McPheters 1

Kiah McPheters

Mr. Matthew Slye

English 1201

March 18, 2022

Literature Review

This research paper poses the question: How is introducing mindfulness into the school

curriculum affecting students? An effective way to begin answering this question will be to

define mindfulness, branching out to include the definition of meditation and yoga. The paper

will also introduce the history of mindfulness, how it has evolved to become what it is today, and

how it made its way into classrooms. Touching on mental health in students can then relate to the

introduction of mindfulness into the curriculum. This research paper will present information

that encapsulates all sides of the argument. 

Mental health is no longer a topic only discussed by psychologists. People are having this

conversation in homes, and it is now making its way into our school systems. During the

pandemic, schools struggled to maintain the focus and drive of their students. Mental illness

spiked as people stayed in their homes and were isolated. The isolation and changes affected our

students greatly as they struggled with their social, family, and academic lifestyle. Introducing

mindfulness to help mitigate the effects of these abrupt changes presumably helped students cope

during unprecedented times. Although schools have reopened their doors and social and

academic lives have seemingly recovered, mindfulness has continued. Across the US, school

districts are beginning to integrate mindfulness into their curriculums permanently. "A wealth of

studies in adults have demonstrated how mindfulness can enhance satisfaction with life as well

as reduce stress and negative emotion." (Amundsen 2)

The 2021 Children's Mental Health Report, sponsored by the Child Mind Institute,

released its survey results on the pandemic's impact on children's mental health. "In a survey

conducted in late March 2020 by the UK charity YoungMinds, 83% of young people with

preexisting mental health needs reported that the pandemic had worsened their mental health to

some degree." (Child Mind Institute 6) The report also included that "22.28% of children and

adolescents in China exhibited signs of depression, compared to the 13.2% estimated in previous

research." (Child Mind Institute 6) These statistics put into perspective the dire consequences

children around the globe are facing from Covid-19 and help raise the conversation worldwide as

to how we can remedy this.

In the scholarly article, Mindfulness in Primary School Children, the beginning of the

investigation of the effects of mindfulness in school curriculums begins. Generally, mindfulness

is accepted to "enhance pupil wellbeing" (Amundsen 2) while recognizing the lack of research to

understand its effectiveness. Enacting a 6-week mindfulness program for students aged 9 and 10

attempts to access and chart out the longer-term wellbeing and emotion regulation results. "Self-

report measures of wellbeing, mindfulness and emotion regulation were collected at pre and

post-training as well as at 3 months follow up." (Amundsen 1) The results, judged to be reliable

by the Department of Psychology, noted that those who underwent the 6-week program did show

an increase in mindfulness, positive outlook, and life satisfaction. Another research article,

Unpleasant Meditation-Related Experiences, casts a broader net to answer the same question and

found seemingly different results. "The aim of this study was to report the prevalence of

particularly unpleasant meditation-related experiences in a large international sample of regular

meditators, and to explore the association of these experiences with demographic characteristics,

meditation practice, repetitive negative thinking, mindfulness, and self-compassion.". (Schlosser

1) Both reports are credible but seem to base their research on trying to prove opposite beliefs.

Understanding each side and point of view is imperative to answer the research question without

bias. 

Kathleen Fackelmann authored an article in USA Today. She discusses the real-life

results of meditation on the brain. Sara Lazar, a Harvard Medical Student, "used MRI (magnetic

resonance imaging) to look at brain parts involved in memory and attention. She found that

meditators had increased thickness in those regions." (Fackelmann 1) The same study also notes

that although "those areas shrink as people get older, this study found that older meditators were

able to ward off some of that shrinkage." (Fackelmann 1) Acknowledging that since this source

is a news article, it does not hold the same credibility as a scholarly article - but referencing

someone credible such as Lazar renders it a valuable source. 

The research on mindfulness did not start at the pandemic – nor will it end there.

Mindfulness's "earliest known reference to a meditation practice can be found in the Yoga Sutras

and in sculptures from preAryan civilizations that inhabited the Indian subcontinent." (Gupta 23)

Many have argued it has been westernized and taken over by American culture, and this "tended

to decontextualize them from their cultural and religious origins." (Gupta 24) "The Sacred to the

Secular," written by Kalpana Gupta, an Indian woman who practices Hinduism and mindfulness

as part of her culture. She is one of many who feel that secularizing mindfulness strips Buddhism

and Hinduism of their religious culture. She includes two stories and backgrounds of staff

members who teach mindfulness in an academic setting and the results. This article directs its

attention to those who have adapted mindfulness but do not know and/or respect the history

behind it.
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From the acquired sources, the possibility of effects on students' mindfulness starts to

present itself. The overall benefits of introducing meditation and mindfulness in the classrooms

could increase well-being and productivity amongst students. It could also possibly have

undesirable effects that researchers have yet to understand. The students could be uncomfortable

with a religious connotation, and those of the Buddhist or Hindu background could be offended

at using their religion without respect. Some school districts are being sued due to introducing

mindfulness, “…many Christians, Jews and Muslims in the United States and globally argue that

yoga and meditation — even when used as a physical warm-up or to reduce stress — are

fundamentally religious activities connected with Hinduism and Buddhism.” (“Conservative

legal groups”) All involved may raise issues with how close the school is to discussing religion

inside of schools. More research and studies focusing on mindfulness specific to young

adolescents will determine whether the results of mindfulness are negative or positive. Also of

value is to uncover how mindfulness is taught and whether it is standardized or tailored to the

individual teachers.
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Working Bibliography

Amundsen, R., et al. "Mindfulness in primary school children as a route to enhanced life

satisfaction, positive outlook and effective emotion regulation." BMC Psychology, vol. 8,

no. 1, 8 July 2020. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A631890987/OVIC?u=dayt30401&sid=bookmark-

OVIC&xid=77aa80e4. Accessed 10 Mar. 2022.

Brown, Candy Gunther. "Conservative legal groups are suing public school yoga and

mindfulness programs. This explains why." Washingtonpost.com, 10 July 2019. Gale In

Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A592881313/OVIC?

u=dayt30401&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=45cfdc6b. Accessed 10 Mar. 2022.

Gupta, Kalpana. "The Sacred to the Secular: Using Mindfulness and Meditation as Instructional

Methods in Academia." New Directions for Adult & Continuing Education, vol. 2019, no.

161, Spring 2019, pp. 21–32. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1002/ace.20308.

Osgood, K., Sheldon-Dean, H., & Kimball, H. (2021). 2021 Children's Mental Health Report:

What we know about the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on children's mental health ––

and what we don't know. Child Mind Institute.

Schlosser, Marco, et al. "Unpleasant meditation-related experiences in regular meditators:

Prevalence, predictors, and conceptual considerations." PLoS ONE, vol. 14, no. 5, 9 May

2019, p. e0216643. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A584928670/OVIC?u=dayt30401&sid=bookmark-

OVIC&xid=6dcec35d. Accessed 10 Mar. 2022.