Once students have had some time to consider emotional experiences from a cognitive perspective, we introduce the practice of being aware of the felt sense of emotions – in the body and connected to thoughts- all in real time by means of “Emotions in 3 acts”.

Emotions are felt in and communicated by the body, so grounding in the body is an important part of emotional awareness and regulation. Students are guided to walk across the room twice with different sets of instructions and to be mindful of sensations in the body, of thoughts and of feelings. The point is not to experience any particular thing but to start to be aware of the flow of sensations, thoughts and feelings in the present moment. After commenting on these first two acts, students begin the third act (called the emotion charade) by roleplaying an emotion of their choice (some pleasant, neutral and unpleasant) and then sharing what the experience was like.

Teachers can transition into the next activity by prompting students to consider what people typically do when they experience unpleasant emotions because this is where mindfulness can be especially effective.