E294: Rob Owen - Learning through Mindfulness Practice
Rob Owen is an educator with over 20 years of experience, a mindfulness coach, and the founder of Move 2 Focus. After a transformative personal journey with Tai Chi and Qigong, Rob is now on a mission to help educators and students reduce stress and find focus through mindfulness-based movement. From his classroom in Seaside, California, to his growing platform, Move 2 Focus, Rob is changing the way we think about emotional balance and well-being in education. This episode will encourage you to Rethinking ADHD and why schools our failing our kids.
Links:
Website: www.move2focus.com
Email: info@move2focus.com
Episode Show notes timestamps:
👨🏫 [01:32] Rob’s origin story is fueled by a passion for connecting with students.: being a teenage drumming teacher and evolving into an educator.
🤕 [05:19] The car accident that changed everything: how physical trauma led him to martial arts, Tai Chi, and Qigong as healing tools.
☯️ [10:11] Rob’s approach to reducing classroom stress: Kung fu and Qigong in class for kids, teachers, and even parents - balance is needed for all.
🎓 [16:51] Rob’s critique of standardized education: There are unmeasurable types of intelligence that are very important.
☮️ [21:31] Stressed teachers create stressed students—and why supporting educators is the first step.
🧠 [24:44] Teachers are not trained to work with ADHD kids: the system forces them to sit still for 7 hours and breath; movement and focus can fix this.
😮💨 [30:56] Teach kids diaphragmatic breathing to self-regulate (e.g., "Inhale for 4, exhale for 8").
💎 [33:28] Connection makes him tick, and if we connect teachers and students to their bodies, the changes will be amazing.
Resources Mentioned:
- Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences.
- Thomas Merton (contemplative monk bridging Christianity and Zen).
- ‘ADHD Refocused’ book by David Sitt
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