Bringing mindfulness to the school curriculum

More and more kids across Canada are learning

meditation techniques. Not everyone thinks its a good use
of time.
June 15, 2014
Kate Lunau

Photograph by Cole Garside
Aliza Naqvi, a 14-year-old student at Dr. Norman Bethune
Collegiate Institute in Toronto, carries a key chain strung with
seven coloured beads. When shes feeling stressed or anxious,
she can pull it out as a reminder: The first bead, which is blue,
stands for breathe. The second, red, cues her to reflect on her
thoughts; yellow is to consider her emotions, and so on. At any
school, theres a lot of stress involved, Naqvi says. The
expectations are really high. This small token, which fits in her
pocket or handbag, reminds her to take a mindful breath, and to
be a little more stable.
This year, Bethune, which is part of the Toronto District School
Board (TDSB), introduced lessons in mindfulnessa type of
meditation that encourages awareness of the present moment, in
a non-judgmental wayto all of its 200 Grade 9 students,
including Naqvi. In six workshops over a two-month period, led
by the schools own teachers, students practised breathing, body
scans (a meditation exercise that draws attention to different
parts of the body), and learned to surf the wave of difficult
emotions, like anger or anxiety, as Naqvi puts it. The program at
Bethunewhere one-third of all students have lived in Canada for
less than five yearsgrew out of concern that students faced a
great deal of pressure, says principal Sandy Kaskens. Surveys
showed they had high expectations of themselves, and their
social and emotional well-being was low. Naqvi admits she was
skeptical in the beginning, as were her classmates. That first
session, a lot of people were giggling, she says. But she was
won over, as were her parents, who realize how much stress we
go through.
According to Kaskens, the response was overwhelmingly positive.
This falls Grade 9 class will benefit from the same lessons in
mindfulnessa practice thats spreading to schools across the
country, even at the elementary level. At Vancouvers Renfrew
Community Elementary School, for example, students begin their
day by heading outside to do tai chi, and school assemblies kick
off with a mindful breathing exercise. There are 415 kids in a
gym, says principal Hugh Blackman, and you can hear a pin
drop.
Entire school boards are adopting similar programs. The
Vancouver School District, which includes Renfrew, offers
mindfulness training to teachers through the MindUp program,
which include classroom brain breaks three times daily. The
Toronto Catholic District School Board also runs mindfulness
sessions for teachers, focusing on those who deal with vulnerable
and special needs kids. There are signs the movement is growing
further yet. In August, the U.K.-based Mindfulness in Schools
Project, which trains teachers across Europe, will offer its first-
ever Canadian teacher-training course in Ottawa, with another to
follow shortly after in Vancouver. Soon enough, kids across
Canada might be practising deep breaths and body scans
alongside their math and English homework. Still, not everyone is
onside: Some parents (and teachers) worry the practice of
meditation is akin to bringing religion into schoolsor simply that
time in the classroom could be better spent.
Mindfulness, a non-religious meditation practice with roots in
Buddhism, has been taught to everyone from medical patients to
prison inmates in Canada. Theres a growing body of evidence to
back it up, at least among adult practitioners. A 2013 study from
the University of Calgary found that it could help breast cancer
patients cope with diagnosis, perhaps because it encouraged
them to accept the news without jumping to conclusions or
getting bogged down in negative thoughts. In 2010, researchers
at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto
concluded that, when it comes to warding off a relapse into major
depression, mindfulness is as effective as medication. Brain-scan
studies in adults have shown that a regular practice brings about
changes in the brain, positively affecting regions associated with
memory, sense of self, empathy and stress.
But when it comes to meditations impact on the child or
adolescent brain, there hasnt been a single [brain scan] study,
says Brown University neuroscientist Willoughby Britton. We
have no idea whats happening, but we can make some educated
guesses. As we pay attention, areas in the prefrontal cortex
which is responsible for higher thinking and self-controlactivate,
she says; this region is underdeveloped in kids (it continues to
develop well into our twenties). Mindfulness seems to engage
these parts of the brain.
Teaching this skill set in schools is relatively new, and
controversial, not only because research exploring its impact on
kids and teens has lagged. People connect meditation with
religion, explains Jack Miller, a professor at the University of
Torontos Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, who instructs
teachers on how to use mindfulness in classrooms. In the U.S.,
where even school yoga practice has raised eyebrows, its been
especially problematic. Last year, a mindfulness program at an
Ohio elementary school was shut down amid a flurry of parent
complaints, partly over perceived overtones of Eastern religion.
Not only that: They were taking valuable time away from
education to put students in a room of darkness to lie on their
backs, one mother of three kids complained to a local
newspaper.
In Vermont, where mindfulness programs are now available in
some elementary and high schools, we worked the most on
language, says Marilyn Neagley, director of the Talk About
Wellness initiative, which teaches self-calming skills to school-age
kids. When we say mindfulness, we feel its safer than saying
meditation, whereas yoga is often simply referred to as
stretching, adds Neagley, who was instrumental to introducing
these programs across the state. (In Canada, this has been less
of an issue: At Bethune, teachers use a Tibetan singing bowl to
sound the beginning of mindfulness practice, whereas U.S.
teachers have been encouraged to use secular chimes.) The
main objection Neagley runs into isnt from parents. Its from
teachers, who say theyre already too busy: I cant do one more
program.
At Bethune, last November, interested teachers started practising
mindfulness together over the lunch hour; after a full day of
training in January, they launched student workshops a month
later. Its become really clear that if you want to do this in
schools, you have to start with teachers, says Willem Kuyken,
professor of clinical psychology at the University of Exeter, who
has studied mindfulness programs in U.K. schools, where theyre more
established. The teacher needs to embody the qualities [of
mindfulness] theyre trying to teach.
Jon Gold, who teaches seventh- and eighth- grade history at
Moses Brown School in Providence, R.I., has been practising
mindfulness for years. He starts each class by ringing a bell,
closing his eyes and inviting students to join him in silent
meditation. Once in a while, Id give the hairy eyeball to a kid,
he says, but they came to value that time. They felt calmer and
better able to focus. Gold collaborated on a new study in the
Journal of School Psychology, which randomized Grade 6 students
into two groups: One took an Asian history course with a daily
mindfulness exercise, and the other an African history course with
another activity (instead of meditating, they built a life-size
Egyptian mummy). According to the studys lead author, Brown
Universitys Britton, both groups saw benefits on anxiety and
depression, suggesting that experiential activity in school can
support kids mental health; the young meditators were also
significantly less likely to develop suicidal ideation, or thoughts of
self-harm.
More studies are beginning to explore the impact of mindfulness
on kids and teens. In the U.K., a 2013 paper found that 10- and 11-
year-olds who participated in an eight-week program were better
able to ignore distractions. Another found that 12-to-16-year-old
students had fewer symptoms of stress and depression. The
effect became larger at the most challenging time of the school
year, during the end-of-year exams, says Exeters Kuyken, the
lead author. Some research has suggested that mindfulness can
help children and adults cope with attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder, maybe offering an alternative (at least for some) to
medication. As far as the effects of mindfulness on the youngest
kids, though, thats pretty much an evidence-free zone, Kuyken
continues. The programs now sprouting up at elementary schools
in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. will be a boon to researchers,
who wish to explore the effects of meditation on the young mind.
Since the mindfulness sessions at Bethune came to a close, Naqvi
finds herself drawing on lessons they learned. In times of stress,
she says, it helps her understand its okay, everyone feels the
same way. Taking a deep breath makes you feel more confident,
and ready for what youre about to do.