June 13, 2009

Research Says Meditation Benefits Preschoolers and Elementary School Students

USA Today ran a great piece this week about meditation in schools and hospitals:
Preliminary research shows that Los Angeles preschoolers who were taught meditation improved in their ability to pay attention and focus. For early elementary school kids, improvement came only in those who had attention problems at the start, says Susan Smalley, a UCLA behavioral geneticist who did the research with psychologist Lisa Flook. Very young brains may be more malleable, she speculates.
I LOVE building a bit of meditation into my classes. For preschoolers, it's super brief, something like closing their eyes and imagining someone they love for a few moments. For older kids (especially those oh-so-contemplative and introspective 7- and 8-year olds), I love doing guided meditations and visualizations, or breathwork/meditation. Kids work so much more earnestly and willingly on their meditatio

1 comment:

Young Yoga Masters said...

Thanks for the link to this research. It confirms what I have also experienced teaching pre-schoolers. They love the meditation time and sometimes we do a 5 - 6 minute meditation/song in a 30 minute class. They ask for it!

- Aruna