A friend reminded me to document my journey. As I just posted on my Instagram account @jamihamiltonansley, some supporters reminded me to document my journey. I’ve been in survival mode, tbh these past few years. I know I’m not alone with that. Here’s a preview of my dissertation….enjoy.
An elementary school in a small college town in a midwestern city that wasn’t particularly liberal began using daily meditation to help students transition from before school recess to learning. Today, in post pandemic America, we are more divided than ever about a range of topics, including related to SEL (social emotional learning) being taught in schools. Schools have a history of self-imposed moral enforcers from the beginnings of public education. This has always relied upon external control. Students must follow the rules, be respectful, walk in a straight line, sit still. Teaching students how to tune into their bodies to self-regulate and prepare to learn goes one of two ways- either administrators, parents and teachers are wary of this as some sort of woo-woo OR they are open to/aware of the science behind mindfulness and meditation. It could be argued that those leaders who are more open minded and curious about mindfulness techniques are more liberal, as well as being an educator for the right reasons. It is reasonable to assume that anyone wary of SEL being taught in schools and particularly mindfulness-based techniques are more conservative voters and particularly wary of anything related to the term mindfulness.
This paper is about mindfulness in schools. We’re going to define mindfulness, explore how mindfulness emerged from the east to the west and how it manifested in modern American life. We will explore how and why mindfulness in the form of meditation and yoga began being used in the U.S. public school system. We will take a magnifying glass to tell the story of a school in a small midwestern college town and how meditation practice started being used daily to help students transition and improve focus. Finally, in the paper, recommendations will be made by the author on how to implement a mindfulness program within the schools.
Yoga, meditation, mindfulness: from a spiritual practice to a viable mental health treatment. In 2023, our American society is reckoning with our current state of politics with the lasting imprint of former president Donald Trump, meanwhile rights of many groups of people being stripped and our fading interest in justice for minority children, including the wars on civilians in several parts of the world. Educational theorist Maxine Greene’s theme of politics in the classroom is displayed in how we are coping with post pandemic life and the divisions on policies around vaccines and masking while many of our students are in a mental health crisis. “Mental health challenges in children, adolescents, and young adults are real and widespread. Even before the pandemic, an alarming number of young people struggled with feelings of helplessness, depression, and thoughts of suicide — and rates have increased over the past decade” reports Surgeon General Vivek Murthy (Health and Human Services [HHS], 2021). Meanwhile, teachers are experiencing some degree of burnout or are leaving the field altogether. 55% of educators are considering leaving the field earlier than they had planned (National Education Association [NEA], 2022).
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