How mindfulness, meditation, and yoga in WA schools are combating increasing screen time

“Our children are constantly over-stimulated every day,†she said.

“I started to incorporate breathing, meditation, yoga, and mindfulness into the classes I taught and immediately saw the positive effects on the students.”

The mother-of-two developed the non-profit organization PhysZen and has since taught mindfulness, meditation and yoga as a foray into Perth schools for the past four years to children in kindergarten through sixth grade. year.

While some schools and teachers have been skeptical of the practice, especially adding something else to their already crowded schedules, Ms Flugge said the value of teaching children mindful movement outweighs far on the time spent taking them out of the classroom, far from a traditional teaching setting.

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“Schools are extremely busy places, it further exacerbates stress and anxiety for students and teachers,†she said.

“While schools continue to believe that there is not enough time for yoga, mindfulness and meditation in their schedules, they will continue to waste more time in the classroom in the face of stress and stress. student anxiety that results in ongoing learning difficulties and repeated behavioral problems. “

National education trainer Rochelle Borton said schools in WA need to devote as much time to mindfulness, meditation and creating peer-to-peer support environments as it does to academic success to ensure that students develop resilience and know where they stand in the world.

Ms Bolton, founder of EnduInfluencers with 15 years of experience in education, said that while some educators in Australia are addressing the resilience and well-being of young people, many lack the skills themselves.

“Resilience is enhanced by things like mindfulness, practicing gratitude, meditation, creating supportive environments among peers, and having time to relate relationalally with students,” she declared.

“If we want systemic change, then our education systems must allow time not only for teachers but also for young people to facilitate change in themselves and in their environment. We need to spend as much time on that as we do on academic success. “

Wembley Downs teacher Rebecca Lane said yoga and meditation in schools was underrated and if more opportunities were given to practice them, schools could see an overall behavior change within their class and experience greater improvement in student learning.

The author of this article is a yoga teacher and works with PhysZen