Meditation in Schools: A Former Principal’s Perspective

As a former high school teacher and principal, I remember how urgently we looked for ways to keep young people engaged in school. We wanted fewer students sent out of class, fewer days lost to suspension, and above all, fewer young people quietly deciding that school was not for them. We were always looking for a better way to help a student pause, regroup, and stay connected.

That is why the story of Baltimore’s Mindful Moment Rooms is worth sharing. It is an example of what can happen when students are given a respectful place to settle themselves before a difficult moment becomes a punishment, a fight, or another reason to give up.

A different response to a difficult moment

At Robert W. Coleman Elementary School in Baltimore, the Holistic Life Foundation helped create a Mindful Moment Room. Instead of automatically sending a distressed or disruptive child to detention or the principal’s office, staff could guide the student toward breathing, reflection, meditation, and a calm conversation about what happened.

The results described by the school and the Holistic Life Foundation were striking. The school reported zero suspensions in the 2013–14 school year, compared with four the year before. The foundation later reported eight consecutive years with zero suspensions, along with improved attendance, academic performance, and fewer behavioral incidents.

Why this matters to anyone who has worked in a school

Every educator knows that discipline is often about more than rules. A student may be carrying stress from home, conflict with friends, grief, fear, hunger, or a feeling that no adult understands. A response focused only on removal can miss the chance to teach a student how to move through a hard feeling without making the next choice worse.

In my years in education, we searched for ways to reduce the dropout rate and keep students engaged. Small moments can add up. A student who learns to pause before reacting may be more able to remain in class, ask for help, recover from conflict, and believe that school still has a place for them.

A lesson for families and educators

Breathing, meditation, and reflection can give a student a brief space between feeling and action. For some young people, that space can be the beginning of a different conversation. Families do not need a special room to begin practicing a calmer pause. A few quiet minutes before school, after a disagreement, or before bed can become a regular rhythm.

Sources: Upworthy’s report on Robert W. Coleman Elementary School; the Holistic Life Foundation’s Coleman Elementary report; and PBS NewsHour Classroom’s report on Patterson High School.