Faced with outsized stresses, these Baltimore students learn to take a deep breath

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/faced-outsized-stresses-baltimore-students-learn-take-deep-breath/

This video/article talks about schools in Baltimore, Maryland implementing mindfulness meditation programs during the school day and as after school programs. As discussed in the article, violent crime and unemployment rates are almost double the national average in Baltimore. PBS went into a few schools in Baltimore, both high schools and elementary schools, which were implementing these mindfulness meditation programs to see the effects on students.

One of the things I found most interesting was what the principal of a local Baltimore high school had to say. He noted the high violence within the schools in the past, but also said that since they have implemented these mindfulness meditation programs, violence within the school has lessened. He also mentioned that fights between black male students, especially, have decreased. He attributed this to the program helping students learn to take a breath and walk away when they get angry, instead of fighting. He also noted how it may help them literally walk away from death in the real world.

If this can make such a huge impact within the school (in terms of recorded number of fights, suspensions, etc.), I’m curious to know how it could help outside of school. Has it truly helped students to walk away from violent crimes outside of the school? If this program has lessened fights between black male students, has it also helped them walk away from gangs? Fights? Crimes? One girl said she has learned to just breathe when someone wants to fight her, and “stress rest.”

I liked this program best because it's low budget. As the video pointed out, often times students at a local elementary school have after-school mindfulness meditation without anyone leading them. You don't need a lot of equipment and it costs little (if any) money to implement. It's a realistic approach to lowering severe problems such as violence, crime, and even suspensions (as the elementary principal noted, since mindfulness meditation programs have been implemented, they have had zero suspensions). Mindfulness meditation is backed by a ton of research, some of which was shared in this clip. I'd love to see programs such as these adopted by many more schools across the nation, as I do believe it could have many more positive impacts than we could ever list.