My dear friend Laura Bakosh (find her on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter!) returns to talk about what her company, Inner Explorer is doing during the pandemic to bring mindfulness to children and families. This is one of the most effective programs I have had the privilege to witness. Laura is a force for good on many levels and as always, I came away feeling deeply inspired for the children and parents touched by her vision.
Laura’s mindfulness practice began in 1993, as a way to manage long hours, stress and travel, while a General Manager at GE Healthcare. A few years later, she implemented mindfulness within her team at GE. Record sales volume, reduced turnover and boosted employee morale were all linked to the mindfulness training. The key challenge was sustaining a daily practice, and that became her focus.
After 25 years in management and sales, Laura merged her business acumen with her commitment to giving children consistent access to mindfulness programming, and co-founded Inner Explorer with Janice Houlihan. The focus of the 501c3 organization is to facilitate daily mindfulness practice for every student and teacher in every classroom, every year from preschool through high school. Inner Explorer’s internet-enabled, audio guided, 5-10-minute programs fit easily into the school day. After only a few years, 31,000 teachers have implemented the program to improve the wellbeing and academic success of 850,000 students. The Inner Explorer team is currently fostering one million mindful children (and teachers and families), on the way to 10 million. They expect the result to be a more compassionate and peaceful world.
In addition to a BS from Boston College and both a Masters and PhD from Sofia University, she was trained as a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) instructor through the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts. An author and speaker on mindfulness and learning, Laura believes that mindfulness is the most important social justice initiative of our time. Her husband and sons share in her passion and also encourage her to bring her mindfulness practice to the golf course, tennis court and the beach more often!
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