned, can stimulate mental and physical health benefits. This is especially important given that extended periods of sedentary behavior can have detrimental effects on both physical and mental health (WHO, 2020; 2018).

By considering these strategies and focusing on the health and engagement benefits, mindful movement can become a valuable part of the learning process.

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Move, Focus, Learn: Mindful Movement for Learning

Applying to your context

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