Teaching meditation in schools

August 27, 2011 6:06am CST
As an ex-teacher and spiritual seeker, I think we should be teaching meditation techniques in our mainstream schools as part of the every day curriculum. There are many benefits to a few moments of peace and quiet in the classroom on a daily basis. In my experience, there was too much chat and not enough listening going on! Not only does a guided meditation have the ability to calm our thoughts, relax our muscles and give us a sense of connection with the energies of The Universe, it takes us out of our immediate problems and gives us a chance to stand back to see the bigger picture. I don't think there would be so much persecution and bullying in schools if all the students knew they had a connection with everyone on the planet, and were taught that good and bad thoughts and actions have consequences to the giver and receiver. Here is one interesting link: www.project_meditation.org/a_wim1/meditation-in-schools.html
1 person likes this
7 responses
• India
27 Aug 11
Meditation makes our body and mind relax.so i agree that maditation should be included in schools as everyday curriculum.It will help children learn how to overcome stress and also to maintain peace of mind which is very neccesary in todays life.
1 person likes this
28 Aug 11
Yes, peace of mind is vital in this noisy and frenetic world. We need to access and listen to our Higher Mind on a regular basis and not just when life starts to become complicated and stressful.
@GreenMoo (11834)
27 Aug 11
As part of the physical education curriculum I think it would be worthwhile. If only to offer students a taste of something which they can investigate more in their own time. I strongly believe that education should be about offering a wide spectrum of experiences to choose from and further develop.
1 person likes this
28 Aug 11
I wholeheartedly agree with that! The wider the spectrum, the better. We must give as much choice as possible in order to fire an interest, which may carry on through a whole life.
@lilaclady (28207)
• Australia
28 Dec 11
what a great idea, yes I think this would be fantastic, I have always wanted to meditate and have tried a few times but my mind just seems to be too active and doesn't seem to do what it is supposed to do...learning from an early age I guess would make it a more natural thing in life.
@savypat (20216)
• United States
27 Aug 11
I bet it would have a lot more chance of being accepted is it was call stress relief. It will never fly as meditation, there are to many religous connotations with that word. You know how people go crazy when you mention prayer in school. In fact I can remember having a rest period in public school where we all put our heads down for say 10 mins. I think this was only done in the early grades.
28 Aug 11
Yes, I think you're right there, Pat! It would have to be called something else. Fortunately, 'a rose by any other name smells as sweet'!
@twinklee (894)
• India
27 Aug 11
Dear Mandolingirl, Yeah it will be so nice if every school organize the meditation and yoga classes to their students. It will bring so much positive vibrations to the students motivating them at the mind level to give a better performance. It also reduces mental stress, pressure. Even at my school days, we used to have yoga classes, it was fun and motivating. Happy Mylotting!!!
28 Aug 11
How great that you had Yoga classes, Twinklee! It will be a long time before those could be included in a UK, mainstream, school curriculum! I'm sorry to say things move very slowly here! Happy Mylotting to you too!
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
27 Aug 11
You know, that is actually not the worst idea I have heard. In fact, I'll go ever further in stating that is a pretty good idea. Meditation techniques would in fact be a boon to the educational system in many ways. It would allow students to focus a lot of the time, perhaps allow them to focus on getting their work done, be more disciplined in the matters of the mind. Naturally, getting children to sit still for more than five minutes, best of luck to doing that in this day and age. Still if this gets slowly integrated into the school system, there will be a lot of improvements for sure. Everything will be at a much better place and perhaps many of the problems with slowly be lessened. Perhaps one day solved, but hey, Rome wasn't built in a day. Still this is an intriguing idea for many reasons.
1 person likes this
28 Aug 11
You hit the nail on the head there! Discipline is not about control by someone else. It is about self-control, and learning right from wrong. If we can teach our young people to focus on the good things in life, then they won't want to focus on the bad.
• India
28 Oct 11
I sincerely appreciate your thoughts mam. It is necessary to teach meditation at school level. One should know about her in deep. I hope you will find some support from http://www.divinewellness.com/ experts as well.