One of my memorable lessons was when I was doing teaching small groups on anxiety. The anticipatory set I used was a big mindfulness exercise at the beginning of the lesson, having the students use all 5 of their senses. The activity engaged the students into finding things they can touch, smell, taste, see, and feel. They were very engaged and did not even rally realize that they were actually practicing mindfulness until we got into the lesson itself and talked about the brain and how it functions when there is a perceived "danger" or a situation that they might perceive as anxiety provoking for them. After that, we talked about what we can do when we are feeling anxious, to work through those big feelings. We then reverted back to our earlier exercise and talked about how practicing a technique such as the fun activity they did at the beginning of group, can be used in moments of anxiety. The students were engaged, they learned more about how anxiety works in their bodies, and learned a mindfulness or coping tool that they can utilize when they start to feel those heightened emotions.
