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Kids Calm Themselves with Meditation by April Thompson
School Om Work
neering program in Baltimore, Maryland, that’s replacing time outs and school detentions with mindful moments. Trained staff—including many former students—teach yoga, mindfulness practices, meditation, centering and breath work that empower kids to resolve conflicts peacefully. Brothers Atman and Ali Smith and
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friend Andres Gonzalez founded the nonprofit Holistic Life Foundation (HLF) in 2001 in response to the pressing need to help kids living in challenging urban environments better manage stress, anger and other heightened emotions. Today, the organization is sowing the seeds of mindfulness with some 7,500 students a week across 18 Baltimore-area schools, usually begin- ning through daylong, school-wide interventions and afterschool programs supporting targeted populations. Frustrated kids cool off and center themselves through breathing exercises and meditation in the Mind- ful Moment Room in the HLF flag- ship Robert W. Coleman Elementary
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AustinAwakenings.com
choolchildren are learning the calming effect of tuning into their minds and bodies through a pio-
School. “Sometimes when I get mad, I just breathe deep. I picture being in a certain place I like and I just stop being mad… I think of being a bigger person and doing something maybe a wise man would do,” advises one fifth-grade participant.
“When we had to take a big test, before I took it and in the middle, I took deep breaths to stay calm and finish the test. When everybody around you is making a lot of noises, you just try to tune them out and be yourself, do your breathing,” says another fifth-grader. The training starts with educators learning mindfulness techniques both to help their students and also manage their own stress in the classroom. “The program was a fantastic experience,” says Lori Gustovson, a teacher at Balti- more’s Lincoln Elementary School. “We integrated the exercises into our daily schedules, helping many students and teachers focus their attention and regu- late emotions such as anxiety, anger and frustration. We are a better school because of the time they spent in our classrooms teaching us the beauty of paying attention to breath, movement and each other,” she observes.
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