Every day, junior school students in the US wait for one of their favourite parts of the day. They close their eyes and trace their thumbs from foreheads to hearts as a pre-recorded voice leads them through an exercise called the shark fin – a part of the classroom's regular meditation routine.

The teacher guides them through the entire exercise, while continuously reminding them to breathe.

Schools across the country have now been introducing yoga, meditation, and mindfulness exercises to help students manage stress and emotions. As the depths of their struggles with mental health became clear in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year endorsed schools' use of the practices. The CDC reported that in 2023, more than a third of students were affected by feelings of persistent sadness and hopelessness. The agency recommended that schools use mindfulness practices to help students manage their emotions.

According to studies, school-based mindfulness programs immensely help young children - especially in low-income communities where students face high levels of stress or trauma.

The Cleveland Clinic says various trials have revealed that school-based mindfulness instruction led to improved psychological functioning and lower levels of post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD symptoms for students. Also, regular meditation sessions lower a child’s blood pressure and heart rate.

“We know that our teenagers and adolescents have strained their mental health,” CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen told The Associated Press. “There are real skills that we can give our teens to make sure they are coping with some big emotions.”

The Inner Explorer program guides students and teachers through five-to-10-minute sessions of breathing, meditating, and reflecting several times a day. Teachers and administrators say they have noticed a difference in their students since they’ve incorporated mindfulness into their routines.

Many kids, according to the teachers, have “calmed down” and do “not stress anymore”.

Experts say meditation for kids can take on many forms, which include movement-based activities like yoga, swimming, or walking. Movement-based “meditation” requires a lot of thought and focus because kids have to pay attention to what they are doing. However, team sports do not fall into that category because they can get a little too chaotic.

If you want to do something that involves less movement and even more concentration, you can read a book together. Other forms of meditation include:

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