APRIL 28, 2010, TORONTO, ON – Between Four Eyes (B4E), a collaborative for mindful awareness in education is pleased to announce its expansion into Canada and the United States. After successfully training over 1000 healthcare providers, community leaders, teachers, and high school students in Africa and the Middle East, B4E has set its sights on North America to provide individuals with the skill-sets they need to be caring citizens, capable of being catalysts for positive social change.

"The first step towards peace-building is by looking inward, cultivating your own inner peace and then, looking outward to bring peace to the world,” says Theo Koffler, B4E’s founder. “The explicit aim of our program is to help individuals develop self-awareness, self-regulation, critical thinking and leadership skills."

Under the guidance of B4E’s senior leadership, high school students work together as Mindfulness Ambassadors of the organization, to motivate change in their communities. The program encourages individuals to explore the practices of social-emotional intelligence and mindful awareness education as a pathway to addressing personal, school and community transformation. Central to the program is an online forum, called Mindfulness Without Borders, which offers students from around the globe the opportunity to connect, inspire and learn from each other.

In its first Canadian assignment, B4E partnered with Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children. B4E facilitators shared a variety of experiential exercises to help physicians develop self-awareness and stress management skills. “There are numerous situations that we all encounter on a daily basis that make it difficult to function at our best.” says Gary Diggins, B4E senior teacher and program advisor. “At our workshop, we gave pediatricians a first-ever opportunity to explore self-care practices for their well-being.”

“This is a wonderful curriculum. It is comprehensive, clear, accessible, creative---and interesting! I'm thrilled to think that students will have this forum to work with. Across cultures, it seems exactly the right thing for teenagers, and what a potential boon to the world they will inherit. Imagine young leaders who are confident, self-aware, reflective and kind! What a world we would have!” -Sylvia Boorstein, Psychotherapist, Mediation Teacher, Buddhist

Sample lessons and meditations are available online. www.betweenfoureyes.org.


For more information, contact:
Jasmin Zeger | Development and Communications Associate | jasminz@btwn4eyes.org