Meditation Vs. Detention: A New Approach To Discipline

Should schools replace detention with meditation? This question has been asked by many, and some schools have implemented this practice with promising results.

At Robert W. Coleman Elementary School in Baltimore, instead of sending disruptive students to detention or the principal's office, teachers refer them to the Mindful Moment Room. This room is filled with lamps, decorations, and plush purple pillows, creating a calming atmosphere. Students are encouraged to sit and practice breathing or meditation techniques, helping them to relax and refocus. They also have the opportunity to talk through what happened and why they are feeling angry or frustrated.

Proponents of this approach argue that it equips children with valuable tools to manage their emotions and make better choices. It teaches them to recognise and deal with anger in a healthy way, which can have a positive impact on their interactions with peers and improve their overall well-being.

The Holistic Life Foundation, a non-profit organisation, has implemented similar programs in other schools with notable success. They report a significant reduction in disciplinary issues and suspensions, indicating that meditation may be a more effective approach to managing student behaviour than traditional detention.

While there is limited research on the specific impacts of meditation on children, studies suggest that it can enhance attention span, memory, and overall academic performance. Additionally, meditation has been shown to have profoundly positive effects on both the mind and body, reducing anxiety, depression, stress, and pain.

By incorporating meditation into schools, we may be able to provide students with skills that will benefit them throughout their lives, helping them to navigate challenging situations with resilience and empathy.

Meditation helps students calm down and re-centre

Another student, Dacari Crawford, aged 9, said:

> "When I get mad at something or somebody, I just take some deep breaths, keep doing my work and tune everyone out. It gives you good confidence when you need to do something important."

Kamaya, a ten-year-old student at Fort Worthington Elementary/Middle School in Baltimore, was able to take a "stress breath" to calm herself down when she got mad at her mother for telling her to go to sleep instead of playing with her friends.

Meditation can also help students feel anger rising and give them the choice to express it or to re-centre and find inner peace and calm. Jahlil, a quiet ten-year-old student at Fort Worthington, goes to the corner and breathes when his teacher gets upset with him.

The benefits of meditation extend beyond the school environment. Dacari said that when kids come into the Mindful Moment Room, they are "rowdy and goofing around", but when they leave, they are "peaceful and quiet and ready to do their work".

Meditation can also have a positive impact on students' home lives. Andres Gonzalez, co-founder of the Holistic Life Foundation, said:

> "We've had parents tell us, 'I came home the other day stressed out, and my daughter said, 'Hey, Mom, you need to sit down. I need to teach you how to breathe.'"

Meditation can be a powerful tool for students to cope with challenging situations and conflicts, both inside and outside the classroom.

Students are taught to recognise and manage their emotions

Students who are taught to recognise and manage their emotions are better equipped to deal with adverse situations and can develop techniques to help them resolve conflicts in a peaceful manner.

At Robert W. Coleman Elementary School in Baltimore, students are given the opportunity to practice mindfulness and meditation in the Mindful Moment Room. This is a space where students can calm down, recentre, and talk through what happened after an incident of misbehaviour. They are also taught breathing exercises and yoga.

The Mindful Moment Room is a partnership with the Holistic Life Foundation, a local nonprofit that also runs the after-school program Holistic Me. Holistic Me teaches students from pre-K to the fifth grade mindfulness exercises and yoga.

Students at Coleman Elementary School start and end their school day with a 15-minute guided meditation and have the chance to practice yoga during the day as well.

At Doull Elementary in Denver, students who misbehave are assigned to an after-school yoga program. Before being assigned to yoga for misbehaviour, teachers first try to address the issue by sending students to the school's "cool-down room", where they can do breathing exercises and talk to a staff member.

The yoga program at Doull Elementary is part of the school's embrace of social-emotional learning and its efforts to cultivate an environment attuned to the social and emotional well-being of children.

Students who are taught to recognise and manage their emotions can benefit from improved focus and concentration, increased compassion and empathy, and decreased impulsivity.

Students are encouraged to talk through what happened

At Robert W. Coleman Elementary School in Baltimore, students are encouraged to talk through what happened when they are sent to the Mindful Moment Room. This is a room filled with lamps, decorations, and plush purple pillows, where students are encouraged to sit and go through practices like breathing or meditation, helping them calm down and re-centre.

The Holistic Life Foundation, a local non-profit, runs the Mindful Moment Room in partnership with the school. Foundation staff members encourage students to talk about what led to their dismissal from class, and then they are instructed to do some breathing exercises. They are told to close their eyes and inhale and exhale deeply.

A fifth-grade boy, for instance, was sent to the Mindful Moment Room for being rowdy during his math lesson. Foundation staff member Michelle Lee instructed him to shut his eyes and take several slow, deep breaths. "Do you feel calmer?" Lee asked after a few minutes. "Yes," the boy responded, nodding.

The next day, he returned for more breathing exercises. "We have a few frequent fliers here," Lee said.

The Mindful Moment Room is not a miracle cure for students' strife, but those at the school say it has done wonders for their learning environment and productivity. Before the room was introduced, students who got into trouble were sent to detention or to the principal's office. But since making the meditation room available, Principal Carlillian Thompson said she rarely sees children for disciplinary issues anymore.

The Holistic Life Foundation also oversees school-wide initiatives at Coleman Elementary, where each day starts and ends with 15 minutes of mindfulness broadcast over the PA system. The recordings guide students through breathing exercises, movement, and meditation.

Students are taught to be mindful and calm

Students at Robert W. Coleman Elementary School in Baltimore are taught to be mindful and calm through the school's Mindful Moment Room. This is a brightly coloured space filled with lamps, decorations, and plush purple pillows, and is a far cry from the windowless detention rooms used to punish unruly children. The room is part of an after-school programme called Holistic Me, which teaches children to practice mindful meditation and breathing exercises.

In the Mindful Moment Room, students are encouraged to sit and go through practices like breathing or meditation, helping them calm down and re-centre. They are also asked to talk through what happened. One student, Dacari Crawford, aged 9, said:

> "When I get mad at something or somebody, I just take some deep breaths, keep doing my work and tune everyone out. It gives you good confidence when you need to do something important."

The programme is run in partnership with the local non-profit Holistic Life Foundation, which was started by two brothers, Atman and Ali Smith, and their friend Andres Gonzalez, in 2001. Their goal was to provide kids from low-income and high-crime-rate neighbourhoods with the tools to cope with stress and anger.

The results of the programme have been impressive. Since first taking part in the programme two years ago, Robert W. Coleman hasn't issued a single suspension. The school principal, Carlillian Thompson, said:

> "With the first year being so successful, I started seeing a difference in their behaviours. Instead of the students fighting or lashing out, they started to use words to solve their problems. We see the success rate of those students who began in the program now. They are middle school students who are very successful; they come back and participate in the program."

Meditation teaches students to make thoughtful choices

The practice of mindfulness meditation teaches students to be comfortable with being a "witness" to their thoughts. They learn to notice their thoughts without ignoring or suppressing them, and to use their breathing as an anchor. This helps them to develop a more positive mindset and build inner resources that enable them to find a place of serenity and attentiveness when they need it.

Meditation also improves students' concentration, which is a top priority for students. Through guided meditation for focus, students learn to settle their attention on the present moment and discipline their minds to focus on a single activity at a time. This enhanced ability to concentrate can help students make thoughtful choices by allowing them to focus on the present moment and make decisions without being clouded by negative thoughts or emotions.

Additionally, meditation has been shown to promote creativity, improve happiness levels, and foster peace of mind. These benefits can further enable students to make thoughtful choices by providing them with the clarity and emotional well-being needed to make informed and considerate decisions.

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