Start Here

Welcome! This is an international community of educators and helping professionals committed to mindfulness and compassion. 

This site is run by Catharine Hannay. I'm a writer and teacher from the northeastern United States, and I'm currently writing a book on mindfulness for teen girls (Prufrock Press, fall 2019). Here at Mindful Teachers, I curate content from a wide range of sources, including interviews and activities from experts on teaching mindfulness and complementary practices to adults and kids.

The Activities page has resources for practicing and teaching mindfulness and meditation, kindness and compassion, generosity and gratitude, social responsibility and social-emotional skills.

The Recommended Books page has suggested resources to help put the activities in context and help you deepen your own practice as well as teach more effectively.

The Self-Care Page has resources on mind-body health,  self-compassion, and coping with stress and burnout.

The Benefits of Mindfulness page has information about how mindfulness benefits kids and adults, and on what the current research can and can't tell us about the mind and the brain.


Start with these posts if you’re interested in starting a personal mindfulness practice:

• Body Scan: Awareness of the Body
• One-Word Labeling: Thoughts, Emotions, Sensations, and Urges
• Relaxed Abdominal Breath: Stress Reduction through Mindful Breathing

Start with these posts if you're interested in integrating mindfulness with academic content: 

• Mindful Listening: Only If You Listen Can You Hear
• Using Mindful Questioning to Enhance Academic Learning 

Start with these posts if you're interested in trauma-informed teaching:

• 8 Principles of Trauma-Informed Yoga and Mindfulness Teaching
• A Very Brief Introduction to How Trauma Affects the Brain
• Training Compassionate Educators to Respond to Childhood Trauma

Start with these posts if you’re new to teaching mindfulness, or working with a new student population:

• Effective Mindfulness-Based Approaches, for Teachers and Students
• Mindfulness and Yoga for Young Children: Tips, Books, Apps, and Activities
• Mindfulness for the Middle Grades
• Teaching Mindfulness, Meditation, and Yoga to Teens 

• Tips for Including Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students in Mindfulness, Meditation, and Yoga Classes  

Some basic guidelines if you're new to teaching mindfulness:

• I've been asked several times "What training do I need to become a mindful teacher?" There's a distinction between a 'mindful teacher' (one who practices mindfulness) and a 'mindfulness teacher' (one who teaches mindfulness).
• Please establish your own personal practice before teaching meditation or formal mindfulness practices to adults or children.  
• Please don't push anyone beyond their comfort level, for example if they don't want to close their eyes during meditation or prefer not to share personal information with the group.  
• The interviews with experienced mindfulness teachers and teacher trainers give a lot of suggestions for teaching different ages of students in different contexts around the world.