Are you interested in trying meditation with your students, but you’re not sure how to get started? Here are four suggestions that will help you introduce meditation to your students with confidence and ease.
1. Call it something else.
When I guide my students through a meditation, I don’t call it a meditation. The word “meditation” can be intimidating. Some of your students will have preconceived ideas about what meditation is or even the type of people who meditate, and those ideas can make it difficult for them to go into the process with an open mind.
I refer to our meditation time as “settling in.” I say, “Before we begin, let’s take a moment to close our eyes and settle in.” Some teachers say things like, “Let’s do our mindfulness exercise,” or “Let’s take a minute to calm down and prepare to learn.”
You can decide what makes sense for you and your students, but I have found that calling it something simpler helps demystify meditation for my students.
2. Start small
Start with shorter meditations. Having students close their eyes and focus on their breath for even just two minutes will go a long way. As you and your students get more comfortable with classroom meditation, you can try out different types of meditation and meditate for longer.
Keep the meditations simple at first. For example, you can simply invite students to close their eyes and focus on their breath. Another idea is to have students close their eyes and set an intention by deciding how they want to feel today. As students start to “buy in” and see the benefits of meditation for themselves, you can experiment with other types of meditation.
3. Be patient
At first, you may experience some resistance. Students might be hesitant to close their eyes. They might giggle. They might roll their eyes. There’s even a good chance there will be one Grumpy Gus in the back who will cross his arms and flat out refuse to “play along.”
It’s all good. Just stay grounded. Don’t take any of it personally. What you’re trying to do for these kids is awesome. No, really. You rock. Don’t you dare give up.
It takes time to adjust to something new, and it’s important to remember that meditation is a practice. As you continue practicing meditation with your students, it will get easier.
4. Be consistent
Once you’ve started using meditation in your classroom, keep doing it! Help students get into a routine by meditating at the same time every day. For example, decide to start class with a meditation every day. Consistency and routine can help students feel more comfortable, and it will eventually make meditation part of your classroom culture.
Before you know it, your students will be saying, “We forgot to do that thing where we close our eyes.” They might not admit it, but they’ll look forward to that time. They’ll be more focused, present, and happy. As a result, teaching them will feel less like dragging them up a hill (mountain?) and more like guiding their boats gently down the stream, so you will be happy too.
For more about how to use meditation in your classroom, check out this 5 minute meditation for the classroom!
