Teaching Mindfulness to Children and Teens

Mindfulness is increasingly taking its place alongside math and social studies. Here’s the latest on mindfulness for kids and teens.

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Salvador Montes, a social worker at Oak Lawn Community High School, has been helping students deal with feelings of anxiety and overwhelm by offering video game meditation sessions. Montes streams feeds from games like Spider-Man and Destiny 2 and invites
his students to focus their attention on the game—three things they can see, feel, and hear, all while taking steady deep breaths.

The Holistic Life Foundation (HLF), a nonprofit based in Baltimore, MD, expanded to two satellite locations: the Saint Regis Mohawk Reservation in Akwesasne, NY, and Miami, FL. The efforts to branch out and bring the benefits of wellness to underserved communities started this summer in Akwesasne. Senior HLF staff will spend a year in the community facilitating yoga and mindfulness classes in schools. They’ll also be training 15 community leaders to help grow their programming in the community.

The Art of Coping, a program created by the nonprofit TRUE Skool, offers kids and teens in Milwaukee, WI, new ways to relax and express their emotions. Now through classes held online, kids are given tools to deal with everyday stress—and added stress caused by the pandemic—through daily practices,…