As in many countries, more children in India—up to 11 percent—are growing up with attention deficit disorder, often combined with hyperactivity. This can lead to behavioral difficulties and academic challenges. While enhanced diagnosis and awareness of mental health issues partially explain these trends, researchers also point to the isolation students experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic …
Continue reading “Investigating Nature-based Contemplative Education”
This blog post was originally published online with Psychology Today. The academic landscape poses formidable challenges for people of color, who often experience systemic racism and microaggressions within the competitive and predominantly white environments characterizing higher education. Such challenges and inequity have been found to contribute to higher rates of depression and anxiety among BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) students …
Continue reading “Nurturing Equity in Academia: It Involves Mindfulness, Mentorship, and Community”
For thousands of years, Indigenous cultures in America have engaged in sacred ceremonies and practices—singing, dancing, beadwork, prayer, basketmaking, drumming, running, and more—that nurture present moment awareness and a felt sense of interconnection. How can such practices be integrated into efforts to support the mental health and well-being of Native American youth today? With support …
Continue reading “Indigenizing Mindfulness: A Path Toward Well-being for Native American Youth”
In the northwestern United States, two interconnected upland wet meadows are surrounded by densely packed Douglas Firs, Western Red Cedars, Western Hemlocks, and other common evergreen flora of the southern Cascade mountain range. A group of youth take off from a nearby parking lot and are led through a restored grassland, the surrounding woods, and …
In recent years, California has become ground zero for climate-related natural disasters in the U.S. from out-of-control wildfires and violent flooding to devastating drought. To equip students with the knowledge to better understand—and take action—in the face of climate change, the University of California (UC) launched a multidisciplinary curriculum, Bending the Curve, in 2017. The …
Continue reading “Combining Mindfulness Training with Climate Education: One Researcher’s Journey”
Imagine students in nursery school through Grade 8 developing the skills to cultivate greater happiness in life—from the inside out. In daily half-hour happiness classes, students learn from teachers and engage in games, storytelling, guided mindfulness practices, and role-playing. Each is encouraged to reflect on their feelings, thoughts, and behaviors, and how these impact their …
Following a successful pilot phase, Mind & Life’s Global Majority Leadership and Mentorship Program is opening a new era of contemplative scholarship and science by building inclusivity and liberation pedagogy into its framework. While conventional mentoring programs typically adopt a hierarchical approach wherein mentors bequeath knowledge and guidance to mentees, the Mind & Life program …
Teachers are the most important factor in determining student achievement compared to any other aspect of schooling. They operate on the front lines of society’s efforts to promote equity and play a pivotal role as gatekeepers of academic opportunities. Despite good intentions, teachers like the rest of society are racially biased. Studies indicate that teachers …
There is a growing recognition of the importance of education for social emotional learning (SEL). There is a limited understanding of SEL of children in the Global South despite the growing interest, for example, in India, SEL has been emphasised in the national educational policy and by several large-scale interventions, notably the Happiness Curriculum which …
Amidst glaring evidence of racism and social inequities brought to the forefront in the recent past, there is heightened urgency to explore how youth gain critical consciousness about social issues, and growing interest in supporting youth engagement in positive social change. The Peace of Mind-Social Justice (PoM-SJ) curriculum integrates skills typical in mindfulness-based programs—mindfulness and …
