Whether you’ve found this page because you’re a young person interested in mindfulness and meditation or someone who cares about a young person and is looking for resources to support them, welcome. We’ve curated this page with the help of WholeSchool Mindfulness to create a take-what-you-need hub of meditations to support people juggling the myriad challenges facing people in their youth. Continue reading to learn more about this initiative or scroll down for a selection of meditations curated especially for you by professionals who teach and practice mindfulness with young people every day.
Mindfulness for Kids, Teens, and Young Adults
Being young has never been easy—cue the movie montage of confusing teenage hormone changes, the emotional rollercoaster that invariably sums up the early twenties, and the stress of middle school social dynamics. Now add to the list the tremendous challenges our young people are being hit with today that were not faced by previous generations. Think social media, the pandemic, environmental crises, and more. The youngest generations are resilient, bright, and powerful and they’re shouldering a lot. Mindfulness is a science-backed practice that can boost mental health and overall well-being. Here, we’ve gathered meditations designed specifically for young people that are conceptualized and led by a cohort of WholeSchool Mindfulness directors who teach and practice trauma-informed mindfulness in schools and young communities.
“We try to invite in our full experience, starting with honoring the very real difficulties of our lives while holding alongside the things we have and what we appreciate,” says one director, Erica Marcus, about teaching mindfulness. “We savor the joyful moments, we name that we have a negative bias, but that even on a hard day, we have experienced something that was pleasant.”
WholeSchool Mindfulness
There is an urgent need to prototype and test bold, innovative solutions that have the potential to rewrite the script for how we think about student well-being.
WholeSchool Mindfulness is a nonprofit organization co-creating an education system that advances well-being, community, and justice through the transformative power of mindfulness. WholeSchool is working toward the vision of a mindful education system in which every school has a “Mindfulness Director”—a school or district staff member whose role is to integrate mindfulness practices within their community.
To realize this vision, WholeSchool launches and supports Mindfulness Director positions in schools across the United States. They offer schools and their Mindfulness Directors catalytic funding, implementation support, data gathering, and professional development to launch sustainable, thriving Mindfulness Director positions.
WholeSchool’s Mindfulness Directors are rooted in their school community and offer culturally responsive, secular, trauma-informed mindfulness to the students, faculty, and families of their school. WholeSchool is committed to equity in its work, and two-thirds of its Partner Schools are public K-12 schools serving predominantly low-income and/or BIPOC students.
Since founding in 2019, they have launched 15 Mindfulness Directors and plan to launch an additional 30+ sustainable Mindfulness Directors in the next three years, all creating proof points for the bold idea that a “Mindfulness Director” position could one day be an integral part of schools nationwide.
Getting Started With Meditation
If meditation is new to you, don’t worry. These teachers have got you. Each guided practice offers comprehensive instructions so you won’t have to do any guesswork. That being said, there are a few general guidelines for meditation that you may want to consider before diving in.
How Does Meditation Work?
Follow the lead of the teacher guiding the meditation. They’ll take you through it step-by-step, all you have to do is follow along with the guided audio recording and if you want, you can read the practice transcript to familiarize yourself with the meditation. There are lots of different types of meditation and each one will be a little different. If you’d like a thorough guide, check out our How To Meditate page.
Where Should I Meditate?
If you can, meditate in a quiet space where you feel safe, can get some alone time, and don’t have to worry about what’s going on around you. This won’t be possible for everyone all the time, and that’s OK. There are lots of other options.
Mindfulness teacher Kenneth Bourne recommends going into the bathroom with your phone and a pair of headphones if there’s nowhere else you can get some privacy. Other ideas include listening to a meditation while you’re walking from point A to point B. As long as you remain aware of your surroundings, a commute can be a great time to pop in your headphones and find a moment of grounding and calm. Once you get the hang of the basics, you may not even need the audio recordings. You’ll learn how to bring your attention into the present moment anywhere, any time.
When Should I Meditate?
Whenever you want. Some people like to meditate in the morning to set themselves up for the day, others like an evening meditation to help them unwind. What’s important is that you practice at a time that you can settle in without feeling rushed. Mindfulness teachers tend to suggest that daily meditation is ideal, but if that isn’t realistic for you, it’s OK to create a more lenient schedule or to simply pick it up whenever you feel like it.
Who Is Mindfulness For?
Anyone can practice mindfulness. That’s part of what makes it such a great resource! It’s free, you don’t need any special equipment or clothing, and practices are adaptable to your individual preferences. If you would rather stand than sit while you meditate, go for it. Feel better focusing on sounds around you instead of your breath? Great! The key is doing what feels right for you in the moment.
Why Should I Meditate?
Well, lots of reasons. Science shows that mindfulness can benefit us in many ways, from lowering stress and helping us feel calm, to helping us be kinder to ourselves and others. It isn’t a cure-all, but it can help us get to know ourselves better so we can make more intentional choices in our lives. Mindfulness practice is all about being fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.
Guided Meditations to Support Young People Today
Which meditation sounds most like what you need right now?
A Guided Meditation to Check in With Your Whole Self
When her students are feeling overwhelmed or low, WholeSchool Mindfulness Director Ashely Williams leads this practice to help them check in