on Teen Life: January 2012

Mindfulness for youth is growing in leaps and bounds in educational, clinical and community settings throughout the world. Why is this? The simple answer—mindfulness works! There is evidence-based research supporting this (click here for articles). 

I recently had the honor of interviewing Rick Hanson, Ph.D. and author of three books, the latest being Just One Thing: Developing a Buddha Brain One Simple Practice at a Time. As Hanson puts it, mindfulness training is a fundamental kind of literacy. It's a way of controlling our most fundamental property—our attention. In fact it's sometimes referred to as “attentional control.” In part, mindfulness can be a gateway to changing the brain, which fortunately has the ability to grow and be rewired.