A #Learning2 Talk at Learning2.014 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. #L2Africa

Take 20 seconds to scan your body, from your head all the way down to your toes and just notice any sensations, any tightness that might be there and if you want, try and notice any emotions along the way, maybe there's some hunger, some anxiety or excitement about the day.

A lot of times, our minds look like this ... full, busy, chaotic with worries, plans, ideas, emotions racing around, especially as we get busier and become more and more connected with devices that encourage us to try and multitask ..

So mindfulness helps us learn how to let those thoughts and feelings come and go more freely, creating headspace again in your mind ... similar to clouds passing/clearing in the sky.

I have been practicing mindfulness for over a year now and I've discovered that this practice really helps you cultivate five essential abilities ...

The ability to be still, to be aware (and label thoughts and emotions), to be curious, to be empathetic, and to be peaceful.

All of these abilities start with something as simple as your breath, this tool that you have with you everyday but rarely pay attention to ...

As you begin to focus on your breath, you start to develop the ability to be still because bringing your attention to your breath allows you to push all the other distractions away.

As educators, we rarely take the time to be still or make time for our students to just be still in our classrooms ...

But as you sit in stillness, you can start to become more aware. Not just of your breath, but also the thoughts and feelings running through your body and even of the environment around you.

There might be a slight breeze or rain coming down that you didn't even hear or notice until you took the time to be mindful and more aware.

As you start to increase your awareness of your thoughts and feelings, you can begin trying to name and label them and one of the beautiful things about mindfulness is that it encourages a very non-judgemental approach to this.

So instead of realizing your mind is full of anxious thoughts and getting more worried about it and trying to resist feeling any anxiety, you can just say "oh, that's anxiety" and then let go of it.

As you begin to label and let emotions come and go, you make more space ...

Space to be curious! Curious about what you're thinking and feeling, so wondering why you have a certain sensation or where a thought is coming from but also curious about the thoughts and feelings of those around you.

This is pretty neat, to feel like you're developing an openness and curiosity towards your thoughts/feelings and the ones of those around you.

And as you become more curious, you begin to also develop empathy with those around you. You start to think about how others might be feeling at any given moment and understanding their experience a little bit better.

So you're becoming more attuned not only to your own emotions, but also to others'.

I've seen this with my own students - in addition to their ability to be still, and aware and an increased sense of empathy and curiosity, I have seen them experience a greater sense of peace.

So remember, you are walking out of here today with another tool in your toolbox, your breath, and it's with you anywhere, anytime and as you start to use it more and pay more attention to it ...

You can use it to be more still, aware, curious, empathetic and peaceful.