Six Thoughts On Integrating Mindfulness Into Virtual Professional Learning Spaces
In today’s shifting landscapes of work and wellness, the importance of integrating mindfulness into virtual professional learning spaces is increasingly recognized. Mindfulness practices in these environments can help foster connection — something that is both more challenging and more necessary in virtual settings. This article offers six wise and skillful guidelines to help create virtual spaces that encourage connection and compassion. Drawing from over 20 years of experience in mindfulness and adult professional learning, these strategies are designed not just to connect us, but to transform our interactions, allowing us to support each other with compassion and courage through challenges and changes.
1. Ground yourself first. If you are the one holding space or leading the group it’s essential that you yourself are doing what’s vital to support your wellbeing. Ask yourself: What’s one essential thing I need to do daily to support my wellbeing? Then DO THAT one thing consistently and make sure it’s part of your daily routine. Make a plan for how to hold yourself in loving accountability.
2. Check your tech and prepare participants. Get to know the meeting platform you are using. Be sure to connect and test your audio and video well ahead of time. Provide a practice opportunity for users to connect and test their audio and video too. During guided meditation practices be sure to mute audio for all participants. Encourage participants to remain on camera, being able to “see faces” is so important for building connection, creating intimacy and a sense of community. Ask participants to turn other devices to airplane mode and minimize other windowson your computer to avoid distractions. Here are 10 general tips on conducting virtual meetings.
3. Agreements are foundational. My go-to agreements right now are either Agreements for Multicultural Interactions or the Circle of Trust Touchstones for Safe & Trustworthy Spaces. Offer either set of agreements. Ask if anyone would like clarification or has something to add. An effective initial practice is to go through each agreement and have participants speak to what they think it means, then invite participants to hold one agreement as their focus for the session. Be sure to periodically invite participants to check in on how they are doing with their agreement of focus.
4. Only share practices you have experience with. If you plan to offer a guided meditation only share what you have experience with. If you don’t yet feel comfortable offering a guided practice yet, wait! Play a recording. Invest time in strengthening your own skillfulness and your comfort level will increase. Know there are other contemplative practices out there! Mindfulness and meditation aren’t the only ways we can cultivate loving awareness and nourish ourselves during this time. Check out the Tree of Contemplative Practices developed by The Center for Contemplative Mind & Society. For me music and poetry are the most powerful ways of opening my heart. Parker Palmer’s principle of a third thing can be very healing. A third thing uses poems, artifacts, stories, artworks, or music to metaphorically delve into a topic, reaching into deeper aspects of our inner lives at times addressing the needs of the soul. As T.S. Eliot writes, “Poetry may make us a little more aware of the deeper, unnamed feelings which form the substratum of our being, to which we rarely penetrate; for our lives are mostly a constant evasion of ourselves.”
5. Create a plan and then be open to the unfolding. While planning is crucial, flexibility is key. adrienne maree brown’s principle of “Less prep, more presence,” emphasizes the importance of being responsive to the moment and attuned to the group’s needs. Navigating the emotional currents of a virtual room requires a keen sense of observation and the ability to trust your instincts. In moments of uncertainty, engage the group by asking directly what they need. Plan ahead for how you’ll take input from the group, using the visual, auditory and written options that your technology provides.
TWO AGENDA TEMPLATES
The more your personal practice deepens, the more seamless your integration of contemplative practices will be in your facilitation of meetings or professional learning. We can bring mindfulness to any and every moment.
1. Integrating mindfulness into a meeting or professional learning.
2. Facilitating a mindful practice group.
INTEGRATING MINDFULNESS INTO A MEETING/PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
If your meeting lasts more than one hour be sure to build in a mindful movement break!
Arriving & Centering (5 min)
Example: Meditation or Weaving Contemplative Practice with Poetry (Lectio Divina)
Sharing Outcomes (5 min)
When developing your outcomes ask yourself:
💙 If you could only accomplish one or two things at the meeting, what would be the most important outcomes to achieve, and why?
💙 How will you know you have achieved your outcome? What will you see, hear, feel or experience that let’s you know you have been successful?
Welcoming/Inclusion Activities (10–15 min)
Tip: Depending on group size and the length of your engagement utilize break out rooms.
Welcoming rituals establish safety and predictability, support contribution by all voices, set norms for respectful listening, and allow people to connect with one another creating a sense of belonging. To be successful they must be: carefully chosen, connected to the work of the day, engagingly facilitated, and thoughtfully debriefed. Welcoming/Inclusion Activities are one of the SEL 3 Signature Practices (Ann McKay Bryson)
Welcoming rituals are great opportunities to engage in reflection that nourishes us. Some prompts that would be appropriate especially now are:
💙 What’s one thing that’s bringing you joy?
💙 How are you caring for yourself?
💙 What’s a commitment you need to make for your self-care?
💙 How can you be of service now?
What’s an agreement you plan to hold for our time together and why?
Nourishing Content & The Power of Protocols
These are design tools for the content of the meeting. If you want to really create a supportive space for colleagues you may want to check out the Greater Good in Action, a collection of sciencebased practices that support a meaningful life.
In the Mindfulness module of the SEL Every Day online courses, ten formal and ten informal mindfulness practices are introduced. Each practice is broken down into what the practice is, why it’s important and then instructions and guidelines are offered on how to engage in each practice.
Whatever you focus on here, don’t forget the power of using protocols to support engagement, reflection, integration, application and EQUITY OF VOICE!
This is also a great time to have participants reconnect with their focus agreement. You can have participants do a quick internal check in on how they are doing with their agreement.
Craft this section as you normally would for an in-person meeting/professional learning and then reflect on how each component of this section needs to shift in a virtual space. You can utilize a chart like this:
Reflecting on how the meeting went (5 min)
Invite participants to close their eyes as you walk them through the various components of the meeting/professional learning. This is offered like a visualization. Then open it up for feedback on how the meeting went. When appropriate, also email a feedback form to participants for more formal responses. Be sure to offer a “feedback on feedback” reflection in person or via email, especially if the group meets regularly or is a PLC, demonstrating to participants that their input had value and influence on your facilitation and leadership.
Closing Reflection
The closing reflection is very important. This is a great opportunity for engaging in a contemplative practice or utilizing any of the Optimistic Closings in the SEL 3 Signature Practices that fits your current context.
MINDFUL PRACTICE GROUP
Excerpted from Teach, Breathe, Learn: Mindfulness In and Out of the Classroom (Srinivasan, 2014)
Inspired by Adele Caemmerer & the American Embassy School (AES) Educators Sangha, New Delhi, India
Opening (5 minutes)
When everyone has settled in and connected to their breathing, we transition to formally opening the group with three or more sounds of the bell and some brief words that help call the group together and set the intention for the gathering. These words could be a gatha (short verses that bring us into the present moment), a poem, or even a song.
Bodywork/Breathing (15 minutes)
Breathing
For this section I would encourage you to adapt from a collection of breathing meditations in “The Blooming of a Lotus” or “Present Moment, Wonderful Moment” by Thich Nhat Hanh, or create your own. The use of the bell deepens the experience and gently reminds us to come back to ourselves when our minds wander. Two of my favorites: “In, out, deep, slow; calm, ease, smile, release” and “Breathing in, I see myself as a flower. Breathing out, I feel fresh.”
Mindful Movements/Stretching
Have everyone share one stretch or you can choose ten ahead of time to share with the group. Mindful Movements: Ten Exercises for Well-Being is a great resource for this.
Readings and Practice (20 minutes)
Readings
Invite members to volunteer taking a turn to bring a reading that has inspired them to share with the group. You can also share excerpts from a book or blog that has inspired your own practice. The key when looking for reading is to identify something that will touch, move, and inspire members of your group. Short readings provide focus and a theme for reflection.
Mindful Breathing
Have the group sit for twenty minutes of mindful breathing. Tea, Eating, Object Meditation Mindfully drinking tea, eating an orange, looking deeply at nature, or engaging in artwork can be wonderfully nourishing activities. Savoring a cup of tea or an orange together can be nourishing even if it’s done virtually. Have everyone hold their cup of tea and take the time to really savor it! Invite participants to walk outside for 20 minutes without their phone and when they return share reflections about their experiences. Taking time to draw or paint places us directly in the moment.
Circle Sharing (15 minutes)
This is time for group members to share what’s happening for them in their practice or in their lives. It would be a good idea to come up with guidelines with the group for how you would like to conduct circle sharing. In my experience it can be guided with a suggested theme or can be completely open. Each person who shares speaks from their own experience and process. It’s not a discussion and there is no “cross talk” so whoever is speaking can share without interruption. Most importantly, everything shared in the circle is confidential.
Closing (5 minutes)
The closing provides closure and transition to everyday life. It helps members absorb the experience and reflect on their intention. It can take any form that works for your group, whether it be a song, reciting a poem, silence, or reciting a traditional loving-kindness prayer first to yourself and then to all beings. One that my husband and I say at the end of our daily sitting practice is:
6. Mindfulness is not a panacea. While the practice can be incredibly supportive and transformative for some, it’s not a substitute for psychotherapy. Some of your colleagues may need professional mental health support.
Finally, I know that mirror neurons can be felt through the screen and it’s possible to have deeply moving and meaningful connections virtually. The most important thing to remember is that the same skills and best practices for in-person meeting facilitation apply virtually. The more we practice, the better we get at holding space online.
Author Bio: Meena Srinivasan is a contemplative leader, celebrated speaker, accomplished author, and visionary edupreneur. She is an educator-activist at heart, consistently championing the fusion of Mindfulness, Emotional Intelligence, and Belonging. Meena was featured as one of 2022’s 10 Powerful Women of the Mindfulness Movement in Mindful Magazine and is the Executive Director of Transformative Educational Leadership (TEL)™ an organization that supports educational leaders in building more compassionate and just schools. A former public school administrator and National Board Certified Teacher, Meena is the creative force behind the SEL Every Day Online Courses, an instructor of graduate level Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) courses at UC Berkeley and the CEO of Karuna Consulting, LLC, an organization that takes its name from the Sanskrit word ‘Karuna,’ signifying compassion. Karuna Consulting is a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) driven by a profound mission: to foster a more compassionate world through Meena’s keynotes, professional learning, coaching, and consulting services. She is the author of numerous publications including Teach, Breathe, Learn and SEL Every Day. The latter was honored as one of 2019’s Favorite Books for Educators by the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley. Her TEDx talk on Tenderness is one of the most popular TEDx talks of 2024 (with over 2 million views). Meena has been practicing yoga and meditation for over 25 years, is an ordained Zen Buddhist and serves on the Board of the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation. Learn more at meenasrinivasan.com.
