Mindfulness Meditation Affecting Adolescents

that a person may develop when they become too fixated on the past or future rather than the present moment (Dove & Costello, 2016). In the 20th century meditation started becoming prevalent in the Western societies. It’s considered a “mind-body” medicine in today’s world used for healing the mind (Beauhemin, Hutchins & Patterson, 2008). Meditation has been used as an alternative medicine for many disorders and illnesses such as IBS, high blood pressure and insomnia (Black, Milam & Sussman, 2009). Mindfulness meditation is most commonly used for relieving anxiety. It is defined by being self-aware, without distractions or judgment (Galla, 2016). The point of mindfulness meditation is to allow the mind to be present. Often times people are too

The suggested meditation time to begin is 10-20 minutes a day between 4-7 days a week while gradually increasing the time (Winters & Beerbower, 2017.) Starting with a guided meditation is usually more effective at the beginning and once it is learned then meditating without guidance is recommended. However, meditating once a week will not contribute to a more positive lifestyle. Meditation takes time, commitment and

Many of the meditation studies were conducted on adolescents between the ages of 13-18 years old. In most studies the demographic was lower income students with ethnicities of Caucasian, African American, Latino and Asian. The ratio of males and females were close to 50/50 in most studies. The participants were recruited either by personal interest in meditation, referral from a parent or teacher, or the program was implemented into the school’s curriculum for a brief period. The participants and their parents were given a consent form to complete. Then the participants were given a variety of pre and post questionnaires. The most common questionnaires were Self-Compassion, Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and Mindful Attention (Muris, Meesters, Pierik & Kock, 2015). These questionnaires given by licensed psychologists, asked questions about the students to assess their depression, anxiety and stress on a number rating scale. For example, questions like “Some kids are often unhappy with themselves” or “I feel like crying every