As I wrote last time, I've found that the abstract nature of mindfulness can make it challenging to teach to teens in treatment. As a result, I’ve been experimenting with ways to use experiential activities to assist with this process and it seems to me this works well for “everyday” mindfulness. The activities presented here are an attempt to introduce teens in treatment to a hands-on approach to mindfulness, to increase the attractiveness of mindfulness, and to assist clients in integrating mindfulness into their daily life.
Defining Mindfulness
Jon Kabat-Zinn wrote, “Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.” These activities explore these three elements of mindfulness.
On purpose: Raisin’ Awareness
Raisin’ Awareness is a guided exercise involving eating a single raisin with full intentionality. This script is adapted from Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, by Segal, Williams, and Teasdale.
In a moment, we’re going to do an exercise, but before we start, let’s take a few moments and focus on our breathing… Pay attention to your in-breath; imagine releasing the stress from your day, all the tension and frustration, making space for more calmness…
While you continue to focus on your breathing, I’m going to come around to each of you and give you an object. Don’t do anything with the object until I ask you. Just look at it… Look at it like you’ve never seen anything like it before… Like you have just dropped in from outer space this very moment, and have never seen anything like it in your life…
And now, holding the object between your finger and thumb, look even more carefully at it, as if you’ve never seen such a thing before… Turning it over between your finger, and paying attention to how it feels, as if you’ve never seen such a thing before… Explore every part of it, as if you’ve never seen such a thing before…
And while you’re doing this, if any thoughts come to your mind, like “what a strange exercise this is” or “I don’t get what this has to do with drug treatment,” that’s okay… Simply acknowledge those thoughts, accept that you’re having those thoughts, and then bring your focus back to the strange object in your hand…
And now, bringing the object up to your nose, and smelling it… With each in-breath you take, carefully notice the smell of the object… With each in-breath, notice something new about the smell… Something different and distinct… Another layer of noticing…
And without putting the object into your mouth, slowly bring it up to your lips… Slowly move your arm, noticing how your hand and arm knows exactly where to put the object… Maybe noticing your mouth watering just a little… Again, don’t put the object into your mouth, not yet, just observe what it feels like to move the object toward your lips…
And, now, without biting the object yet, place it into your mouth… Without biting the object yet, notice it being in your mouth… Notice the sensation of having the object in your mouth… Maybe roll it around on your tongue… maybe press it to the top of your mouth…
And when you are ready, without swallowing the object, go ahead and take one single bite into it… Notice the tastes that it releases.,. And again, without swallowing the object, slowly chew it… Notice the way your jaw moves, and the way your teeth come together, and the way it feels to chew this object… Notice the flavors, and the changes that happens to it while you chew…
And then, slowly keep chewing, one jaw movement after the other… Until the object is completely gone…
I often use M&Ms or Skittles instead of raisins. These seem a bit more “teen friendly” to me, and I like the added contrast between the crunchy shell and soft interior. I’ve found that participants with especially poor impulse control or who tend to perform for their peers may be challenged by this activity in a group setting. With these teens, it may be more effective to do the activity during individual sessions.
Present moment: Three Minute Observation
Distribute a sheet of paper and pen or pencil to each participant. Explain that the group will spend three minutes quietly paying attention to everything going on in the environment—sounds, sights, smells, all the senses—and writing down what they observe.
After the time is up, have participants share what they recorded and discuss differences between what was recorded. Some participants are likely to have noticed primarily visual observations; others are likely to have noticed primarily sounds. Some will likely record primarily external observations; others will likely record internal observations. After some discussion, consider re-doing the Three Minute Observation, then discussing differences in participants’ awareness of the environment.
Non-judgmentally: The Dragon of Non-Judgment
The Dragon of Non-Judgment is a small stuffed dragon, but you can obviously you a different object. To change the challenge level, you can use different objects. For example, a water bottle would provide fewer obvious comments.
The group sits in a circle and passes the dragon around the circle. As each participant receives the dragon, he makes one non-judgmental comment about the dragon, such as “The wings are shiny” or “The tail curves upward”.
If you pass the dragon around the circle several times, the most obvious comments quickly get used and participants will have to try harder to make non-judgmental comments. If a judgmental comment does gets made, stop and discuss, encouraging the participant to restate the comment in a non-judgmental way.
This activity can be harder than it sounds, so expect some participants to struggle with it. I’ve found that some teens will exhibit resistance to the activity, making comments such as “This is stupid.” These tend to be participants who exhibit all-or-nothing thinking and are most challenged by making non-judgmental statements.
Respond, Don’t React
Responding is about making a thoughtful choice that meets your needs both in the moment and in the future. Reacting is about doing without thinking or acting a certain out of habit. There are times when reacting would be appropriate—you’ve been attacked by a cougar, you’re standing on a train track and a train is coming. However, those are rare occurrences. In most cases, responding is more effective.
When an individual reacts, the situation is in control. When an individual responds, he or she is in control. This is a concrete skill useful for dealing with triggers and emotion regulation. These two activities provide opportunities to practice responding and are highly engaging for most teens.
Whack ‘Em
Participants form a circle seated on the floor or in chairs with their feet extending into the middle. One participant stands in the middle of the circle with a foam pool noodle in hand. This game is easy, but the explanation is a little complicated. I usually start in the center of the circle and say something like:
The object of this game is to not be he person in the middle. When we begin, someone in the seated circle will start us off by saying the name of someone else in the circle. Once that name is called, I’ll try to tap that person’s feet before she can call out the name of somebody else. If I’m able to tap her feet before she calls out someone else's name, then she becomes It, I take her place in the circle, and we start again by me calling out someone else's name. However, if she calls out another person's name before I tap her with the noodle, then I will try to tap that person before he calls out someone else's name. And so on…
When calling a name, it must be someone in the circle and cannot be your own name. You might be surprised how often that happens! Be sure to plan some time to debrief this activity and make connections between the game, mindfulness, responding, reacting, and trigger management. One of my favorite processing questions: What does this game have to do with The Real World?”
S.O.B.E.R. Mousetrap
S.O.B.E.R. is an acronym originally developed by Marlatt. My version of this acronym varies somewhat from the original, with the letters standing for Stop; Observe; Breathe; Evaluate your choices; Respond. A catchy, treatment friendly acronym is nice, of course, but even more important it getting participants to transfer the learning into their lives. In my experience, this activity does that extremely well.
After introducing the acronym, I pull out an old-fashion wooden mousetrap and announce that we are going to practice this new skill. In an effort to increase the sense of perceived risk, I do a fair amount of front-loading about safety and risk-taking. I then set the trap, place it on the palm of my left hand, and smack my right hand—palm down—on top. This makes a “mousetrap sandwich” with the now tripped trap between my hands.
With the mousetrap between my hands, I spend 12-15 minutes further discussing mindfulness in general and especially S.O.B.E.R as recovery skills. It is common for at least a few participants to become nervous along the way. Neuroscience tells us that moderate stress increases retention of new learning, which is probably what makes this activity so memorable, so embrace the nervousness! With the mousetrap still sandwiched, discuss perceived risks, how reacting would make things worse, and ask participants for their own real world examples of making things worse by reacting.
Now what? Obviously you let go of the mousetrap. I suggest practicing alone a few times before doing this with participants. Here’s the trick (or skill if you prefer): Let go of the mousetrap by calmly, but quickly, lifting your right hand straight upward. If you placed the mousetrap in your hand with the trigger mechanism pointing away from you, the mousetrap will fly away from you, not into your face. You don’t want that. Also, when you let go of the trap, be sure you aren’t too close to other people. That way it won’t fly into anyone else’s face, either.
The inevitable next step is to have group members trip mousetraps. Before doing this, review the safety precautions—place the trap on the hand the participant doesn’t write with (that way if things go bad they can still sign their name!), the trigger mechanism should point away, don’t be not too close to anyone else, and release the trap calmly but quickly. For added safety, I set the traps and place them onto the palm of each participant. The perceived risk for this activity can be fairly high, so it is important to honor the choice of any participant who does not want to handle a mousetrap.
Finally, pass a set mousetrap around the circle. Even better, pass one trap to your right, give it a moment, then start another trap going in the other direction. What do you do when you have dangerous situations coming at you from two directions? Be sure to plan lots of time debriefing this activity when done, focusing on mindfulness, perceived versus actual risks, managing triggers, and other related topics.
A final note: When used for its intended purpose, a wooden mousetrap would catch a mouse and then the whole mess would be disposed of. With that in mind, mousetraps are cheaply made. I recommend tripping a mousetrap no more than three or four times and then disposing of it.
