Bolles provides 'peaceful moments' for students

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Anne Fallon’s third graders at Bolles’ Lower School in Ponte Vedra Beach are finding time to take a break from academics, and opportunities to find peace of mind, during what Fallon calls “Mindful Moments.”

During “Mindful Moments,” Fallon allows her students to lay down, take deep breaths and go off in a world of their own, as they close their eyes and find their inner Zen.

“I went to a waterfall.”

“I went to the beach.”

“I went back to when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.”

“I imagined myself in a warp hole of time to see all the other times.”

Those are some of the things the kids have shared Fallon and their classmates as they related their experiences with their peaceful moments.

Regardless of their destination, Fallon is just relieved to see her students relieved after their “mindful moments.”

Fallon was inspired after she took a trip to New York City, where she visited the Guggenheim Museum and attended a special exhibit by Doug Wheeler. The exhibit was a transformation from the “hectic world, to complete silence,” according to Fallon.

“I could sense there was a need, within the classroom setting, to encourage a sense of peace, self-awareness and reflection,” she said.

Fallon, then, collaborated with the Lower School guidance counselor, Shelley Serafin, and created “Mindful Moments” that take place three to four times a week, normally after lunch, recess or “overexcited” times.

“Although our classrooms may never be designed quite like Doug Wheeler’s exhibit, taking time for self-reflection, mindfulness or sense of peace are certainly alternatives to block out the world’s noises around us.”