Our mission is to share a pathway towards mindful living through innovative teaching and personal instruction for children, individuals, and communities.
Moment 2 Moment came to life as a response to growing curiosity about mindfulness instruction and education. More and more, parents and individuals were asking Jeannine about how to find local mindfulness instruction, how mindfulness can help our children, or simply where to learn more about it. And the more Jeannine met those questions, the more the calling became clear.
Jeannine’s experience in sharing and teaching mindfulness spans generations and settings. Whether it is teaching preschool children or to a senior community, in a school setting or a corporate workplace, Moment 2 Moment is passionate about the connection to ourselves and to one another. Our teaching celebrates diversity and holds true that mindfulness can be learned and practiced at any age and at any ability, advancing compassion, empathy, and awareness.
“A little mindfulness goes a long way. Mindfulness is an awareness. It allows us to grow closer to ourselves. It helps us find and connect with our truest abilities, already alive inside each one of us: concentration & focus, attention & awareness, kindness & compassion.”
Meet Jeannine
Jeannine Schroder, founder of Moment 2 Moment, attended the teacher training pathway at The Mindfulness Center at Brown University and is a Qualified Level 2 Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher. She offers mindfulness and leads programs for communities ranging from three-years old to one hundred-years old.
Prior to Moment 2 Moment, Jeannine dedicated much of her business career to the founding and growth of Anova Consulting Group, a market research and strategy consulting firm dedicated to the betterment of its clients. She is also responsible for teaching 4th and 5th grade Understanding our Differences and Similarities curriculum in the Massachusetts public schools.
Jeannine lives in Brookline, Massachusetts with her husband and two children, and spends her free time enjoying friends and family, cooking new recipes, and working out either hiking in nature or cycling in spin class.
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is a way of being. It is a way of connecting to yourself and to the world that is happening around you.
Mindfulness is awareness. In this present-moment awareness, we learn to attune to what is happening inside of us through our thoughts, feelings and sensations as well as to what is happening around us through our senses. As mindfulness is practiced, choice becomes visible to skillfully respond to life and all its happenings instead of reacting to it. This way of being can help reduce stress, improve focus, unlock creativity, improve connections, encourage more self-care, and remind us to experience everyday joy (just to name a few).
“Mindfulness is the awareness the comes from paying attention to the present moment on purpose and without judgement.”
Understanding the different elements of mindfulness is essential to living mindfully. We learn to see that mindfulness is a practice; just like going to the gym to gain muscle or learning a new language to speak, so too does mindfulness need practice.
Paying attention asks for our focus; as easy or difficult as it may be from one person to the next, the practice of mindfulness hones our ability to stay alert and discover our own awareness.
There is no other moment than this present moment. What is happening right now in this very moment is an anchor for mindful living.
And, finally, to approach this moment without judgement teaches us to find self-compassion, empathy, and resilience. We learn equanimity.
Mindfulness Benefits
The effects of mindfulness are not just circumstantial; they are supported by decades of scientific evidence and research. Practicing mindfulness may offer benefits that help us deal with stress and experience joy:
Helps us confront our stress and notice our habitual responses to stress so that we can choose new, healthier responses
Shows us how to go toward or sit with discomfort and pain
Quiets a ruminating mind and allow us to see we are not our thoughts
Alleviates depressions, anxiety, burnout
Helps us become less reactive (especially to unpleasant experiences)
Invites us to know ourselves up close
Helps us find and connect with our innate abilities for concentration & focus, attention & awareness, kindness & compassion
Invites us to improve our own self-care
Encourages us to explore gratitude and openness
Cultivates resilience and empathy into our worlds
mindfulness at every age
For our children
By the sheer grace of growing up, children are practicing all the time: practicing reading, colors, the days of the week, piano, soccer, how to share, how to say they are sorry. The list and variety of practicing goes on and on. And by the time little ones reach middle and upper elementary school age they are well into full schedules both at school and outside of school.
Introducing children to the practice of noticing is an entry point into mindfulness. Just noticing – nothing else – starts the conversation, and though it is met most often by an adorable mix of confusion and curiosity, children settle into the practice of noticing with a certain openness.
For our children, the practice of noticing hones attention, stillness, and patience. It opens other senses like hearing and seeing (really hearing and seeing) into otherwise busy, non-stop and maybe even chaotic moments. It gives children a time to share, comment, and explain what’s around them. And with practice, the art of noticing connects children to the present moment they know all too well and with their own unique awareness.
for our teens
Moving away from young childhood into middle school and beyond is undeniably challenging and emotional for our kids. It is during this time that stress mounts into being stressed out. Minds are overly busy, bodies are growing and changing, friendships may come and go, and a sense of identity becomes a paramount priority. Teens and young adults are constantly confronted by change and demands and expectations.
This time of life presents a special opportunity to introduce mindfulness. Kids this age are smart. And most often private. Mindfulness offers them a chance to know themselves on a deeper level, creating space between who they are and what’s happening around them. It offers them choice to respond instead of react, and hopefully learn about self-care and self-love. From there, empathy and compassion can find a home. Practicing mindfulness does not require anyone else other than themselves – no special equipment – no money – no need to be somewhere specific. Teens and young adults can practice mindfulness anywhere, anytime while experiencing their independence and self-reliance.
for ourselves
And then there is the rest of us. A large, wonderful, complicated group of everyday people participating in this thing called life. Likely we – at this age – are in the full swing of doing versus being. A lot of the time we are more human doings than we are human beings. Life has us by hold. Joy and pressure are in play. We have jobs (or need jobs), we are caring for families and loved ones (both young and old), we are dealing with the stresses of staying on top of things (financial responsibilities, relationships, community service). We put ourselves last. And then we wonder why we feel the way we do sometimes.
Coming back to ourselves is a gift of mindfulness. To move towards being despite the doing is a big part of the practice of adult mindfulness. We learn through mindfulness the difference between letting go and letting be. We learn how to open our senses, not unlike our children do. When we practice mindfulness in adulthood we begin to investigate and come to recognize our habitual response to stress. And we find choice again and again.
Practicing Mindfulness
With practice, mindfulness becomes a skill. And with extended practice, this skill becomes infinitely available to us as we live moment to moment. There are many ways mindfulness can be practice, both formally and informally.
Our Services
Moment 2 Moment offers private and group mindfulness sessions for both academic and corporate settings. Sessions are:
Introductory workshop for staff and team members
Workshop series for students
On-going weekly or monthly sessions for staff and team members
In-class sessions geared at supporting students and teachers
Small student groups partnering with school guidance and counsel support team
Small team sessions for management and leadership
Academic
Introductory workshop for staff and teachers
On-going weekly or monthly sessions for staff and teachers
In-class sessions geared at supporting students and teachers
Workshop series for students
Small student groups partnering with school guidance and counsel support team
Small team sessions for school administration and leadership
After school program for lower and upper elementary students
Corporate
Introductory workshop for management and / or employees
On-going weekly or monthly sessions
Small team sessions for management and leadership
Private
One-on-one or small group setting
Mindfulness and meditation coaching
Custom sessions designed for specific goals
“If you talk about it, it’s a dream. If you envision it, it’s possible. But if you schedule it, it’s real.”
Clients
In addition to private and small group sessions, we are pleased to share mindfulness with clients in corporate, academic and healthcare settings.
Check out some of the clients we are working with right now:
Beth Israel Lahey Health
Boston College
The Davis Companies
MMA / MIIA
NTI Central
SOLA
BAEC
Samuels & Associates
Samuels Residences
Jones Street Investment
Brookline Public Schools
Heath School
Runkle School
Needham Public Schools
Highrock School
Brookline Staff School Children’s Center
RiverCourt Residences
Camp Micah