Mindfulness in the High School Classroom

Okay, the sitting-on-desks-in-your-meditation-pose part is optional. (Photo by Megan Cherry via Cambridge University Press)

Research shows that mindfulness — our nonjudgmental awareness of our own thoughts, emotions, and sensations — is one of the most important skills that teenagers can learn.

Adolescents who practice mindfulness learn to better regulate their emotions, manage their attention span, understand their impulses, and notice how their environment affects them mentally and physically. Adults can learn these skills, too, of course, but teenagers are in a unique moment of brain development that primes them for acquiring these skills (and, conversely, that makes them especially vulnerable to emotional dysregulation, anxiety, depression, and impulsivity).

Teens also experience a lot of stress. They worry about their performance in school, their social and romantic relationships, events and dynamics in their homes and families, physical changes happening during puberty, and the next steps after high school, to name a few of the more universal concerns.

Mindfulness has been proven to help teenagers respond to stressors in a way that supports them and improves their mental health in the short- and long-term.

Mindfulness in the Classroom

Incorporating mindfulness into the classroom is one of the best ways that schools can help students build their emotional intelligence, self-confidence, and coping skills. Here are five concrete ways that educators can teach mindfulness techniques:

1. Begin or end class with a short breathing exercise. Two or three minutes is plenty, and you don’t need to be a pro to lead students in this work. A few simple techniques you can introduce are box breathing, a short guided meditation video from YouTube, belly breathing, or counting breaths with the 4–7–8 method. Let students sit in a way that is comfortable, where they can be still for the duration of the exercise. Allow them to close their eyes if they feel comfortable, or just take a soft gaze ahead or down. Encourage anyone who does not want to follow the exercise to simply sit quietly or rest their head on the desk.
2. Once a week, pick an emotion related to the topic you’re teaching that day and allow students to think more deeply about that emotion. Maybe you’re reading a novel in English class where the character is experiencing grief. Maybe you’re watching a movie in a foreign language class where a character is feeling loved. Maybe you’re studying a topic in history class that relates to resilience. Whatever the emotion, ask students to think about a time that they experienced that emotion. What did it feel like in their bodies? Did they experience it alone or share it with anyone? How long did the feeling last? If students are comfortable, ask for a few volunteers who want to share.
3. Guide students in a short activity around negative self-talk. (This works best if you give an example, using a thought of you own, so students can see how it works.) Ask them to jot down a negative thought about themselves that is in their head (“I can’t do math…”, “I’m never going to get into college…”, “I’m not playing as well this season as my dad wants me to…”, etc.). Then, ask them to respond to those statements by writing another sentence, showing themselves compassion. Have them use their own name when writing the rephrased sentence (“Yusuf, this math unit is hard, but you are trying your best and you are improving…”, “Ana, you can be kind to yourself about college, even if the process is difficult…”, “Rodney, you are putting a lot of energy into baseball this season, and your dad sees that…”, etc.). Encourage them to look back at the new sentence they wrote if they notice that negative self-talk coming up later in the day or week.
4. End class with an open-ended question about coping skills. “We have exam week coming up. What is one way you will take care of yourself between now and then?” or “This week it has been really tough to read the news. What is something that you can do to give your mind a break from heavy topics?” Give students time to brainstorm three ideas for themselves. Open a discussion for any students who want to share an idea.
5. Guide students in setting a daily intention. This works best at the start of the school day. Give them a few minutes to think about the day ahead. What’s on their mind? What are they looking forward to? What are they nervous about? Then, encourage them to choose one intention for the day — one thing that they want to do today, for themselves. Allow space for any students who want to share their intentions.

None of these need to take more than 5 minutes. However, research shows that even short mindfulness exercises are hugely impactful (and, of course, any of these could also be a much longer activity, if your class is into it that day!).

Each of these exercises helps students to take stock of their own feelings and thoughts and to take a moment of pause in their day. If students or teachers are open to sharing their responses to an exercise, these activities can also give students concrete examples of the shared experiences they have with others, the kinds of coping skills they might use, and the ways they can be kind and nonjudgmental to themselves.

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