Mindfulness Over Matter: Meditation Successfully Replaces Suspension at Elementary School | Sojourners

Mindfulness Over Matter: Meditation Successfully Replaces Suspension at Elementary School

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Zero. That's the number of student suspensions for the 2016-2017 school year at Robert W. Coleman Elementary School in Baltimore, Md.

This downward trend began when the elementary school incorporated a focus on meditation into its day-to-day routine. Instead of being punished for disruptions or misbehavior, students are sent to the “Mindful Moment Room” where they meditate and do breathing exercises.

The Holistic Life Foundation, a local nonprofit, helped to create the Mindful Moment Room and regularly teaches pre-K and elementary school students how to meditate. Patterson Park High School in Baltimore also adopted a focus on meditation and have discovered a notable decrease in its own number of student suspensions. Attendance at the high school has also increased.

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