Mindfulness and Yoga
A Knowledge Translation Piece by Chenchen Tian
In recent years, mindfulness and yoga-based programs have been increasingly implemented given their benefits for reducing stress. Other benefits include emotional and mental health regulation as well as improving social-emotional cognition and improved behavioural outcomes. These methods are so effective in that they have the ability to promote self-regulatory abilities in order to maintain healthy mental health.
Existing studies on school-based mindfulness and yoga programs heavily incorporate quantitative measurements to assess programs. This conducted study used qualitative data to
explore the effectiveness of program on student’s ability to retain and apply skills learned to their daily lives.
The data was gathered after a 16-week mindfulness and yoga program delivered at three intervention schools by a community non-profit organization. These urban school represented highly disadvantaged communities with some of worst crime and poverty rates in the nation. Interviews were conducted with nine classroom teachers who did not participate in the program. Six focus groups were held with twenty-two fifth and sixth grade program participants. This study investigates two primary research questions: (1) What skills did students learn, retain, and utilize outside the program? and (2) What changes did classroom teachers expect and observe among program recipients?
The results were discussed in the context of four themes that emerged from the study. Firstly, it was found that the learning and application of the skills occurred. Such skills included breath work and poses. Secondly, the youth were able to make connections between skills and techniques with real-life applications. Thirdly, youth reported that they developed keener emotional appraisal for both self and others. Along with this came improved emotional regulation skills which were exercised to de-escalate negative emotions and induce calm. Lastly, both youth and teachers expressed realistic and optimistic expectations for the future implementation of these programs on youth.
The results suggest the benefits of exercising mindfulness and yoga-based techniques to improve innate compensatory mechanisms for reducing stress. These techniques are effective in introducing new skills but also are extremely useful in improving self-regulatory abilities that are used to maintain mental health.
Take-aways
- Mindfulness and yoga-based programs have recognized for their benefits in reducing stress
- This study used qualitative data to explore the effectiveness of such programs on student’s ability to retain and apply skills learned to their daily lives.
The results suggest the benefit of practicing mindfulness and yoga-based techniques to improve innate compensatory mechanisms and self-regulatory abilities to maintain mental health
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Source:
Dariotis J, Mirabal-Beltran R, Cluxton-Keller F, Gould L, Greenberg M, Mendelson T. A Qualitative Evaluation of Student Learning and Skills Use in a School-Based Mindfulness and Yoga Program. Mindfulness. 2015;7(1):76–89.
