When stressed, students physiologically cannot absorb new ideas or lessons because the prefrontal cortex is ‘off line’. Whether kids are dealing with poverty, a difficult home life or anxiety about testing and other school pressures, stress is stress and it has a debilitating effect on a student’s ability to learn. 

This toxic level of stress has created an unbelievably challenging environment for teachers, students and families. Think about successfully educating kids when 40% more teens are killing themselves, 85% say they are significantly stressed, and 51% now live in poverty. It’s no wonder the U.S. is 38th in Math and 24th in Science compared to our global counterparts.

This is where Inner Explorer comes into the picture.

Mindfulness-based programs have been shown to reduce symptoms of stress, and mental health disorders, while improving attention, cognition, well-being and sleep quality. When practiced together in the classroom, students become ‘ready to learn’ and teachers become ‘ready to teach’.

Mindfulness programs have gained momentum in education over the past 15 years because they address the root causes of school failure by enhancing the brain networks associated with learning.

While there are many programs that address symptoms, very few, like Inner Explorer, get to the cause. As an example, administrators respond to school violence by constructing fences, adding metal detectors, conducting ‘active shooter drills’ and talking about safety with students. All those things may make us feel safer, yet certainly do not get to the root of why people want to bring a weapon into a school in the first place.

Inner Explorer works from the inside out, helping kids unravel the negative stories they may be telling themselves and helping them discover their truest self, aside from the external labels. Who they really are begins to show up, the passion and the potential.  This is the only place that true and lasting change can come from.

We provide a pathway for this inner work to be done.  Not in response to an issue, but as a regular preventative practice that improves how we feel about ourselves and thus how we show up in the world.

To learn more about Inner Explorer, contact FCSA Marketplace Partner Laura Bakosh, Ph.D at Lbakosh@innerexplorer.org.

To read how Inner Explorer has helped a FCSA member school reduce teacher stress, raise student achievement, and improve classroom participating, click here.