Today was the last day of Daniella Salzman’s “Mindfulness and Writing” unit, wherein students learned how to pay attention to what was going on in the body, the mind, the emotional “heart” and the external environment. Daniella, who lives in Berkeley and works as a dance expressive arts therapist, also spends much of her time teaching mindfulness to youth. She recently came out of a 3-month period of silence, during which she did little but meditate and cook. Her voice was pleasantly soft, probably as a result. When asked if she could sum up mindfulness in a sentence, she answered with: “This might sound corny, but I would say that mindfulness is being in the here and now, with kindness and curiosity.” We hope to welcome her back soon.

-Reba