Inner Explorer began in 2011 to bring the transformative impact of mindfulness to children. A scalable audio-guided mindfulness program was developed for schools and delivered nationwide through advanced technology. It was soon apparent that universal upstream prevention strategies like mindfulness were needed in all schools to address the youth mental health crisis and support student well-being.
Research shows positive outcomes for students and educators with as little as five minutes of daily mindfulness practice. Daily practice and evidence-based research are key to demonstrating a mindfulness program's efficacy with children. Mindfulness fits easily within the existing school curriculum, typically first thing in the morning as students prepare to learn or during regular transition times. Mindfulness practices may include breathing techniques, promoting relaxation and self-awareness, gentle movement, attentive listening and communication, mindful eating, and opportunities for students to reflect on their experiences, thoughts, and emotions in non-judgmental ways. Daily practice builds a consistent habit of stress reduction. Children and their teachers learn together to develop the capacity to be still, self-aware, self-regulated, creative, and open. Family access to school-based mindfulness programs is key to building the home-school connection and promoting transparency.
While mindful awareness is not new, developing a daily habit has been difficult to foster. A useful analogy to consider is that daily teeth-brushing is to dental health as daily mindful awareness practice is to mental health. We plan to build awareness nationally about the power of prevention and make the case that mindfulness must be embedded in the school day to transform health, well-being, and performance. Our three-year goal is to reach a ‘tipping point’ of 15,000 schools/10 million students or about 18% of the 60 million PK-12 students in the U.S.
To listen to a sample of mindfulness practices go to https://institute.innerexplorer.org.
