Trenayce Talbert is a leading expert in the Science of Transformation. She is dedicated to sharing her knowledge with others through her book "Doors of Light" and as the host of the podcast "Awaken The Healing – Reclaim Your Life." You can follow her weekly on her radio show "Navigating The Awakening" on OM Radio.
Have you ever wondered how meditation can enhance your child’s performance in school and in daily life? Unfortunately, most parents never think of it as a tool to assist their children to excel in academics and other aspects of their lives. Teaching your child to meditate daily or to practice what is known as “Mindfulness” for a few minutes each day can drastically improve their ability to focus in class and get better grades on tests. These are just a few of the benefits that I witnessed firsthand with a large group of elementary school students with whom I worked over a two-year period.
This group included children from pre-K to the 3rd grade, and they were not your average students. They ranged in age from 4 to 10 years old, and most of them were struggling with some aspect of school life. I was asked to work with them & other children who had extreme behavioral issues and difficulties learning. I implemented meditation at the beginning of each class and watched as the lives of each child were transformed over a few short weeks. I want to share my own findings with you on how powerful meditation can be for children of all ages. All the video links I am sharing in this article are from our actual program.
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is a form of meditation that teaches children how to focus on the present moment, in the silence of their mind, without judgment. It is a practice of deliberately regulating attention through the observation of thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations, as in observing the breath. Mindfulness is most commonly used today when referring to the practice of meditation with children in a school setting.
Why I used meditation to help my students
I was asked to design an after-school program that would assist struggling students with improving their grades and their behavior. The program was for an elementary school that had their hands full with unruly kindergarten children. These students were so out of control that the teachers were threatening to quit every day. When I received a phone call from the superintendent of Richmond Heights, I was a little surprised but delighted to create a program that would assist the children with these issues. Initially, I was asked to work with the struggling kindergarten children, but soon after the program began, it grew to include kindergarten through 3rd grade.
The demand was greater than our ability to meet it. We simply did not have enough time or space for more children to enroll in the program. We had a long waiting list before we finished the first session.
I decided to start a dance program that included meditation and yoga. I knew the children needed an outlet to help them channel their energy in a positive way, so after speaking to the superintendent, I began to do some research on mindfulness meditation. It was at the top of the list. Meditation was being used successfully by other schools and children’s programs around the country. It was documented to calm and improve the overall physical and mental well-being of thousands of children, as well as many other wonderful results. I read several reports that were compiled over the past 50 years on this subject. I was soon convinced that combining meditation with dance would yield us some very good results. The outcome was better than I ever could have imagined. We began to see some of the worst-behaved children become our very best students!
How the children began to improve
Our very first dance class had 50 of the most challenging kindergarten students who were enrolled in the school. We were meeting in the elementary school gym. It was truly a site to see. The children were completely unruly and doing whatever they pleased. It was chaos and my assistants and I were in shock. I could see why the entire kindergarten staff was ready to quit.
We realized at that point that we had to do something drastic in order to gain control of this group of children. I wasn’t sure if it was even possible to get them to sit down, let alone meditate. So, when we returned for our second class, we quickly took control as the students entered the gym. We had them sit down on the lines that were painted on the gym floor. I noticed right away that as they sat on the floor, they began to calm down. We then separated them into groups, breaking up the clicks that had formed in the first class. In this way, we were able to get their attention and keep it. Soon, the children were displaying more self-control, dancing, and actually having fun. It was clear that they wanted to learn. They simply needed more structure. I started to believe that we could make a difference in these children’s lives and that is what kept us going.
The demand for the after-school dance program grew so quickly that we did not have enough time to implement meditation with the first group. We were supposed to have the same group of children for the entire year, but that plan changed due to the expansion of the dance class to include more grades.
Before we knew it, the first session was over, and we were now working with a new group of 30 children that ranged in age from 4 to 10 years old. This gave us another challenge. The class was smaller and more manageable, but now we had a big difference in the children’s ages. We feared that the younger children would learn slower and the older ones would begin to lose interest, but that was not true at all for these students. The younger ones were learning just as quickly as the older children, so we did not have to change the program. I was now convinced that everyone was ready to learn how to meditate and we began to integrate the internal light meditation into every class.
Related video: Karma Dance Club Winter Performance 2017
How the children responded to learning meditation
As the children came into dance class, they took a seat on the gym floor. They had to be quiet before class would begin. I then took a seat in the center of the circle with the children all around me. As I took attendance, I congratulated each child for making it to class that day. This made them all feel appreciated and noticed. At the beginning of the program, I made name tags for each student and decorated them with cute little stickers each week. The stickers were rewards for good behavior and attendance in class. The children loved their name tags, and they would sit quietly during attendance and stare at their newfound stickers with a sense of accomplishment and joy. This alone proved to be a great motivator for improving their behavior.
After attendance, I started with an affirmation that the children learned previously. They always loved to recite the affirmations and the poems because they seemed to give them a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that they were able to remember them. After several weeks of establishing this routine, I then asked the children if they knew anything about meditation and most of them said no. So this gave me the opportunity to explain a little bit about meditation and how it could help them. They were excited to learn something new. I gave them an option to participate in the meditation or not. In this way, no one felt forced to meditate. I simply told them that if they chose not to meditate, then they were expected to sit quietly until we were finished. And to my surprise, everyone wanted to learn how to meditate!
After our first day of meditating, many of the students would come into class and begin to meditate on their own. They were starting without me! There was a clear difference in their behavior and attitudes. We had far fewer outbursts in class, and the children that were the most difficult soon became our very best students. This was the most shocking part for me because before we implemented meditation into our classes, these students were always getting into trouble. After regular meditation, these same students would come into class quietly and sit down before the others. The improvement was clear and it only took a few weeks to see a huge difference. I then began to hear positive reports from other teachers in the school. My students' grades were improving and they were doing much better in their other classes. The most difficult students were now the leaders in my class. They showed the other children how to behave and took the lead in their dance teams.
Related video: Richmond Heights Dance Camp 2017
10 reasons why you should teach your children how to meditate
1. Improves focus
This is documented in every study that I researched. I noticed the improvement of focus very quickly. In a class of 30 children, it can be challenging for anyone to remain focused, but all of the children had a clear improvement in this area right away.
2. Increases calmness
This is one of my favorites because when I first met my students, this is what they were missing. They were hyper and it was very difficult to get them to settle down. But after starting to meditate regularly, the children calmed down to the point that I could teach them some very complex choreography. They were more focused and able to concentrate on more detailed movements. I watched them become more relaxed and focused by dancing.
Related video: Karma Dance Club Winter Performance 2017
3. Enhances self-esteem
I watched the self-esteem grow in every student that I worked with in our dance classes. We witnessed the smallest children transform in this aspect the most. They were no longer afraid to dance next to the older children and some of them even excelled in their ability to remember the choreography. They would take the lead and help the older students remember what came next in the dance. This came from a combination of things that we implemented, but meditation was clearly one tool that made a huge difference in the area of building self-esteem.
4. Strengthens self-control & emotional regulation
Studies show that practicing daily meditation with children improves self-control, reduces impulsiveness, and improves overall behavior. There is less rowdiness, suspensions, and expulsions. I witnessed this for myself. Many of the students we were asked to work with were constantly being sent home or expelled for bad behavior in school. After starting our dance program, these expulsions ceased. We watched as the most difficult children became our best students & some of the most well-behaved children in the school. University studies show that meditation changes brain function.
5. Improves communication skills
Studies show that the practice of daily meditation improves communication skills in children. We also observed this phenomenon with our students. Our younger students had a tendency to start crying when they were frustrated or aggravated in class. After we started meditating, there was less of this. Those few minutes of meditation at the beginning of class seemed to refresh them and improve their attitude. This allowed them to express themselves in different ways, with less crying and emotional outbursts.
6. Improves physical health
Studies document that children who meditate show an increased engagement in physical activity. This was also true for our group. Some children that would fight to participate in class began to display more joy in dancing after we began our regular meditation practice.
7. Improves academic performance
Many studies show that after a child begins to meditate daily, there is a marked improvement in their overall academic performance. Since we were an afterschool program that did not grade our students in class, we did not witness this shift for ourselves. What happened over time was we began to receive good reports from other teachers and teacher assistants in the school. Our students were doing better in their classes, and many of them were excelling so much that parents began to come in and tell us how much better their children had been doing since starting our dance program.
8. Reduces anxiety & stress
This is a big one, as is just about any study that you can find on the benefits of meditation/mindfulness with children. Many of our students were anxious and stressed when we began our program. Soon these symptoms began to vanish during class. Our children were much more relaxed and at ease. You could see a clear difference when a new student came into our program. They would need a few weeks to become acclimated to the practice of meditation and then there would be a visible shift in their anxiety and stress levels. Soon they were just as calm as our regular students. The Yale school of medicine did a study on the changes of the brain during meditation.
Related video: K.A.R.M.A Dance Club Spring 2018
9. Increases body flexibility
Many studies show that daily meditation will increase body flexibility. We saw this as well, but we also implemented yoga and stretching before we danced. The children all enjoyed the stretching before each class. As time went on, many of them showed a marked improvement in their flexibility.
10. Improves sleep & creativity
Studies show that when you practice meditation regularly, you will improve your quality of sleep. When your mind is rested, you will become more creative. I can say that this has proved very true for me on my personal journey. I can’t say for sure if it was the meditation that we were doing before each class that helped the children seem more rested, but there was a definite shift in their overall restlessness. Some students would even fall asleep when we meditated and then wake up quite refreshed. This quiet time helped them be ready to participate in our creative dance, and I can be sure of that.
Related Article: The Power of Mindfulness
Begin meditating today
The daily practice of meditation has been proven to help millions of people have a better quality of life. This practice is good not only for children but for adults as well. Everyone can experience all of the benefits that we covered in this article.
Whether you're a student, a parent, or someone who simply desires to improve your life on any given level, meditation can help you. If you're interested in learning more about the internal light meditation and other self-empowerment tools that can transform your life, tune into our podcast.
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Read more from Trenayce Talbert
Trenayce Talbert, Transformational Life Coach
Trenayce Talbert has a passion for Wholistic Medicine which is evident in her extensive knowledge of Herbology, Energetic & Intuitive Healing, and the Mind/Body Connection. As a mother of three wonderful children, whom she home-schooled from start to finish over a 23 year period, she was successful in establishing a Practice in Wholistic Medicine and in creating Modern Belly Dance of Cleveland. A place where women learn the Ancient Art of Belly Dance and the Power of Healing that can be Awakened within. Her mission is to Empower everyone she comes in contact with and to help them find more Joy.
