Baltimore School Replaces Detention With Meditation And Yoga Classes

A Baltimore, MD school has decided to throw old practices of punishment out the window and replace them with something surprising.

Perhaps the days of detention are gone. After all, having students sit in a classroom and stare at the wall for an hour has never done much to curb their disruptive behavior. However, having students reflect inwardly and meditate in a productive environment may actually be a way to spread good behavior.

That’s why the folks at the Robert W. Coleman School have created an after-school meditation program for its students. Kids who attend the ‘Holistic Me’ program learn who to practice yoga, create mindfulness in their lives, and sit meditating on their thoughts.

Administrators say combining these practices with extracurricular activities and academic pursuits enables the students to have a healthier mindset.

“The award-winning after-school program empowers youth with the skills for peaceful conflict resolution, improved focus and concentration, greater control and awareness of thoughts and emotions, improved self-regulation, anger management and stress reduction,” the Open Society Institute-Baltimore wrote about the program.

“Since first taking part in the program two years ago, Robert W. Coleman hasn’t issued a single suspension,” Bored Panda reported. While there is no direct connection between the meditation program and detention, it certainly can’t hurt the cause.

“Kids in underserved communities might be stressed because they can’t eat, they don’t have food or they come to school with their clothes dirty and they get joked,” explained founder Ali Smith.

“Kids at private school are stressed too. They have achievement anxiety or they’re not connecting with their parents because they’re traveling or working. It just manifests itself differently. But it can be damaging, no matter what, if they don’t learn how to address it.”

Parents, what do you make of replacing detention with mindfulness classes? Tell us your thoughts in the comments and please SHARE with friends and family.

[Featured Image: Colby Ware via OSI-Baltimore]

Baltimore School Replaces Detention With Meditation And Yoga Classes is an article from: LifeDaily