Editor’s note: The following is a continuation of “Direct your brain to heal,” a SoHaPP column published monthly:

Have you noticed the Enumclaw School District’s Kindness campaign, “Be the ‘I’ in Kind”? The science behind happiness was emphasized in the district several years, and in particular the importance of kindness was the primary instigator for the creation of the community’s SoHaPP, the Science of Happiness and Positive Psychology. SoHaPP’s practice of Habits for Happiness (H4H) had Kindness as our focus in February’s Courier-Herald article.

The school district also promotes another emphasis for one of the five habits in H4H, that of being more Mindful. They use “conscious discipline” to help students be more mindful of their behavior. In March’s article on being more Mindful, we suggested you find the way suiting you best for increasing this habit. Were you able to?

A Tai Chi teacher of mine, Michael Gilman from Port Townsend, has a wonderful newsletter (www.gilmanstudio.com), and has granted the right to re-post. From ancient experts to the modern, he speaks of the separation of meditative aspects (Qigong) from the form work of Tai Chi, suggesting the form contains all. Here’s part of Training Tip #359:

“Buddhism arrived in China at the beginning of the first century AD. Around 400 AD, Ta-Mo, a Buddhist monk from India, is credited with introducing what later became know as Shaolin Kung Fu, or Zen (Chan) Buddhism, which evolved into Tai Chi Chuan. This is of course a simplification of a process that took place over hundreds of years.

There were/are at least seven types of mediation in the Zen Buddhist (Tai Chi) school. They are:

• Mediation through breathing exercises;

• Meditation by concentrating one’s mind on a single point;

• Meditation through visualization;

• Meditation through Mantrum Yoga – the reciting or intoning of incantations or mystic words;

• Meditation by absorbing one’s mind in Good Will, or devotional thoughts;

• Meditation by identifying the Mind Essence;

• Meditation through movement.”

Being more Mindful is the most difficult of H4H’s habits to focus on, as it in essence deals with focus itself. The school district has trained counselors helping children to focus and calm themselves. Unless you want to go back to elementary school, the above several ways, from the most accepted to the esoteric, can make you more Mindful. Best of luck in finding ways to help reach mental wellness. For more, go to www.sohapp.org.

Trip Hart

Enumclaw