Meditation serves as a positive tool over detention in schools

Robert W. Coleman Elementary School has done away with detention in favor of mindful mediation. Past research has shown that punishing kids with detention does little to nothing to improve their long term behavior. The faculty at Robert W. Coleman Elementary witnessed this ineffectiveness firsthand and decided to make some changes.

Instead of being sent to the principal’s office, kids who act up now pay a visit to the school’s Mindful Moment Room. The room is a collaboration between the school and the Holistic Life Foundation, a local nonprofit that offers yoga and mindfulness classes to the community. When students arrive they are asked to sit in silence and quiet their minds. They might focus on their breathing or practice some other mental exercises that encourage mindfulness.     

So, we spoke to yoga and meditation instructor Monica Lupean of Sailsbury Yoga. She has worked with at risk children at Pinehurst elementary school, teaching them the fundamentals of mediation to help them with their behavior issues.

“It was so successful in Pinehurst and I know that there will be many other kids that can use it,” said Monica. “I think that the Dali Llama said if we taught meditation to all eight year olds there would be no wars within the generation and I truly believe that, If kids were given those skills the world would be a different place.

And the school in Baltimore has been suspension free for two years. The program there also also informs children about the environment and even helps kids build veggie farms on campus.