Wellbeing

What it means to be human.

Wellbeing courses offer students the opportunity to engage with mind, body, and spirit and to confront what it means to be human. Using six foundational dimensions of wellbeing as the framework for designing our teaching and learning, the rich array of elective courses provides students with varied experiences and real time tools that enable them to integrate wellbeing into their academic experience, social-emotional development, and daily lives.

Each of our course offerings help crystallize for students the deeper focus of education which is necessarily grounded in the work of realizing human potential, deepening relationships, finding purpose and meaning in their lives, enhancing positive emotions, prioritizing physical and mental health, and flourishing as human beings. All Pomfret School students are required to take Foundations of Wellbeing in their sophomore or junior year, in addition to one elective course in their junior or senior year.

Sample Courses

Foundations of Wellbeing

This course is designed to deliver a health and wellness program to our Fourth Form students in a one-term seminar-style course covering the following topics: Six Dimensions of Health and Growth Mindset, Nutrition and Sleep, Mental Health and Stress Management, Healthy Relationships and Sex Ed, and Substance Use and Dependency. Students examine the power of mindset and focus on Dr. Carol Dweck’s work around the advantages of developing beyond a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. Course work also delves into the benefits of positive psychology, specifically, Martin Seligman’s concept of learned optimism. Students have the opportunity to practice how these mindsets and approaches can change their thinking, feelings, and emotions. We will also study the power of food through film, field trip experiences, and personal journaling. The students will have the opportunity to examine stress and learn various stress management practices including mindfulness, meditation, and yoga. We will discuss the range of mental health issues affecting teenagers today, most prevalently depression, bipolar disorder, and anxiety, understanding the brain science and genetic component of these illnesses, how they manifest themselves in our lives, and specific strategies and resources that are available to treat and manage mental illness. We will examine addiction and substance use in terms of vaping, THC, opiates, and alcohol, delving more deeply into how these substances affect our brains, body, and behavior. We will also discuss addiction from both genetic and environmental perspectives. Finally, the course culminates in a discussion on healthy relationships and the necessary components involved in healthy relationships. Students will learn about affirmative consent and sex education in terms of healthy decisions and safe sexual practices, specifically around awareness and prevention of STDs and pregnancy.

Mindfulness: Intro to Meditative Practice

Meditation is the foundation of many of the world’s religious pathways and spiritual practices. With roots in ancient eastern philosophy, spirituality, and worldview, meditation remains a profound practical discipline that trains the mind and orients the heart toward the present moment and realities of the human body and breath. In this course, students will join in the study of meditation and the practical exploration of how meditative practice has the potential to transform awareness and attention in our daily being as individuals and in community. The course content and experiences will also present strategies for mindful living specific to our lives. Students should be prepared to engage in intensive meditation practice for the duration of the course. An emphasis will be placed on inspiring students to establish and integrate a personalized routine practice. Open to all grade levels.

Becoming Kinder: The Science of Generosity and Gratitude

Rooted in the spiritual wisdom of the Dalai Lama: “Be kind whenever possible, it is always possible”, this course will embark on a deep exploration of loving-kindness as a powerful change agent in individual lives, cultural communities, and global societies. Ranging from contemporary science to ancient spiritual wisdom we will examine how gratitude and generosity change the brain, impact wellbeing, and improve global societies. Kindness is one of our greatest human resources, and we will learn in theory and practice ways to tap into this immeasurable resource in order to cultivate positive change, growth-oriented mindset, authentic optimism, and enhanced overall health and wellbeing. This course will incorporate a kindness lab which will engage students in experiential learning, practices, exercises, and experiments, to test learning and more fully realize what is possible. The course will draw upon data and research from Dr. Richard Davidson’s Center for Healthy Minds and UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center as some of our primary resources for the work.

Biomechanics of Yoga

In this course students will learn about the body’s biomechanics, the scientific study of how the body works, specifically muscles as they pertain to yoga poses, and discover how they are under the mind’s conscious control. Through in-depth study of the major joints, and the muscles and ligaments that surround them, students will learn how yoga practitioners signal the muscles to contract or relax, as it pertains to lengthening, strengthening and balancing the energy systems throughout the body. The course will consist of a mixture of classroom-based anatomy study and weekly yoga practices that incorporate and focus on the specific joint being studied each week. The course will culminate in an individually-selected research project.

Wellbeing Requirement

Foundations of Wellbeing is required in either sophomore or junior year. Students must also take one Wellbeing elective course in junior or senior year.