Southern Cross, together with Sir Ashley Bloomfield and the Pause Breathe Smile programme, has introduced a new free mindfulness practice to support mental wellbeing across New Zealand.

Sir Ashley Bloomfield has launched a new mindfulness practice in schools through Pause, Breathe, Smile. It comes as Southern Cross’s latest Healthy Futures survey shows 60 percent of parents are concerned about their children’s ability to cope with the pressures of life.

Opoho School deputy principal Lucy Marr holds a platter of food for her year 3 and 4 pupils during their Pause, Breathe, Smile session. Pause, Breathe, Smile (PBS) is a mindfulness and health programme being implemented in schools across New Zealand to help children aged 5 to 12 regulate their emotions, pay attention and build positive relationships.

Grant Rix shares with Duncan Garner the transformative power of mindful breathing and emotion regulation techniques that are helping schoolchildren navigate the stresses of modern life. From the challenges of technology to post-COVID concerns, our discussion sheds light on how these strategies are not just enhancing focus and reducing anxiety among the young, but also offering valuable lessons for adults.

Sir Ashley Bloomfield said he’s been running in some capacity for his entire life, having run a few marathons and as well as having a group of friends he goes on Saturday morning runs with whenever possible. “That fellowship kind of aspect of it, spending time with friends and in terms of both physical and mental wellbeing, to me you couldn’t tick many more boxes than that.”

Sir Ashley is an ambassador for Pause Breathe Smile – a mind health programme delivered in primary and intermediate schools – and his involvement in Round the Bays is also in support of increasing access and participation for children to participate through the Run and Become programme.

The former Director-General of Health – who is now a population health professor at the University of Auckland – joins about 10,000 people in the Southern Cross Round the Bays in Wellington tomorrow. This year, he has a strong focus on mindfulness.

Whaiwāhi Mauri Tau – Pause Breathe Smile is being offered to kura nationwide following a two year pilot at Te Kura Māori o Porirua.  Te Karere visits to find out how it’s going.

Modern life is speeding up and so is our breathing. In a deep dive into the wellness industry, The Post investigates why schools, dentists and workplaces want us to be more aware of the basics of breath.

Bloomfield had also started to use mindfulness on an everyday basis and said it was an essential ‘skill for life’.

“Children are coming back from playtime more ‘present’,” Yvette says. “They’ve learned that it’s normal to have worries, but now they know how to identify their concerns and have strategies they can use to deal with them.”

For nearly 10 years, Natasha Rix, 46, and her husband Grant, 44, have been the leaders behind Pause Breathe Smile. They first met in 2001, on a 10-day mindfulness retreat that shaped their whole lives. “We spent our twenties intensively practising, studying and travelling to learn from some of the best mindfulness teachers in the world including training as teachers ourselves,” says Natasha.

Children at a Horowhenua school are building resilience and learning how to deal with their emotions through a charity programme.

Rāwiri is a kaiako and ngā toi facilitator and began working with the two small rural schools in term 1. A dramaturgy process with teachers saw them drawing and sharing pictures to shift the story from literal to abstract and metaphoric, thus opening different ways to tell the story.

Grant Rix talks to the The Breeze about Pause Breathe Smile.

The good news is that in an initiative delivered by the Pause Breathe Smile (PBS) Trust, supported and fully funded by Southern Cross Group, teachers are being trained to teach mindfulness practices in Aotearoa New Zealand schools and kura, with results already looking overwhelmingly positive and pointing towards continuing positive outcomes in future.

Dominic Bowden speaks to experts from around the world, local legends and our own Grant Rix, to help people feel good and ultimately lead healthier and happier lives. See full show 22/10/22 one hour into the show.

A home-grown programme teaching mindfulness to tens of thousands of school children around the country is bringing more calm and less anxiety to the classroom, according to an independent evaluation.

How can we help mindfulness resonate with young boys, especially if they’re bored, resistant, or suspicious of their feelings?
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It has joined more than 230 schools across the country, embracing the mindfulness-based wellbeing programme, Pause, Breathe, Smile.

Pause Breath Smile is a special programme which teaches the basic mindfulness and gratitude teachings with children aged 5 – 12 years of age. Grant Rix co-founder of Pause Breath Smile shares the background of the kaupapa, its progress and goals.

SELF-awareness, mindfulness resilience, relief form stress and healthy minds are growing in Tairawhiti. Those newly-found attributes are the notable changes that have taken place with Kaiti School students – and others around the country – taking part in the Pause Breathe Smile (PBS) mind health programme.

Central to the New Zealand Curriculum is the aim of developing young Kiwis who are “confident… positive in their own identity… resilient… and able to relate well to others.”

Creating foundations for lifelong wellbeing within schools can take many forms and can provide priceless ripple effect throughout the school, its community and the lifetimes of its students and staff. What could be more valuable?

Teaching students mindfulness is even more crucial in such unpredictable times. A programme teaching mindfulness in primary and intermediate schools across the country is giving young New Zealanders the skills to navigate everyday life. Emily Writes talks to the people running the Pause Breathe Smile programme.

Mindfulness practices are emerging as one of many strategies schools and kura can use to support learner wellbeing. The Ministry of Education’s Education Gazette looks at the Pause Breathe Smile mindfulness programme that has recently been scaled up, allowing more schools access.