Mail Online: Council’s wellbeing consultant insists classes are ‘not just some hippy idea’ and aid concentration.

Lying down in a circle may seem like a rather unusual way to run a lesson, but teachers say meditation and yoga has helped hundreds of primary school pupils to improve their grades.

The nine to 11-year-olds are taught to ‘channel their energy’ once a week in a class that focuses on relaxation and breathing techniques

During the one hour sessions pupils from across Essex are also taught a series of beginner yoga positions designed to improve their mental health and well-being.

Teachers involved in the trial scheme have reported …

It never fails.

After dinner, the kids complain they are too tired to do their homework but once we’ve put on our PJs and brushed our teeth they are full of energy and bouncing on the beds.

That’s when we turn to the “Om.”

Yes, we meditate.

It’s not for long, 30 seconds at most. But it does the trick. As long as my husband doesn’t come in and start laughing, they settle down and we begin our bedtime stories.

The children learned the proper pose for relaxation and meditation from instruction in Yoga, which has become more and more popular for children.

They began practicing yoga in preschool and at the …

Amir Raz gets some funny looks when he talks about using hypnosis and meditation techniques to build attention spans in a hyperactive MTV world.

“Mention contemplation to a lot of people, and all they think of is some kind of (wacky) spiritualism, people sitting around a darkened room with candles, chanting,” says Raz, a McGill University professor who holds the Canada Research Chair in the Cognitive Neuroscience of Attention.”Our ideas are shaped by Hollywood movies. So you talk about hypnosis, and people see something out of a Woody Allen movie, a guy in a turban with bushy eyebrows who wants to put you to sleep.”But “trim away the folkloric fat,” …

Children should meditate, not watch TV.

Dance teacher Nicola Baartse has started the stretch and meditate class for children, five and above.

Recent studies found too much television early in life had adverse affects on education and health. “As a mum, I am passionate about having my kids find a way to destress and learn how to be still sometimes without using the TV as a relaxation device,” she said.

“It helps to slow them down and give them a chance to recuperate after a hectic day.”

The class involves mind-body movement meditation. “We structure the movement with things the children are familiar with like animals and places they’ve been,” Ms Baartse said.

The …

A few boys twitch and are reluctant to close their eyes. It’s not easy to get those aged 10 to 12 to keep still, let alone stop their minds from racing.

But it doesn’t take long before the soothing words of meditation teacher Janet Etty-Leal have lulled this class of grade 5 and 6 students into a different mental space.

Lying in a circle, they are practising a form of meditation known as mindfulness that has become core curriculum at Yarraman Oaks Primary School. This school in Noble Park is one of a growing number that have embraced the technique to improve focus and stress management.

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The U.S. Constitution may prohibit mandatory prayer in public schools, but it doesn’t prohibit schools from allowing students to pray on their own initiative, says City Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, who wants to encourage the practice.

“Students are free to pray alone or in groups as long as the activity is not disruptive and does not infringe on the rights of others,” according to a resolution adopted unanimously in Council yesterday at Blackwell’s request.

It calls for Council’s Education Committee, headed by Blackwell, to schedule hearings on prayer in Philadelphia public schools.

“We want to discuss the policy, see if it needs to be amended and certainly let the citizens know that the issue does exist,” Blackwell told reporters. “There is a way people …

Once the domain of New Agers and suburban moms, yoga has become firmly planted in Baltimore’s inner city, and now researchers believe the ancient practice may help elementary school students cope with the stress of growing up in impoverished, violent neighborhoods.

Researchers and lay people alike think yoga may help adults reduce stress. The popularity of the practice has surged, and it’s used as therapy for cancer patients and battered women, and as a treatment for back pain and depression.

But even as schools get in on the trend, the effect of the practice on children has …

About to turn thirty, Conor Grennan planned a year-long trip around the world. He started his trip with a three-month stint volunteering in the Little Princes Orphanage in war-torn Nepal. What was supposed to be just a three-month experience changed Conor’s life, and the lives of countless others.While playing on the roof of the orphanage, Conor was approached by a woman who would turn out to be the mother of two of the wards. Over hours of conversations with her, Conor learned the truth about the kids he’d come to love. Many of the little princes were not orphans but rather had been taken from their homes and families by child traffickers. …

Five-year-old Marissa Roberts was the littlest one in the youth meditation class Sunday at Unity Temple on the Plaza.

Parents know 5-year-olds can be a tad active. But Marissa tried hard to follow the instructions of her teacher, Peggy Mulvihill.

The lighting was dim, with soft lamps and candles and filtered daylight through stained glass windows. The 13 young people, ages 5 to 14, were quiet, waiting for whatever was to come.

They sat on chairs in a circle, with a small table in the center of the room.

What does it mean to meditate, Mulvihill asked. Several children were first-timers to the class that started in September. Many of their parents were …

Innovative ideas are often born in California. This is the home of Silicon Valley, after all. But, that spirit of innovation isn’t limited to finding more ways to plug in to the world of high tech. Innovation also means finding ways to disconnect from it all. This kind of innovation is taking place in three San Francisco public schools that have started school-wide meditation programs. The hope is that a little quiet time and mindfulness will help facilitate learning.

It’s all paid for with private money, and one school says it’s seeing results. Natalie Jones reports on how it works.

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NATALIE JONES: Middle …