Why is mindfulness eduction not in every school in America?

In his book A Mindful Nation, Congressman Tim Ryan pointed out this sobering fact:

“We have 400 million people in America. We are competing against China with 1.3 billion, India with 1.4 billion and the rest of the world. We cannot afford to lose one child because we failed to educate them and prepare them with the life skills necessary to compete in a rapidly changing environment.”

Why are we not giving a tool that is scientifically proven to produce optimism, reduce stress and increase attention in children?

Mindfulness education has absolutely nothing do with a person’s religious views! It is a tool designed so that a person can become mindful and observe the emotions that are causing problems in his life. It’s a tool that is similar to weight lifting for the brain.

If we don’t address the problem of stress management, our education system is going to be in severe trouble.

Mindfulness meditation can address this topic:

Here is a list of programs from Edutopia.org, that are incorporating mindfulness meditation into schools:

• >>Center for Wellness and Achievement in Education (CWAE): The nonprofit organization responsible for implementing the Quiet Time program at Visitacion Valley Middle School. CWAE specializes in high-impact, whole-school transformation through meditation-based stress-reduction and readiness-to-learn programs.
• >>MindUP: An educational initiative of The Hawn Foundation, MindUP is a mindful-awareness program developed in consultation with University of British Columbia professor Kimberly Schonert-Reichl.
• >>Inner Kids: A mindful-awareness practices training program researched by UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center.
• >>Learning to BREATHE: A mindfulness-based curriculum for adolescents, developed by Patricia Broderick, a research associate at the Penn State University Prevention Research Center and former director of the Stress Reduction Center at West Chester University of Pennsylvania.
• >>David Lynch Foundation: A nonprofit that funds the implementation of stress-reducing techniques including Transcendental Meditation for at-risk populations.
• >>Mindful Schools: A program using mindfulness to teach kids how to manage emotion, handle stress and resolve conflict.
• >>The Lineage Project: A program using awareness-based practices such as yoga and meditation to teach mindfulness to at-risk and incarcerated teenagers.
• >>The Impact Foundation: A program that trains K-12 teachers in mindfulness through its SMARTinEDUCATION eight-week program.

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Editor: Kate Bartolotta

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