By Katie Harrison


Stress is something that can affect people of all ages, including children in elementary school. The good news is new findings that show how the practice of mindfulness can help children learn to cope with stress and anxiety.

School-Based Mindfulness Instruction: A Randomized Controlled Trial focused on students in low income families, between 5th and 8th grade, in fourteen different classes in two Baltimore City public schools. Classrooms were randomly divided among those who received mindfulness training including “meditations, mind-body awareness through gentle yoga, and discussion of everyday mindfulness opportunities,” and those who received general health education. By the end of the trial, children who were taught mindfulness and practiced it throughout the trial, reported fewer so-called toxic stresses, including: depression, self-hostility, negative attitudes, unhealthy coping mechanisms, and post-traumatic symptoms that is often a result of multi-generational poverty, limited education, economic struggles, drug use, and violence throughout the community.

Researchers recommend that mindfulness practice should be used as a primary prevention tool for mental and behavioral health problems in low-income minority students.


Photo: Wavebreak Media Ltd
Published: December 22, 2015