A new program in Student Advisory teaches mindfulness meditation.
The goal of mindfulness meditation is to improve mental and physical performance, which researchers have documented. Teachers and administrators are looking for a method to determine the program’s impact on our students.
Other schools, including Marblehead High School in Massachusetts and the University of British Columbia, have had positive results from mindfulness meditation with students of varying ages. Research shows that classroom meditation improved test scores by 10 percent, reduced suspensions within two years by 86 percent and decreased violent conflict within two years by 65 percent. Outside of school, students with ADHD had decreased symptoms, and students with high blood pressure had lowered blood pressure. Psychological distress such as stress, anxiety and depression decreased. It also increased students’ happiness, focus, self-confidence, social skills and ability to memorize academic information.
Types of meditation tested at Varina include breathing awareness, yoga or sitting in silence. At Marblehead High School, students meditate by lying down on a mat. This gives students the opportunity to have silence and to collect their thoughts from a week full of classwork, lessons, tests and quizzes. Basically, mindfulness meditation is successful as long as it involves a quiet location, an open mind, comfortable posture and a focus of attention.
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