Goldie Hawn: Your Child’s New Meditation Guru
Meditation and yoga are often touted these days as promoting children’s academic performance as well as self-esteem, and the benefits are actively being recognized by schools. But who would have thought that everyone’s favorite Housesitter would be behind a new meditation program designed just for schools? That’s right, Goldie Hawn is helping children unwind and get to that happy place one breathing exercise at a time.
Goldie reportedly developed her program, MindUP, in response to the many “depressed” children she saw following the September 11th attacks. The meditation classes hope to curb bullying and ditching with positive thinking, sensory awareness, focused breathing, and role-playing. And Goldie’s program is apparently working wonders with the kiddies:
Classroom tests showed MindUP kids have better regulated levels of cortisol, a hormone related to stress, and improved executive function the capacity to organize and reason.
Susan Deemer, a teacher at Katherine Delmar Burke School in San Francisco, says MindUP has even helped her seventh graders master tough science concepts.
”We’ll do a silent thought moment when I’m [teaching] something challenging,” says Deemer. “If they have a hard time connecting cause and effect, that’s when you get the shutdown: ”˜If I didn’t get it the first time, I’m stupid.’ Instead, they are taught to think, ”˜I’m frustrated right now but I’m going to keep going. I’m going to own that feeling and name it.”
The meditation practices are so effective that science teacher Deemer has even brought the methods home to parent her own kid — which begs the question of when Goldie is going to kick off her own meditation-based parenting book.
(photo: Ian Wilson/WENN.com)
