Ashley Park
Youth Meditation began teaching Mindfulness Meditation to the students and teachers at Ashley Park K-8 in the spring of 2018 and are still currently engaged. Principal Loftus invited us to teach 20 minute sessions to every class once a week for eight weeks and then invited back for 4 and 2 week stretches each month to continue the practice. Under Principal Loftus’s leadership, we worked collaboratively with AP teachers to adjust our program to suit the needs of both teachers and students. As YM instructors taught the children we also taught the teachers and now AP teachers and students know how to lead their own practice. This school was collaborative and open and the principal and teachers engaged.
I can’t tell you how grateful I am for you and your amazing team, and the way that you have affirmed and taught my staff. We had countless kids using their breath today and everything felt so calm and grounded – hugely to your credit. We are so appreciative. Youth Meditation has made a powerful impact on the scholars and staff at Ashley Park. They have led meditations with each of our children in the last two years, and their practice has manifested in countless ways. Ashley Park scholars know how to breathe through stress, start their day strong, and own and control their thoughts and self-talk. In this way and in so many others, the Youth Meditation team has been truly invaluable..
CMS
Sponsored by former Carolina Panther linebacker Na’il Diggs, Ranjit worked with students at Coulwood Middle School and Randolph IB World School to teach them the basics of mindful meditation.
It’s important to me, especially before and after games. After four hours of football, the adrenaline you feel is enormous. We get excited and anxious whether we win or lose. In order for me to go home to my family and my kids, I need to meditate to get in a better frame of mind.
We hope the program will teach students how to deal with their anger, fears and stress in a positive way. The students will learn a new set of skills they can use the rest of their lives.
It was good. I was getting into it,” he said. “It relaxes you, makes you feel better. If you’re having a bad day, it takes the stress off.
Charlotte Country Day School
Charlotte Meditation recognizes that the teaching profession has a unique set of stressors. During the 2014-15 school year, we offered weekly Mindfulness Meditation classes as part of Charlotte Country Day School’s employee Health and Wellness programs. Classroom teachers, administrators and support staff learned mindfulness techniques to decrease anxiety, improve productivity and nurture positive thinking. We guarantee that, without even taking the class, the students benefited as well!
As a middle school teacher, there are many times when both my students and I feel completely overwhelmed with “Life.” I found that attending mindfulness meditation classes through the Charlotte Country Day Wellness Program better prepared me to not only find that calm, still spot in my own harried life, but to bring that same message to my students. The mindfulness lessons led me to understand how to take just a few minutes in class to longer segments later to become centered and more calm. Using meditation both for adults and for youth is now an important part of my day, whether taking that time together or individually. Being mindful has helped to save my day, and that of my students, many times over!.
Alexander Youth Network
I was invited to teach the children and teachers of Alexander Youth Network mindful meditation. Alexander Youth Network provides quality professional treatment to children with serious emotional and behavioral problems enabling children and their families to exercise self- determination, achieve their potential, and find long-lasting positive ways to connect with their community.
During the time that Yogi Ranjit has worked with us we have seen a significant decrease in the number of aggressive incidents initiated by the children. These strategies give children and staff effective techniques that are easily utilized when they are overwhelmed by stress and/or anxiety.
A Child’s Place
This past summer, four of my trained instructors and I built on the work the Charlotte Meditation has done previously with the Alexander Youth Network and in Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools by teaching Charlotte’s homeless children and their teachers Mindful Meditation and Laughter Yoga at the A Child’s Place – My Place Summer Camp.
The students have really been enjoying the sessions. They talk about them all the time.
Your program is an amazing program and I definitely feel as though it is providing the students with various methods to cope with the craziness that the world has to offer.
Freedom School Partners
With roots dating back to 1999, Freedom School Partners(FSP) is dedicated to combating summer learning loss in Charlotte by offering a rich six week summer learning program to students in grades K-8 who need it most. Youth Meditation Partnered with Freedom Schools to bring mindfulness and meditation through a six week, in-person engagement to enhance the children’s ability to focus and learn.
The YM program was one of the most impactful programs we had this summer. We would like to expand this program to cover more sites. As well, Angela will be training the interns on breathing practices and how to use them for themselves and their students to bring peace to the classroom and themselves at their training session before summer begins.
Black Child Development Institute of the Carolinas
For more than 50 years, the National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI), a non-profit organization located in Washington, D.C., has been at the forefront of engaging leaders, policymakers, professionals, and parents around critical and timely issues that directly impact Black children and their families.
In 2005, the BCDI-Charlotte Affiliate was established to utilize volunteers at the grassroots level to implement programs, engage in advocacy and provide services that improve the quality of life for children and families within the Charlotte community. BCDI-Charlotte continues to implement culturally-relevant and research-based programs promoting literacy, health, parent engagement and college-readiness, while advocating for better, stronger and more effective policies for children ages 0-8 at the local, state and federal level. Youth Meditation was engaged for 8 weeks of in-person lessons in Mindfulness and Meditation with all children for the duration of their summer camp.
“Black children experience the reality of structural racism and inequities in their daily lives, some of which occur in the very places that should protect, promote, and preserve them, such as school buildings. The Black Child Development Institute-Charlotte works to help dismantle structural racism and systemic inequities that get in the way of our children experiencing success and joy in school and life. While we work to “burn the system down,” there are things that we can do to protect our babies, such as teaching them the art of meditation. We saw this to be true with the implementation of Inner Explorer and Youth Meditation. Inner Explorer and Youth Meditation worked beautifully together to teach mindfulness and encourage self-confidence in children in identifying and expressing emotions. This type of collaboration and the implementation of meditation can be an extra layer of protection for children and adults in school and at home. It teaches them to self-regulate, identify, and manage feelings in a given moment. While the systemic fight happens outside of school buildings, these tools help protect our children while they are in school buildings.” Dr. Devonya Hunt, President – Black Child Development Initiative
YWCA
YWCA Central Carolinas has a long history of providing free, high-quality out-of-school programs to students K-5 throughout Mecklenburg and Union Counties. Our goal is to provide each student with an exemplary academic experience filled with fun, personal growth and parent participation by utilizing the following core competencies:1. Literacy Focus, 2. Parent Engagement, 3. Cultural Identity and Enrichment.
We support children in their schoolwork while offering instruction and engagement grounded in historically responsive literacy (HRL). HRL cultivates the genius within students and creates spaces of empowerment and confidence. This closely aligns our youth programs students to YWCA’s larger mission: to eliminate racism, empower women and promote peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all. Youth Meditation partnered with the YWCA to bring six and eight week programs to their summer camps.
“The kids loved it and mastered the skills and techniques. Hoped we can continue through the school year once a month. I loved how they talked about using the techniques outside of the YWCA. Ms. Dee was great and a perfect fit for our students. Ms. Dee was relatable, professional, outgoing, kind, gentle, caring and loving. We enjoyed it this summer. Amanda Canteen -Site Coordinator, YWCA Southside Learning Center
Athena’s Path and Hero’s Quest
Youth Meditation instructors partnered with Athena’s Path and Hero’s Quest for fifteen summer camp sessions to teach Mindfulness Meditation to their tween campers. Athena’s Path (for girls) and Hero’s Pursuit (for boys) teach social leadership skills to help tweens navigate stressful middle school situations and emotions, including anxiety, sleeplessness, sadness, disappointment, anger and frustration. Our team taught the tools of Mindfulness Meditation as a new option for calming emotions, to gain clarity of mind and to strengthen the ability to make better choices during adolescence and beyond.
The addition of Youth Meditation to our camp curriculum was an immediate hit with our teens, including the boys who were surprisingly receptive to the new ideas.
Each of the meditation leaders from Youth Meditation were excellent and invested in educating the teens. They did a great job of explaining how mindfulness and meditation can be used in the many stressful middle school situations and emotions, including: anxiety, sleeplessness, sadness and disappointment, anger and frustration. The kids were thrilled to have these new skills and would have loved the opportunity to continue their practice.
We believe that teaching our campers these skills at a young age will lead them to further practice and a calmer, more peaceful middle school experience.
We really enjoyed them at the site! The scholars loved the sessions and many of them used those tactics to help them at home. They worked closely with the scholars and used very positive language with the scholars.
I think the meditation itself was great because it was a newer spin on what most people may think meditation appears to be. They gave very helpful coping skills to help our scholars work through anything that is currently upsetting them. The interns were also very receptive to the meditation techniques and helped the students to embrace the strategies that the scholars were learning.
With the friendly guidance of Ranjit through meditation, I have learned to access a greater peace within myself, and find that peace when the activities of the day throw me off balance. With greater peace, I have a clearer vision of real truth, and what is genuinely important to me. With this result, there exists joy, and a much greater sense of purpose in my life.
I wanted to get better sleep and to have more emotional stability in my life. The meditation has been the piece missing in my life. I have been meditating for over 4 weeks now. I am feeling much better than I have in a long time. I feel more centered and am sleeping better. I am very excited about working with you.
Meditation has helped me focus and perform better in school.
I think it has really helped with my ADHD.