From Buddhist philosophy to Evidence-Based Techniques: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Programs and Student Self-Regulation in Canadian Schools

In March 2013, Andrew Campbell, a teacher at Major Ballachey Public School in Brantford, Ontario, wrote to the Toronto Globe and Mail about the mindfulness techniques he had introduced into his classroom.  In order to help students relax, learn to focus, concentrate and listen, Campbell would ring a bell, after which students sat quietly until the sound dissipated.  He then had students concentrate on breathing in and out with awareness. Campbell is hardly alone in giving voice to concerns about students’ emotional needs and classroom unrest. Only a month earlier the Toronto District School Board released the results of a survey of 100,000 students that found that almost three-quarters of those in grades 9 through 12 felt under significant stress all or some of the time [TDSB, 2013]. Students’ emotional distress has thus joined the more-recognized issue of teacher burnout as significant classroom issues. Given similar concerns throughout the English-speaking western world, educators have begun to turn to Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Self-Regulation programs.  Some teacher education programs have introduced courses in contemplative approaches while programs such as .b (dot-be) in England and MindUp in the US and Canada are being piloted in a variety of schools. The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program on which much of this activity is based was created in 1979 by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Used initially as a means to help patients with chronic pain, it has become one of the foremost treatments for individuals suffering from conditions such as depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, and anxiety [Kabat-Zinn, 2011].  Educators are also advocating its utility for the development of self-regulation [Lantieri; Shanker]. Focusing on developments in North America and Britain, this paper examines what MBSR is, where it came from, how it has spread and why it is gaining influence among educators. I argue that its current prominence is part of the broader thrust of psychology into school culture that has been occurring since the early twentieth century [Gleason, Rose, Thomson, Wright].  It is also, however, the more specific result of significant cultural and medical change since the 1960s, from the growing influence of Buddhist philosophy and alternative medicine, to new discoveries about the working of the brain, and changing attitudes towards discipline and authority. This paper would fit well under the category “Working, Thinking, Feeling Bodies.” The integration of MBSR in schools is about students learning to regulate themselves to calm their bodies and minds in order to contribute to a better learning environment (calm classrooms) and make themselves more effective learners (calm minds).  In controlling or even harnessing (rather than repressing) their emotions, the argument runs, students can become creative and productive citizens [Goleman; Schumpeter].  Examining the incorporation of MBSR-based programs into schools can thus help us better understand the ways in which new ideas about mental health are transforming our current education systems. Bibliography: Begley, Sharon. Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New science Reveals our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves . New York: Ballantine Books, 2008. Campbell, Andrew. “Breathe in, breathe out a way to conquer students’ stress,” Globe and Mail , 1 March 2013. Davidson, Richard and Sharon Begley.  The Emotional Life of Your Brain: How Its Unique Patterns Affect the Way You Think, Feel, and Live – and How You Can Change Them .  New York: Random House, 2012. Gleason, Mona. Normalizing the Ideal: Psychology, Schooling, and the Family in Post-war Canada . Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999. Goleman, Daniel.  Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More Than IQ .  10 th Ed. New York: Bantam Books, 2006. Kabat-Zinn, Jon. “Some Reflections on the Origins of MBSR, skillful Means, and the Trouble With Maps.” Contemporary Buddhism 12, 1 (May 2011): 289-90. Lantieri, Linda. Building Emotional Intelligence: Techniques to Cultivate Inner Strength in Children . Rose, Nikolas. Inventing Our Selves: Psychology, Power, and Personhood . Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Schumpeter.  “The mindfulness business.”  The Economist , 16 Nov. 2013, 73. Shanker, Stuart. Calm, Alert and Learning: Classroom Strategies for Self-Regulation. Toronto: Pearson, 2013. Thomson, Mathew.  Psychological Subjects: Identity, Culture, and Health in Twentieth-Century Britain . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006 Toronto District School Board (TDSB). “2011 Student Census, Grades 7-12: Previews.” 15/02/2013.  www.tdsb.on.ca/Portals/0/AboutUS/Research/2011StudentCensus.pdf. Wright, Katie.  The Rise of the Therapeutic Society .  Washington, D.C.: New Academia Publishing, 2011.

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