Amidst the hustle and bustle of high school, commitment to yourself is worthwhile.
When Coppell High School assistant principal Colleen Lowry offered Astronomy teacher Angela Barnes the opportunity to extend her meditative classroom practices to the entire school, they began a weekly offering known as Mindful Mondays for this purpose.
They secured a quiet space, a classroom with a wall of windows overlooking campus grounds to hold the weekly event.
“You see the morning light coming up through the windows and there are trees outside,” counselor Cheryl Abreu said. “Music is on, the lights are off and there’s a kaleidoscope on screen; it’s a very calm space that they bring you into.”
To spread the word internally, Lowry and Barnes used posters and staff communications, such as weekly emailed newsletters. This group meets every Monday from 8-8:30 a.m. in the library classroom, led by the co-founders who both hold meditation certification titles.
“It’s been an honor to lead meditation along with Ms. Lowry,” Barnes said. “I’ve learned a lot from her in the process.”
The program uses an alternating leadership model which is inspired by Lowry’s experience teaching the course Self-Awareness Training Institute for School Leaders at Columbia University. This required two professors to co-teach.
“The idea is that you don’t want to hold that space all by yourself; it’s always helpful to have somebody there to keep balance,” Lowry said. “For example, during a session, we were going to do 15 minutes of silent meditation while a small Christmas party happened in the library at the same time. Because I had Ms. Barnes, I continued leading while she talked to the people out there.”
Removing distractions allows participants to fully immerse themselves in the experience.
“The meditative process starts as soon as you walk in,” registrar Marla Summers said. “They make sure your phones and Apple Watches are turned off to be respectful of this space.”
The weekly practices follow Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn’s ideology, which consists of 20-minute meditation sessions focused on breath and body awareness. The program aligns with these principles and also includes practices such as mantra repetition, walking and visualization to help newer participants ease into meditation.
“They presented information to us to teach us about the basics before we practiced anything,” English teacher Matthew Anderson said. “And when we started out, we didn’t actually practice for very long.”
Members notice mental and physical benefits with consistency.
“My internal weather is always changing, and when I sit and practice meditation, it helps me stay in the present,” Lowry said. “When I go through the day, and things happen that make me feel stormy or make me feel sad, I have better control of my emotions.”
Regular attendance has mostly consisted of counseling staff and teachers. However, organizers emphasize the value of mindfulness for adults and teenagers alike.
“I would like to see more people try it, especially those who think, ‘I could never do that,’ or ‘that sounds weird to me,’ because I feel like everyone can benefit,” Barnes said.
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