RESEARCH ON MINDFULNESS AND YOGA

Understanding the population we are working with

Growing up in urban communities, such as East or West Baltimore, that are characterized by having few resources, high rates of unemployment, homelessness and crime. Living in urban poverty brings increased exposure to crime and violence, particularly for adolescents. A growing body of research has documented that children and adolescents who grow up in poor neighborhoods do less well on a range of developmental outcomes, social, emotional and cognitive. Traumatic and stressful experiences, that may range from major life events (e.g. child abuse, divorce) to chronic interpersonal stress (e.g. family conflict) to daily hassles (e.g. no money for transportation), have been established as risk factors for a range of psychological problems, internalizing as well as externalizing. The risk of academic failure, school-dropout, internalizing as well as externalizing psychological problems, school bullying, and aggression in response to the exposure of traumatizing events is significantly higher to youth growing up in high-income neighborhoods. Even though urban youth has an increased risk of suffering from psychological problems, they are less likely to receive help.

To be able to deal with such stressful events, self-regulation skills, coping mechanism are required.

Significantly greater

Each day, children are faced with stressful events for which regulation skills are required¹.

Why Mindfulness and Yoga for Youth At-risk

Begin here with sentence why mindfulness, mediation, breathing exercises, yoga (contemplative exercises) for the group of Youth At-Risk

The field of research on contemplative practices, such as mindfulness and yoga is growing rapidly. Interventions targeting several domains suggest many positive promising effects.

Resiliency and Optimism⁵

Academic success

Improvement in grades⁹,better school functioning¹⁰

Stress Reduction⁶

buffering effect, emotional arousal, prevention of negative effects of stress

Executive Functions⁸

self-regulatory capacities, emotion regulation¹², increased attention, focusing

Social competence and pro-social behaviors⁷

Self-worth

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RESEARCH DONE WITH HLF

Over the years, we have collaborated with different research institutions, such as the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Penn State University, Loyola University, University of Baltimore. Please click below to find all references to the peer-reviewed publications.

Evaluation Outcomes of the Stress Reduction and Mindfulness Curriculum

The evaluation of our Stress Reduction and Mindfulness Curriculum showed that implementing our curriculum into the school-context was attractive to students, teachers and school administrators. Positive effects were observed on problematic behaviors including rumination, intrusive thoughts and emotional arousal. A qualitative assessment with middle school students following our intervention showed experiences in improved impulse control and emotional regulation.

REFERENCES TO HLF ARTICLES

Mendelson, T., Greenberg, M. T., Dariotis, J. K., Gould, L. F., Rhoades, B. L., & Leaf, P. J. (2010). Feasibility and preliminary outcomes of a school-based mindfulness intervention for urban youth. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-010-9418-x

Dariotis, J. K., Mirabal-Beltran, R., Cluxton-Keller, F., Gould, L. F., Greenberg, M. T., & Mendelson, T. (2016). A Qualitative Evaluation of Student Learning and Skills Use in a School-Based Mindfulness and Yoga Program. Mindfulness, 7(1), 76–89. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-015-0463-y

Dariotis, J. K., Cluxton-Keller, F., Mirabal-Beltran, R., Gould, L. F., Greenberg, M. T., & Mendelson, T. (2016). “The Program Affects Me: Cause it Gives Away Stress”: Urban Students” Qualitative Perspectives on Stress and a School-Based Mindful Yoga Intervention. Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2016.08.002

Feagan Gould, L., Mendelson, T., Dariotis, J. K., Ancona, M., Smith, A. S. R., Gonzalez, A. A., … Greenberg, M. T. (2014). Assessing fidelity of core components in a mindfulness and yoga intervention for urban youth: applying the CORE Process. New Directions for Youth Development. https://doi.org/10.1002/yd.20097

Mendelson, T., K. Dariotis, J., Feagans Gould, L., S.R. Smith, A., A. Smith, A., A. Gonzalez, A., & T. Greenberg, M. (2013). Implementing mindfulness and yoga in urban schools: a community-academic partnership. Journal of Children’s Services, 8(4), 276–291. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCS-07-2013-0024

Feagans Gould, L., Dariotis, J. K., Greenberg, M. T., & Mendelson, T. (2016). Assessing Fidelity of Implementation (FOI) for School-Based Mindfulness and Yoga Interventions: A Systematic Review. Mindfulness, 7(1), 5–33. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-015-0395-6

Semple, R. J., Droutman, V., & Reid, B. A. (2017). Mindfulness goes to school: Things Learned (so far) from research and real-world experiences. Psychol Sch., 54(1), 69–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.antiviral.2015.06.014.

Ancona, M. R., & Mendelson, T. (2014). Feasibility and preliminary outcomes of a yoga and mindfulness intervention for school teachers. Advances in School Mental Health Promotion, 7(3), 156-170. DOI: 10.1080/1754730X.2014.920135

Ancona Paper

Mindful Moment Program Evaluation Report

MORE RESEARCH

MINDFULNESS AND THE BRAIN

Less mind wandering due to an activation of the default-mode network DMN activation improves attentional capacities

Garrison, K. A., Zeffiro, T. A., Scheinost, D., Constable, R. T., & Brewer, J. A. (2015). Meditation leads to reduced default mode network activity beyond an active task. Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience, 15(3), 712–720. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-015-0358-3

Practicing mindfulness leads to increased grey matter in the amygdala, the area responsible for emotion experience, and decreased amygdala activation

Hölzel, B. K., Carmody, J., Evans, K. C., Hoge, E. A., Dusek, J. A., Morgan, L., … Lazar, S. W. (2010). Stress reduction correlates with structural changes in the amygdala. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 5(1), 11–17.
Desbordes, G., Negi, L. T., Pace, T. W., Wallace, B. A., Raison, C. L., & Schwartz, E. L. (2012). Effects of mindful-attention and compassion meditation training on amygdala response to emotional stimuli in an ordinary, non-meditative state. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6.
Goldin, P. R., & Gross, J. J. (2010). Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on emotion regulation in social anxiety disorder. Emotion, 10(1), 83.

Mindfulness practice leads to an increase in Hippocampus density. The Hippocampus is seen as the center of emotion, memory formation, and the autonomic nervous system

Hölzel, B. K., Carmody, J., Vangel, M., Congleton, C., Yerramsetti, S. M., Gard, T., & Lazar, S. W. (2011). Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 191(1), 36–43.

Mindfulness practice leads to positive effects on the prefrontal cortex, the area involved in higher-order executive functions such as attention regulation, decision making and regulating social behaviors

Chiesa, A., & Serretti, A. (2010). A systematic review of neurobiological and clinical features of mindfulness meditations. Psychological Medicine, 40(08), 1239–1252.
Lutz, A., Slagter, H. A., Dunne, J. D., & Davidson, R. J. (2008). Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 12(4), 163–169.
Goldin, P. R., & Gross, J. J. (2010). Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on emotion regulation in social anxiety disorder. Emotion, 10(1), 83.

MINDFULNESS IN THE SCHOOL CONTEXT

Improvement in classroom behavior

Jennings, P. A., Frank, J. L., Snowberg, K. E., Coccia, M. A., & Greenberg, M. T. (2013). Improving Classroom Learning Environments by Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE): Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial. School Psychology Quarterly, 28(4), 374–390.
Bakosh, L. S., Snow, R. M., Tobias, J. M., Houlihan, J. L., & Barbosa-Leiker, C. (2016). Maximizing Mindful Learning: Mindful Awareness Intervention Improves Elementary School Students’ Quarterly Grades. Mindfulness. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-015-0387-6

MINDFULNESS AND DEPRESSION IN YOUTH

Depression

Raes, F., Griffith, J. W., Van der Gucht, K., & Williams, J. M. G. (2014). School-based prevention and reduction of depression in adolescents: A cluster-randomized controlled trial of a mindfulness group program. Mindfulness, 5(5), 477–486.
Liehr, P., & Diaz, N. (2010). A Pilot Study Examining the Effect of Mindfulness on Depression and Anxiety for Minority Children. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 24(1), 69–71.

LITERATURE

1. Compas, B. E., Jaser, S. S., Dunbar, J. P., Watson, K. H., Bettis, A. H., Gruhn, M. A., & Williams, E. K. (2013). Coping and emotion regulation from childhood to early adulthood: Points of convergence and divergence. Australian Journal of Psychology, 66(2), 71-81. doi:10.1111/ajpy.12043

RESEARCH ON MINDFULNESS AND YOGA

Why Mindfulness and Yoga for Youth At-risk

RESEARCH DONE WITH HLF

MORE RESEARCH

LITERATURE

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