This post is for our assignment #2 presentation!
Here is a link to our Canva slides.
Here is a link to our website.
My portion of the website:
Meditation- Headspace
What is meditation?
Meditation is a practice that involves focusing or clearing your mind using a combination of mental and physical techniques. Depending on the type of meditation you choose, you can meditate to relax, reduce anxiety and stress, and more.
Why is meditation beneficial for youth?
According to the Cleveland Clinic, meditation is highly beneficial for youth as it helps them manage stress, improve focus, and develop emotional resilience. By calming the mind, meditation allows children and teens to handle anxiety, school pressures, and personal challenges more effectively. It enhances concentration, which can improve academic performance, and helps with emotional regulation by teaching young people to respond to feelings like anger or frustration in a more controlled way. Meditation also creates self-awareness, empathy, and better sleep, promoting overall mental and emotional well-being. These skills not only support their current development but also provide lifelong tools for managing stress and emotions.
Jane Ehrman, A Behaviour Health Specialist at the Centers for Integrative and Preventative Medicine, explains that âwith 15 minutes of daily meditation for at least three weeks, the brain becomes more responsive and less reactive â which can be especially helpful to teens prone to anxiety or erratic behavior.â
scholarly articles and journals that back up meditation:
The Benefits of Meditation: Experimental Findings
Source Information: The author is Elizabeth Monk-Turner. Published in The Social Science Journal, volume 40, Issue 3, 2003, pages 465-470.
Article summary: This article explores the potential benefits of meditation by comparing an experimental group that practiced meditation for 14 weeks with a control group that did not meditate. The subjects, mostly 24-year-old college juniors, were analyzed based on various factors, including emotional responses, drug use, and physical symptoms. The results showed that those who meditated experienced fewer negative symptoms, such as feeling upset by othersâ criticism, taking drugs to alter mood, and having aching muscles or joints. The study supports the idea that meditation has numerous benefits, particularly in reducing physical discomfort and drug use.
Conclusion: The research suggests that meditation promotes overall well-being by calming the mind and body, allowing individuals to better cope with stress and listen to their bodyâs needs.
Meditation and Itâs Benefits
Source Information: The authors are Magdalena WĂłjcik, Grzegorz BoreĆski, Julita Poleszak, PrzemysĆaw Szabat, Marta Szabat, and Joanna Milanowska. Published in the Journal of Education, Health and Sport, volume 9, no 9, 2019, pages 466-476.
Article summary: This article found that psychological stress contributes to various health disorders, and studies show that practices like mindfulness meditation and yoga can reduce stress, depression, and anxiety. For example, patients with active depression and anxiety experienced reductions in their symptoms after a meditation course compared to a control group. Yoga was also studied as a treatment for depression, showing positive results, including reduced perceived stress in distressed women.
Conclusion: The main idea of the study is that meditation practices, including mindfulness meditation and yoga, have beneficial effects on reducing stress, depression, and anxiety, and may help maintain overall health and well-being.
Source Information: The authors are Istvan Schreiner and James P. Malcolm. Published by Cambridge University Press, volume 5, issue 3, 2012, pages 156-168.
Article summary: This article looked at the impact of mindfulness meditation on emotional states, specifically focusing on depression, anxiety, and stress. The study involved 50 participants who completed the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) both before and after a 10-week mindfulness meditation program. The results showed that all emotional measures (depression, anxiety, and stress) decreased significantly by the end of the program. Notably, participants who began with severe emotional difficulties showed the greatest improvements. The findings suggest that mindfulness meditation is effective in reducing symptoms of subclinical depression, anxiety, and stress. The study also discusses how mindfulness training helps with attentional retraining and self-management, as well as some important methodological considerations.
Conclusion: This article found that mindfulness meditation effectively reduces depression, anxiety, and stress, with the most significant improvements seen in participants with severe emotional difficulties.
A great resource for meditation:
Headspace:
What is headspace?
Headspace is a popular meditation and mindfulness app designed to help users improve their mental well-being through guided meditations, breathing exercises, and mindfulness techniques. It offers a wide range of content for relaxation, focus, stress management, and sleep improvement. The app is accessible to all levels of experience!
Benefits of Headspace:
Reduces Stress: Regular use can help lower stress and anxiety, making you feel more calm.
Improves Focus: Headspace offers exercises designed to boost concentration, helping you stay on task whether youâre working or studying.
Better Sleep: The app includes sleep sounds and guided sessions that can help you fall asleep faster and enjoy deeper rest.
Emotional Balance: Mindfulness practices can help you manage emotions and build resilience in everyday situations. Boosts Well-Being: Over time, regular mindfulness can help you feel more balanced, happy, and centered.
how can teachers use headspace/benefits for teachers:
Classroom Mindfulness Breaks: Teachers can use Headspace to lead short meditation sessions in the classroom, helping students calm down and refocus during the day. The app offers kid-friendly options that make mindfulness easy and accessible for students.
Stress Relief for Students: Teachers can guide students through stress-relief exercises before exams or stressful situations, helping them stay calm and perform better.
Morning Mindfulness: Start the day with a short Headspace session to help students center themselves and set a positive tone for the rest of the day.
Teacher Self-Care: Teachers can use Headspace for their own stress management and mental clarity, making it easier to stay patient and focused throughout the school day. Teacher burn out is a huge problem that shouldnât be overlooked, we need to look after our own mental health so that we can support our students.
Building Emotional Skills: Incorporating mindfulness exercises can help students become more self-aware and emotionally balanced, and also teach students healthy ways to cope with mental health challenges.
An example of one of the headspace guided meditation sessions:
An experiment:
According to Headspace.com, a 2018 study done by medical students on the app suggested that regular use of Headspaceâs meditation sessions can reduce stress by 12â30% in as little as 10 days.
I wanted to put this statistic to the test, so I committed to using Headspace every day to see if it truly made a difference. Recognizing that I might be biased, given that Iâm testing an app I support, I decided to shift my focus. Rather than asking myself, âAm I less stressed?â I focused on simply observing how I felt each day. Without comparing my feelings or looking for specific results, I aimed to become more aware of them and jot them down in a journal.
Results?
Just to recap, I used Headspace to guide me through guided meditation sessions everyday for 10 days straight. I tried to do this at the same time everyday to make the results more accurate, I aimed for around 8pm everyday, since I often feel the most overwhelmed in the evenings. I allowed myself to pick different meditation sessions everyday depending on my mood and what I needed, but I aimed to pick a session that was 10-15 minutes long.
Firstly, I found that for the first few days, it was really hard to make myself meditate. I knew that I was supposed to for this project, but I really had to will myself to sit down, put on the video, and do the whole 10+ minute long meditation session. However, once I hit day 6, I actually started looking forward to meditating, and I could actually feel a difference in my mood after meditating.
By day 8, I started to feel more calm as soon as I sat down to meditate. I found that I preferred meditative videos guided by Andy, and even now when I hear his voice, I feel more peaceful.
By day 10, I felt a noticeable shift in how I approached meditation and my overall mood. What started as something I had to push myself to do became something I genuinely looked forward to. It was no longer just about completing the task; it became a routine that helped me unwind. I found myself calmer and more relaxed, not just during the sessions but throughout the day. The simple act of sitting down, focusing on my breath, and listening to Andyâs voice became a reliable way to center myself, and I felt a sense of peace even before the session started. This consistency helped me better manage my emotions, and I realized how valuable those 10-15 minutes were for my mental well-being.
End result: I donât want to say that I was âless stressedâ by the end, because for me, stress comes and goes in waves, and my stress levels really depend on whatâs happening in my life at the time. However, after 10 days of using Headspace, I do feel like Iâm better equipped to manage my emotions and handle stress when it arises. The daily meditations helped me become more mindful of my feelings, and now, Iâm able to pause and take a breath before reacting. While the stress isnât gone, I feel more in control of how I respond to it.
More resources for meditation:
Teaching Meditation to Children: The Practical Guide to the Use and Benefits of Meditation Techniques by David Fontana and Ingrid Slack
Who are the authors?
David Fontana was a British psychologist, parapsychologist and author. He was a Professor of Psychology at Cardiff University.
Ingrid Slack is an experienced teacher as well as a chartered counselling psychologist.
What is it about?
Teaching Meditation to Children is a comprehensive guide that helps educators and parents introduce meditation practices to children. The book provides practical strategies and easy-to-follow techniques that are tailored specifically for young minds, helping children develop focus, relaxation, emotional awareness, and overall well-being
Key points of the book:
Meditation Techniques for Children: The book offers step-by-step instructions for various meditation exercises suitable for kids. These include breathing exercises, visualization techniques, and relaxation practices designed to fit a childâs developmental level and attention span.
Benefits of Meditation: It highlights the emotional, cognitive, and social benefits of meditation for children, such as improved concentration, reduced anxiety, better self-regulation, and enhanced empathy and self-esteem.
Practical Application: The book emphasizes the practical implementation of these techniques in both home and school settings. It provides tips for integrating meditation into daily routines and making it engaging for children.
Adapting for Age Groups: The authors offer suggestions for adapting meditation practices to different age groups, recognizing that younger children may need shorter, more playful sessions, while older children can engage with more structured exercises.
Breathing Is My Superpower by Alicia Ortego.
Who is the author?
Alicia Ortego is a school teacher with 20+ years of experience in the classroom, and an achieved childrenâs book author from New York.
What is this book about? Why is it useful?
Breathing is my Superpower is a childrenâs book that teaches kids about the power of mindful breathing to manage their emotions. The story introduces simple breathing techniques that help children calm down when they feel angry, anxious, or overwhelmed. Through colorful illustrations and a relatable story, the book shows kids how breathing can be a tool to manage big emotions and stressful situations.
Five Finger Breathing (or âmountain breathingâ)
What is it?
Five-finger breathing is a simple mindfulness and relaxation technique that can help reduce stress and anxiety. Hereâs how you do it:
Extend one hand with your fingers spread out.
Use your other handâs index finger to trace along the edges of your fingers.
Inhale deeply as you trace up the outside of one finger.
Exhale slowly as you trace down the other side of that finger.
Continue tracing each finger, breathing in as you go up the finger and out as you trace down.
The technique encourages slow, controlled breathing and focuses the mind on the physical sensation of tracing, making it effective for grounding yourself and calming your nervous system.
What is it?
Mindful.org is an online platform that offers tools and resources to help people practice mindfulness and meditation. It has a variety of articles, videos, and guided exercises designed to make meditation easy to incorporate into everyday life. Whether youâre new to meditation or have been practicing for a while, the site focuses on practical ways to use meditation and mindfulness to improve mental health, emotional well-being, and your overall quality of life.
What does Mindful.org have to offer?
Articles: The website features articles on various topics related to meditation, including stress reduction, emotional health, mindfulness in relationships, and mindfulness in the workplace. These articles are written by experts in the field and often explore both scientific research and personal stories.
Guided Meditations: Mindful.org offers audio resources for guided meditations, helping people practice mindfulness through structured exercises. These meditations can range from short sessions for beginners to longer practices for deeper relaxation and focus.
Courses and Programs: The site often offers online courses, workshops, and resources for individuals looking to deepen their meditation and mindfulness practices.
Mindfulness Practices: Mindful.org provides practical mindfulness exercises and tips for incorporating mindfulness into daily life, whether at work, at home, or during moments of stress.
News: The site also covers the latest news in the field of meditation and mindfulness, including scientific findings, new research, and trends.
Community: It offers a sense of community by sharing experiences and stories from people who practice mindfulness, as well as expert insights.