One of my volunteer projects involves publicizing the work of Roy Hintsa, who for some years has been teaching mindfulness meditation to Ontario high school students, thereby helping them to deal with test anxiety and similar concerns.
A key feature of Roy Hintsa’s work is that he’s following an evidence-based approach to the effective teaching of mindfulness meditation in public school settings.
Lucinda Sykes introduced me to the practice of mindfulness meditation in 2004 when I was teaching elementary school at the Peel District School Board.
I enrolled in an eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction course that I found highly beneficial in dealing with the stress I was experiencing in my work as a teacher.
I’ve been meditating regularly ever since and have achieved gains in learning to apply mindfulness in my everyday life. I’m a beginner practitioner of mindfulness.
An increasing number of methodologically sound research studies have been published in recent years in peer-reviewed professional journals regarding the benefits of regular meditation.
For example, the enhanced emotional control provided by meditation may give a person a measure of protection against secondhand stress.
My own anecdotal experience is as follows.
In 2004, I enrolled in a mindfulness-based stress reduction course in Toronto. There was a class one evening per week, and an hour of practice per day. Certain situations, in my work as a teacher, used to be a source of strong stress-related responses for me. In the months and years that followed the above-mentioned course, I’ve been meditating regularly every day.
Over that time since 2004, the stress-related responses have been reduced significantly. The kinds of stress I was experiencing several times a day now occur once or twice every several months. The intervals between such responses have been growing progressively longer over the years.
The experience of stress has been a great way for me to learn how to meditate. I would not have learned this skill had I not been in a line of work that can at times be very stressful.
The above-mentioned courses of instruction in mindfulness are based on the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn of the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
