Beyond mindfulness Mondays in high schools: An emergent mindfulness practice towards embodied wisdom

Mindfulness practice is trending. In high schools, the practice is oftentimes introduced as meditation for present-moment awareness of the self to support stress-reduction, self-regulation, and academic concerns. The thesis aims to show that this approach renders mindfulness practice as a coping technique for students to deal with rising mental health concerns and school pressures when, in fact, mindfulness practice within Buddhist philosophy is an integral part of a holistic way of cultivating human wellbeing towards human flourishing. The thesis argues for an interpretation of mindfulness practice that is coherent with its original conception and that aligns with tenets of wellbeing and with holistic education as mandated by BC's curriculum. The interpretation forms a holistic mindfulness framework that describes a practice which directs attention to the entirety of human subjective experience and makes room for contemplation on what emerges, such that practitioners cultivate embodied wisdom. The intertwined processes of such a practice are explored via a constructionist multi-case study that was facilitated online. Particularly, the qualitative research study examines how three secondary school students intra-act with a mindfulness practice that is underpinned by the holistic mindfulness framework. It captures how participants and the mindfulness practice have evolved in tandem, and how the former have grown in self-trust and grappled with core issues. The thesis makes a contribution to schooling and mental health domains by recommending a shift in the approach to mindfulness practice from a technique for coping to a practice that nurtures personal transformation.