Where’s the proof?
IT’S EVERYWHERE!
Call it meditation, call it prayer, call it time-out. Call it a 15 minute mental health break. Pages and pages, book after book, podcasts galore, lifestyles in fulfillment are all saying the same things. Benefits and healing through mindfulness, stillness, and inner peace IS A REAL THING.
Unlike prescriptions for ADHD and emotional imbalance, meditation has no negative side effects. Mindfulness assists with achieving better grades, attendance, less aggression, and happier, well-balanced participants in the schools.
Let’s shift from Medication to Meditation
HELPING TO BRING BALANCE TO OUR STUDENTS
MORNING MEDS is a practice to benefit the student, teacher, staff, district and eventually, all of humanity, by teaching our minds to recognize our stressful thoughts without judgement. It helps us learn to relax and observe with discretion what we are experiencing, rather than REACTING.
With all our modern-day distractions it is important to take time to breathe, relax and be in touch with our thoughts. Children are told all day how to think, act, talk and interact, combined with overstimulation. It’s important for them to reconnect within their own powerful selves. Their personal “toolbox” then fills with confidence, patience, empathy, self-control, kindness and acceptance through mindful practice.
Mindfulness helps to switch off the distractions and settle into the peaceful, quiet self. We learn to deal with our emotional challenges more effectively. The stresses of schoolwork, social pressures and home-life dysfunctions are more easily navigated with a peaceful state of mind. We also learn innately to communicate with deeper empathy, patience, and compassion. We make better decisions with clarity.
OVER 40 YEARS of research confirms what meditators have known for 6,000 years; that meditation increases the gray and white matter in your brain, more specifically enlarges the corpus callosum, balancing our analytical, critical thinking left side of the brain, with our intuitive, artistic, creative problem-solving right side.
*Studies show brain mass in cortical areas of the brain (for cognition) shrinks with age. Meditators at 40-50 years of age show the cortical part of the brain is comparable to a 20-30 year old.
A 2014 Study by UCLA neurologist found white matter volume (responsible for transmitting electrical signals) throughout the brain was substantially higher for meditators in 17 of 20 different neuropathways.
*Anxiety and depression stem from chemical/hormonal imbalance. Meditation brings body and mind into balance, helping to reframe and release strain of fearful anticipation of negative memories.
Scientists are finding that acknowledging gratitude is enough to change the chemistry in your brain, allowing daily functions to be more effective.
*Major Corporations are incorporating meditation for higher company performance.
Meditation increases neuroplasticity, priming the brain for better efficiency.
*Aetna Insurance with over a quarter of their 50,000 employees signed up and reported a 28% reduction in stress, 20% improved sleep quality, and 19% reduction in pain.
Opra Winfrey states that meditation makes her 1000 times more productive.
*Slowing the breathing (especially on exhaling) calms the Vagus nerve, the connection between the brain and body, and creates order in the nervous system.
In 2015, a team from Harvard conducted a meditation study on participants in a daily meditation program. After 8 weeks, MRI brain scans showed unmistakable shrinking of the amygdala (fear center in the brain) and an expansion of the brain stem where dopamine and serotonin originate. (Less depression!)
ADDITIONAL STUDIES AND FINDINGS: (Plus other interesting information)
How Meditation Can Help You Focus; https://sps.columbia.edu/news/how-meditation-can-help-you-focus
How Meditation Helps Children Deal With Stress; https://longevity.technology/lifestyle/how-meditation-helps-children-deal-with-stress/
Why Mindfulness Strengthens Social Emotional Development and Academic Achievement, https://www.waterford.org/education/mindfulness-in-schools
Can Meditation Help with ADHD? https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/choosing-your-meditation-style/202010/can-meditation-help-adhd
The Neuroscience of gratitude and Effects on the Brain https://positivepsychology.com/neuroscience-of-gratitude/
The Hidden Messages in Water, Dr. Masaru Emoto 2004 study
Frequency by Penney Pierce, Your Heart’s electromagnetic field, pg 112
Connection between Chakras in the body and our emotions: SpiritMiracle.com/chakras-emotions
Mindful Happiness, Anthony Quintiliani, PhD, LADC
The Neuroscience of gratitude and Effects on the Brain https://positivepsychology.com/neuroscience-of-gratitude/
