Philosophy

  Our philosophy is that mindfulness is for everyone at all times of day and in all environments. We support people of all ages in developing a mindful practice that evokes a sense of gratitude, acceptance, joy, play, and peace. The Mindful Squirrel recognizes suffering as a part of the human experience and sees mindfulness as a tool to help us learn to accept, work with, and appreciate our suffering as well as our joy and delight. It is this acceptance and appreciation that allows us to reach a compassionate understanding of ourselves and others all while moving forward and living a more full, kind and generous life. 

We are passionate about incorporating Mindfulness in and beyond the classroom to help participants self-regulate and create deeper learning and life connections. Traci McCubbin, the founder of Mindful Squirrel, is certified to teach the Mindful Schools K-12 curriculum. We use this curriculum to help guide our age-appropriate lessons. These lessons are expanded and enriched with the Mindful Squirrel lens which evokes a sense of curiosity, play and creativity.

K-5 participants: The K-5 program is designed in five-lesson cycles allowing students to progress through the Mindful School’s five following applications: Body, Senses, Breath, Thoughts/Emotions, and Heartfulness. 

5 Cycle Series: Lessons can be broken into 5, 10, & 20 week series, are typically 15-20 mins in duration, and offered 1-2 times per week. Lessons can be expanded upon to fit the needs of a longer program up to an hour. 

Caregivers of participants will receive a take home Letter of Summary for each mindful session. This letter will highlight our practice of the day and share suggestions for continuing this practice at home and in the child’s community. Click on K-5 Mindful Curriculum Summary for a quick overview of our lessons. 

6-12th grade participants: The 6-12 program is designed in five-lesson cycles allowing students to progress through the Mindful School’s Mindfulness Foundations series and the Applied Mindfulness series. 

7 Cycle Series: Lessons can be broken into 7, 14, & 24 week series, are typically 45-60 mins in duration, and offered 1-2 times per week. This curriculum can be adapted to be shorter.

Students will have time at the end of each lesson to cultivate ideas for engaging their practice at home and in their community.   Click on 6-12 Mindful Curriculum Summary for a quick overview of our lessons.

Customized K-12 Series: Let's connect and learn about your hopes and needs for your classroom or grade! We recently created a Mindful Farmers Series that incorporated lessons and mindfulness on: Compost, Worms, and Flowers!   We’re looking forward to hearing what you have in mind! 

Teacher Partnership & Support - Teachers need a mindful moment too! The Mindful Squirrel offers both 1:1 mentoring and group mindfulness sessions for teachers, staff, and administrators.   

Workshops can be custom built to meet the needs and ages of each group/program and developed into individual workshops or series. 

Adult workshops? Certainly! Sessions can be customized  to meet both need, interest, and timeframe. 

Teens & College Students? This is where teaching mindfulness first came into play for Traci! We can provide a pre-set curriculum, and we can also customize to meet interest and needs. We give space for practice, reflection, and discussion. 

Before & After School Programs? Absolutely! We will pull from the Mindful Schools curriculum and incorporate an array of mindful based activities including but not limited to mindful movement and games, outdoor exploration, art, and cooking! 

Camps too? Yes, mindfulness sessions are an excellent way to holistically enrich the camp experience! The Mindful Squirrel gives children the opportunity to slow down, notice their movements, thoughts, emotions, and the world of wonder around them.  

Workshop Examples:

Everyday Mindfulness - Designed as a Professional Development Workshop for a Community Farm Team. 

Participants learn the basics about what Mindfulness is and isn't, practice a few quick and easy to implement activities aimed at supporting workday transitions and lowering stress levels, and learn how to interweave mindfulness into their daily life without adding a time constraint. 

Mindful Families Series - Designed for programming of a local library. 

This two-part series engages caregivers and children (ages 4-10) in mindful based practices and activities. During these sessions participants use their imagination to take cupcake and alligator breaths, explore belly breaths with buddies, engage in mindful movement as a sunflower, interact with mindful spaces, use their senses to navigate a mindful scavenger hunt, and plant gratitude seeds. Each group leaves with potted pollinator seeds to nurture and help continue their mindfulness practice at home (adapted from Seeds of Appreciation by Mindful Littles). 

Working Through Triggers for Successful Conflict Resolution - Currently being developed for a non-profit that focuses on conflict resolution.

This series of workshops is being designed to help adults identify and understand their personal triggers and navigate difficult emotions to allow them to work through healthy conflict resolution. Participants will be able to identify their triggers and recognize the associated history, properly label the difficult emotions attached to these triggers, and forge a path that allows them to acknowledge, breath through and let go of their suffering. Participants will complete this series prior to or simultaneously while attending conflict resolution workshops.