Mindfulness in Education:
the Foundation for Teaching and Learning
The Association for Mindfulness in Education is a collaborative association of organizations and individuals working together to provide support for mindfulness training as a component of K-12 education.
Research over the past few decades has found that mindfulness training develops:
- Increased attention
- Increased executive function (working memory, planning, organization, and impulse control)
- Decreased ADHD behaviors—specifically hyperactivity and impulsivity
- Fewer conduct and anger management problems
- Increased emotional regulation
- Increased self-calming
- Increased social skills and social compliance
- Increased care for others
- Decreased negative affect, or emotions
- Decreased anxiety in general and text anxiety in particular
- Decreased depression
- Increased sense of calmness, relaxation, and self-acceptance
- Increased self-esteem
- Increased quality of sleep
As such, mindfulness is a foundation for education; mindfulness provides the optimal conditions for learning and teaching and also supports all pedagogical approaches.