​TASAVIRTA ry

Research in Richmond County high schools in Augusta, Georgia (Barnes et al. 2003; Barnes et al. 2004, cited in Anderson 2008 meta-analysis), found that transcendental meditation decreased class absences, misbehavior, and suspensions and even reduced students' blood pressure.

 

Another study from Arizona State University of first, second, and third graders in two elementary schools (Napoli, Krech, and Holley 2005) found that mindfulness meditation improved attention skills and social skills and decreased test anxiety. A study in Western Canada in 12 elementary schools (Schoenert-Reichl and Lawlor 2010) found that mindfulness education increased positive emotions and attention in class and reduced aggressive behavior.

 

In Los Angeles, researchers tested the impacts of the Inner Kids program and found that second and third graders (ages 7-9) with lower self-regulation skills who practiced mindful awareness activities for 30 minutes, twice weekly, showed increased self-regulation after eight weeks (Flook et al. 2010).

 

Anderson, J.W., Liu, C., and Kryscio, R.J. (2008). Blood Pressure Response to Transcendental Meditation: A Meta-analysis. American Journal of Hypertension, 21 (pp. 310-316). Meta-analysis and quality assessments conclude that Transcendental Meditation may reduce blood pressure, resulting in clinically meaningful changes.

 

Barnes, V. A., Bauza, L.B., and Treiber, F.A. (2003). Impact of Stress Reduction on Negative School Behavior in Adolescents. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 1 (10). Transcendental Meditation program conducted in the school setting has a beneficial impact upon absenteeism, rule infractions, and suspension days in African American adolescents ages 15-18 in comparison with the control school.

 

Barnes, V. A., Treiber, F.A., and Johnson, M.H. (2004). Impact of Transcendental Meditation on Ambulatory Blood Pressure in African-American Adolescents. American Journal of Hypertension, 17 (pp. 366-369). African American adolescents ages 14-17 with high-normal systolic blood pressure were randomly assigned to four months of training in either Transcendental Meditation or health education, which served as the control group. Decreased daytime blood pressure at four-month post-tests indicated a beneficial impact of the TM program in youth at risk for the development of hypertension as compared with the control group.

 

Black, D. S., Milam, J., and Sussman, S. (2009). Sitting-Meditation Interventions Among Youth: A Review of Treatment Efficacy. Pediatrics, 124 (pp. 532-541). A review of 16 empirical studies, from 1982 to 2008, found that sitting meditation, including mindfulness and Transcendental Meditation practices seems to be an effective intervention in the treatment of physiologic, psychosocial, and behavioral conditions among youths ages 6-18. Further research is needed to advance our understanding of sitting meditation and its use as an effective treatment modality among younger populations.

 

Davidson, R. J. (2010). Empirical Explorations of Mindfulness: Conceptual and Methodological Conundrums. Emotion, 10 (1), 8-11. Describes the central challenges to the study of mindfulness-based interventions: better descriptions of intervention practices (e.g., length of training and criteria for success), the need to understand control and comparison groups used in studies, self-reporting that may bias results, and the need to better understand the emotional processing targeted by meditation.

 

Flook, L., S.L., Smalle, Kitil, M.J. et al. (2010). Effects of Mindful Awareness Practices on Executive Functions in Elementary School Children. Journal of Applied School Psychology, 26 (pp. 70-95). A randomized, control study of 64 second and third graders (ages 7-9) who participated in the Inner Kids program for 30 minutes, twice weekly for eight weeks. Teachers and parents reported that mindful-awareness activities increased self-regulation skills among children who showed lower self-regulation at baseline.

 

Lutz, A., Slagter, H.A., Dunne, J.D., and Davidson, R.J. (2008). Attention Regulation and Monitoring in Meditation. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 12 (4). Describes OM and FA as two major categories of meditation and presents their potential effects on attention and the emotional process, and the possible impact on the brain and behavior.

 

Napoli, M., Krech, P.R., and Holley, L.C. (2005). Mindfulness Training for Elementary School Students: The Attention Academy. Journal of Applied School Psychology, 21 (1), 99-125. A 24-week program of breath work, bodyscan awareness, movement, and sensorimotor awareness activities (12 sessions, delivered bimonthly) to first, second, and third graders found improvements in children's attention and social skills and decreased test anxiety in children who received training as compared with randomly-assigned controls.

 

Schonert-Reichl, K. A. and Lawlor, M.S. (2010). The Effects of a Mindfulness-Based Education Program on Pre- and Early Adolescents' Well-Being and Social and Emotional Competence. Mindfulness, 1 (pp. 137-151). Fourth through seventh graders in 12 schools in Western Canada were instructed in mindfulness education (ME, now called MindUP) and given mindful attention training designed to foster positive emotion, self-regulation, and goal-setting, three times daily. Children who received the ME program had improved social behavior, better self-control, were less aggressive and more attentive in class, and showed significant increases in optimism compared to children in the waitlisted control classrooms.

 

Semple, R.J., Reid, E.F.G., and Miller, L. (2005). Treating Anxiety With Mindfulness: An Open Trial of Mindfulness Training for Anxious Children. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy: An International Quarterly, 19 (4), 379-392. Teachers reported a trend toward fewer problem behaviors, an improvement in academic functioning, and a decrease in symptoms of anxiety among anxious children after six weeks of mindfulness training.

 

Sibinga, E. M. S., Kerrigan, Stewart, D. M. et al. (2011). Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Urban Youth. The Journal of Alternative and Contemporary Medicine, 17 (3), 213-218. Twenty-six at-risk and/or HIV positive youths ages 13-21 completed mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) training. Quantitative data indicated reductions in hostility and emotional and general discomfort.

 

Zylowksa, L, et al. (2008). Mindfulness Meditation Training in Adults and Adolescents with ADHD: A Feasibility Study. Journal of Attention Disorders, 11 (6), 737-746. Mindfulness training reduced symptoms associated with anxiety.

 

Hennelly (2011) looked at sixty eight adolescent students aged between 14 and 16 from typical, mixed-gender secondary schools who followed the full .b eight week course. There were significant differences between participant and control groups’ mindfulness, resilience and well-being, with longer term effects being even greater than immediate effects. Students, teachers and parents also reported subjective improvements in students’ motivation and confidence, competence and effectiveness.

 

Wall (2005): benefits such improved well-being, calmness, relaxation, improved sleep, less reactivity, increased self- care, self-awareness, and a sense of connection with nature.

 

Biegel et al (2009) studied the effects of a modified 8 week MBSR course for 4 to 18 year olds with a wide range of diagnoses. When compared with a control group, the young people who received MBSR self-reported significantly reduced symptoms of anxiety, depression, and somatic distress, global assessment of functioning and increased self- esteem and sleep quality.

 

Conclusion:

The twenty studies described briefly here are not without their flaws and caveats, but do offer a solid set of promising results that, taken together, and with the strong support fromthe substantial work with adults and on social and emotional learning more generally, suggest that for schools to engage in mindfulness is likely to have beneficial results on the emotional wellbeing, mental health, ability to learn and even the physical health of their students. Such interventions arerelatively cheap to introduce, have an impact fairly quickly, can fit into a wide range of contexts and above all are enjoyable and civilising, for pupils and staff.

 

Hennelly, S. (2011) The immediate and sustained effects of the .b mindfulness programme on adolescents’ social and emotional well-being and academic functioning. Thesis submitted for Master of Research in Psychology, Oxford Brookes University (unpublished).

 

Beauchemin, Hutchins and Patterson (2008) looked at the feasibility of, attitudes toward, and outcomes of a 5-week mindfulness meditation intervention administered to 34 adolescents diagnosed with learning difficulties. All outcome measures showed significant improvement, with participants who completed the program demonstrating decreased state and trait anxiety, enhanced social skills, and improved academic performance. The authors hypothesised that mindfulness meditation decreases anxiety and negative self belief, which, in turn, promotes social skills and academic outcomes.

 

Flook et al (2010) reviewed the “Inner Kids” mindfulness-skills programme which has been taught around the world. Evaluation with 7 to 9 year-olds produced parent and teacher- rated improvements in so called ‘executive function’ (which refers to the ability to problem solve, plan, initiate and control and monitor one’s own actions, to pay attention, be mentally flexible and multi-task, and to employ verbal reasoning). Those with lower pre- course self-regulation were observed to experience greatest improvements in behavioural regulation, meta-cognition and executive function.