A Case for Mindfulness in the Classroom

Anxiety at School
Anxiety is one of the most common experiences of adults. But, a lot of us may not realize that it is also quite common in
children. Short bouts of anxiety are a part of the human condition. It is the normal reaction to stressors, and it creates a
level of alertness to danger.

Trying something new can give anyone a case of the butterflies. But for a child struggling in school, it may be more than
that. As your child moves through higher levels of schooling, he or she will encounter new and foreign experiences
every day. Some children have more difficulty than others adapting to stress. And developmental gaps will only make
this more apparent.

While some children might worry and feel nervous for a short period leading up to a test or presentation, children with
chronic anxiety will feel paralyzed by it. They may be physically ill for days before the event. Their worry interferes with
their daily enjoyment and may even continue after the event is over.

Practicing mindfulness through targeted mid-brain stimulation and guided movement breaks allow students a chance to
regulate or interrupt any anxiety or stress.

Hyperactivity
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that about 9.4 percent of children (6.1 million) in the U.S.
are diagnosed with ADHD; 4.2% in Australia; and 5.4% in the UK. And these numbers have been steadily growing for the
past several years.

Studies have shown for many years that mindfulness can improve the symptoms of ADHD in up to 78% of participants.
However, because hyperactivity, by definition, makes it difficult for a child to sit still for meditative mindfulness
activities, it’s important to start with movement-based mindfulness activities.

Exercises that encourage paying attention and using guided movement can help students to quiet their minds and
create a stronger mind-body connection. That’s why we’ve combined our occupational therapy exercises into follow-
along movement breaks for classrooms.

As we were developing our own CoordiKids Classroom course, we trialed some of the exercises with a local school in a
class of students that ranged in age from 8 to 11 years.

The teachers, as a group, reported that after a 5-minute CoordiKids Classroom course they observed a 90% – 100%
reduction in:

the number of children fidgeting,

children in need of repeated instructions,
children in need of re-direction to sit still and to stop talking, and
in children re-directed to stay on task.

Emotional Outbursts
Following directions, sitting still without blurting out or having an emotional outburst at every turn are all correlated with
one’s ability to self-regulate. Exercise in general has a positive effect on emotional regulation of both children and
adults.

Moreover, the specific exercises used in most class-wide occupational therapy movement breaks like ours target the
brain-body connections that aid children in physically being able to regulate their emotions better.

Tips for Teaching Mindfulness to Older Children

As I said, it’s difficult to get full participating in a new activity from older children.

Older children want to know why they have to do anything. If they’re told to participate without understanding why it’s
important, students will make excuses, complain, make jokes, or participate only half-heartedly.

So, we recommend that teachers really dig into the “why” with students. We recommend they do this before introducing
activities that promote mindfulness in the classroom.

One school counselor who introduced mindfulness in the classroom gives great advice on how she has been
successful. Keri says:

“I show them the research. I show them studies about how mindfulness improves memory and attention, lowers stress
levels, increases happiness, and promotes social connections and altruism. Then I give them the studies to review and
then give them space to research it on their own for a few minutes.
When they are given the opportunity to review actual research and see facts and figures from studies, adolescents are
much more like to buy in to the process because they can see the why behind it. When they can see studies that have
been done with people their own ages who have benefitted from the practice, adolescents are more likely to be willing to
give it a try themselves.”