At MMP, we are committed to providing the best quality mindfulness teaching that replicates research-proven interventions to assure optimal outcomes for participants. Mindfulness skills, like paying attention to our bodies, our breath and the sounds going on around us, are proven to reduce stress, anxiety and depression, and increase happiness and empathy for others.
Our teachers provide evidence-based, trauma-informed mindfulness programs proven to improve academic achievement, mental health, and relationships with self and others. We offer mindfulness programs tailored to different age groups, including preschoolers, K-12 students, young adults and youth-serving adults (parents, educators, coaches, and staff).
Our Programs
MMP’s programs range from weekly courses in classrooms to custom workshops & retreats. We work with administrators, teachers and guidance counselors to integrate our lessons into pre-existing schedules and curricula in a way that is conducive to the overall learning environment.
We are on a mission to grow a kinder world for youth and young adults.
Our Curricula
Our programs implement research-backed, trauma-informed curricula, with a focus on both individual and systemic change.
The Kindness Curriculum for ages 3-5 is proven to improve preschoolers’ executive functioning, self-regulation and academic and social development. During the course of this 12-week program, preschoolers learn their ABCs - Attention, Breath + Body, and Caring practices. Research shows students participating in this curriculum earned higher marks in academic performance and showed greater improvements in areas that predict future success than non-participating students.
Click the arrow below to visit the Kindness Curriculm's website.
Click the arrow below to visit the Kindness Curriculm's website.
Mindful Schools is an evidence-based curriculum that integrates mindfulness into K-12 classrooms using a 20-lesson program. Taught once a week, each lesson is 20-30 minutes long. Brief, yet consistent, moments of awareness can improve attention, interpersonal relationships and compassion. Through experiential classroom exercises involving breathing, listening, sensing, calming and self-reflection, students learn how their thoughts, emotions and behaviors influence their experiences and develop a mindful “toolbox'' to change knee-jerk reactions to wise responses.
Click the arrow below to visit the Mindful Schools website.
Click the arrow below to visit the Mindful Schools website.
Koru Mindfulness is a secular, evidence-based curriculum designed for teaching mindfulness, meditation and stress management to college students and young adults, ages 18-29. Koru helps mitigate common challenges faced by young adults, including poor sleep, anxiety, stress and focus/attention skills. Koru is offered to Montana State University students each semester, as well as to the community.
Click the arrow below to visit the Koru website.
Click the arrow below to visit the Koru website.
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness means paying attention to our thoughts, sensations and external environment with curiosity, kindness and non-judgment.
Where We Teach
Our programs can be implemented in schools, youth organizations and communities.
What do mindfulness programs consist of?
Our programs focus on students’ direct experience as they explore practices together and process their experience with the guidance of a mindfulness teacher. Weekly practice develops skills allowing students to build their own “mindful toolbox” to be used all day as they navigate challenges and learn ways to come into the moment with curiosity and relaxed alertness. Developing these tools early predicts success in life and nurtures natural kindness in oneself and toward others.
Mindfulness practices promote focused attention, which helps students of all ages experience learning as a joyful adventure and exploration. Students develop greater inner-awareness of how the body’s nervous systems alert them to stress as they learn to identify and regulate emotions.
Mindfulness education gives students the skills they need to feel resourced in challenging moments with a greater sense of well-being. Practicing mindfulness skills in a group has an exponential impact as the classroom teacher participates and then reinforces skills in academics, and social and emotional development.
In mindfulness lessons, students learn to focus on the breath, sounds or body sensations as a way to intentionally direct attention. This training develops positive emotional states including kindness, compassion and gratitude. Specific practices help students deeply feel and savor positive emotions and experiences.
Our teachers understand mindfulness through study and personal practice.
Frequently Asked Questions
How are MMP programs funded?
Funding comes from 3 sources:
1. Course fees. We work with schools and parent organizations as best we can to accommodate budget restrictions.
2. Fundraising through individual donations and fundraisers.
3. Successful grant applications.
How can I learn mindfulness skills to help the youth I serve?
We at Montana Mindfulness Project welcome you to train in the two online mindfulness courses offered by Mindful Schools, which is the training our teachers take before becoming mindfulness educators.
We think you will be as inspired as we were. The potential of bringing these life-enhancing skills to youth–and yourself as well–is magnificent.
Learn more at www.mindfulschools.org
Is mindfulness secular?
The short answer is: Yes.
Mindful Schools, a primary contributor to MMP’s curriculum, explains it best:
“Mindfulness is gaining a prominent place within society – in medicine, mental health and education. While this development has largely been heralded by political and medical leaders, occasional concerns have been raised about the secularity of mindfulness. Critics, for example, have suggested that mindfulness represents a disguised attempt to establish religion within the secular sphere.
“Mindful Schools wishes to state our unequivocal commitment to a thoroughly secular approach to mindfulness practice. We are steadfastly committed to integrating mindfulness in education in a way that neither advances nor inhibits the religious beliefs (or lack of beliefs) of educators and students.”
To read the full article, visit www.mindfulschools.org/foundational-concepts/mindfulness-and-secularity/.
I'm a parent and would like my child's school to offer mindfulness education. What can I do?
Parent advocacy to support and enhance a child’s learning is a key ingredient to success in school and joyful learning. Speaking with your student’s teacher, guidance counselor and principal about the benefits of mindfulness education is a great way to start an investigation of this possibility.:
Effective actions include directing school staff to our website, bring them printed material from mindfulschools.org, offer to assist with fundraising (contact us at hello@mtmindfulness.org if you would like support on how to do this), and/or speaking with the school’s parent organization to initiate the conversation.
