Reducing Destructive Behaviors Like Bullying by Using Mindfulness in Schools with Laura Bekosh

Sicco Rood interviews meditation teachers of various wisdom traditions

Oct 05 2015

MF 33 - Reducing Destructive Behaviors Like Bullying by Using Mindfulness in Schools with Laura Bekosh

About Laura Bekosh

Laura obtained a Ph.D. in Transpersonal Psychology from Sofia University and has spent more than five years researching the academic and behavioral effects of mindful-awareness practices on children in k-12 schools. She has a Bachelors Degree in Business fromp Boston College and worked for 20 years in large, multinational companies, including Northern Telecom, EMC and GE. She was trained as a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Teacher at the University of Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness and co-developed the audio-guided Inner Explorer Programs. She has had a personal mindful awareness practice for more than 21 years.

Laura discovered the benefits of mindful awareness more than 20 years ago when she was trying to manage the stress of travel and long workdays. While working at GE, Laura had the insight to share her mindful awareness practice with hundreds of fellow employees. Upon seeing the many positive results the daily practice had on performance, creativity, and wellbeing, she realized it would be the perfect fit for education.

The practices can help children navigate the ups and downs of life with resilience, alleviating stress and anxiety, and can help them focus, allowing them to be 'ready to learn'. -- all with compassion, openness, and love. She can hardly wait for the first generation of kids going through this program to reach adulthood! Laura received a Bachelor of Science Degree from Boston College and a Doctoral Degree in Psychology from Sofia University. She was trained as a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) instructor through the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts.

When not working, Laura loves to spend time with family and friends, especially with her husband Rick and son Will. She loves being outside, which is much easier now that she moved from Illinois to Florida, going for a bike ride, running with her dog Scout, kayaking, or playing tennis.

About Inner Explorer

Laura Co-Founded Inner Explorer with Janice L. Houlihan. Inner Explorer's Vision is to inspire people to develop a daily mindful awareness practice, leading to a more compassionate, joyful, healthful, loving and peaceful world. They accomplish this by providing programs and tools, for children and their families worldwide, that inspire a daily mindful awareness practice. This practice will help lead the children and teens towards their highest potential by bolstering academic performance, creativity, social & emotional aptitude and well-being.

Laura Bekosh Interview Transcript

What follows is a summarized partial transcript. Listen to the audio to get the full conversation.

How did you get started with Meditation and Mindfulness?

She started reading about stress reduction, and one of the books was from John Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go, There You Are.

She found in her job with GE, around 2001 that this helped her colleagues as well. So they introduced this MBSR program into the workplace, and more and more people asked to be included in the retreat sessions. Very good outcomes.

She also saw this high level research into mindfulness and FMRI research on the Buddhist monks showing brain changes. GE made that FMRI equipment, so there was a tie -in. But it is very hard for people to practice every day. We go to a seminar, but then it's hard to integrate that indo their daily life. But it is hard to practice, if your work environment doesn't integrate mindfulness.

Regular pracitce is critical, to integrating this practice. So if you teach them while their young, it's going to be much easie.

She went to the U-Mass teacher training program in MBSR. She then learned how to make these prac tices designed for adults applicable to kids. So she started to convert these programs for kids. So in 2011 she co-founded Inner Explorer, to bring it into K12 schools. To help them into school and into daily life.

I'm curious about the struggles you experienced integrating the mindfulness practice into the GE workplace?

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