Mindful Schools

Thanks to student activists, public schools in Oregon are now the first in the nation to allow students to take mental health days just as they would sick days. The new law permits up to five mental health days within a three-month period.

“A big issue for students with mental health is when you have to miss a day because you’re going through depression or you have a therapy appointment,” 18-year-old Hailey Hardcastle told NPR. According to reports, the mental health of teens has been declining since the mid-2000s. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in Oregon for people ages 15-34.

Schools in the Tempe Union High School District of Arizona will now include mindfulness rooms, thanks in part to a grant from MLB’s Diamondbacks. The rooms, outfitted with comfortable chairs and soothing décor, are intended to provide students with “a neutral and a calming and supportive place,” according to one school social worker.

An innovative membership program brings yoga and mindfulness training to preK-8th grade students via monthly training for educators. Yoga Foster, a nonprofit based in Brooklyn, offers subscriptions to schools in order to train teachers and school staff in yoga and mindfulness, donated yoga mats, and lesson plans and guided practices to use in the classroom.

Meanwhile…

A bill that would reverse a 25-year ban against yoga and meditation in Alabama public schools never made it to the House floor for a vote. The bill’s author plans to reintroduce it in the 2020 session, which begins in February.

BETTER, STRONGER, FASTER, CALMER

Bianca Andreescu’s physical training was evident when she beat Serena Williams at the 2019 US Open, but the tennis star says mindfulness played a part too. Andreescu, a meditator since her early teens, told journalists after her US Open win, “If you can control your mind, you can control a lot of things.”

Minnesota Twins pitcher Devin Smeltzer meditates in the bullpen, in view of the crowd. “It’s extremely important for me to be able to meditate with the distractions,” Smeltzer told The Athletic. “I need to be successful with a stadium that is shaking. I need to be able to control myself.”

University of Wisconsin-Madison Badgers running back Jonathan Taylor uses meditation to gain a competitive edge. He told ESPN that mindfulness allows him to “stop thinking, be in the moment, go out and execute.”