Rows of children sit in a school gymnasium with eyes closed. Some fidget but many match the stillness of their teachers and principal meditating up front. Soft music plays and ten minutes pass before the students are invited to open their eyes, do some deep breathing, then sing O Canada.
Teacher Ed Meers helped launch the yoga and meditation programs at the school; his presence is a cause for celebration among students. (CBC)
Welcome to the start of each day at Balwin School in northeast Edmonton where many of the students aged four to 15 are refugees with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Yoga and meditation are helping them succeed inside and outside the classroom.
“The kids are much more calm,” said teacher Ed Meers, who helped launch the school-wide program and can often be spotted in the hall being mobbed by adoring students.
“When kids get into conflicts which is inevitable in any school, I see them resolving it, walking away, taking the deep breaths. You know, just using the tools that we’re giving them to self regulate and avoid escalation.”
Students deal with trauma, poverty
More than 20 nationalities make up Balwin’s student population, largely of refugee or immigrant background. For many, the trauma of conflict or a refugee camp is more familiar than the classroom or the English language. Even Canadian born students can face tremendous challenges such as intergenerational trauma, integration, poverty or violence within their communities.
“The kids would go from zero to 100 in the blink of an eye,” said Meers who points out many students come from places where the strongest and loudest do best.
12-year old Bahana Mohammadali, who was born in Afghanistan, says the yoga sessions make it easier for her to focus on her schoolwork. (CBC)
”One day I was in the classroom and one of the boys just picked up a pencil and stabbed a girl in the face with it.”
The former correctional officer, who himself had a difficult childhood struggling with PTSD, anxiety and depression, recognized a possible solution — yoga and meditation.
“I took the tools that helped me and decided to apply it to my students so that they could self regulate,” said Meers whose students also practice yoga daily in his classes.
Among them is 12-year old Bahana Mohammadali from Afghanistan, who beams as she explains the benefits of yoga.
“I like yoga because my braining is good. I’m writing, I’m reading – it’s good,” said Mohammadali. “It is fun. Yoga is easy.”
Yoga defuses frustration
Ridwaan Abshir Abdullkadir Ilmi, who was born in Medicine Hat, Alta., says initially it was hard to sit still for 15 minutes but now he likes “sitting down with my friends, and being quiet and deep breathing.”
The soft spoken 11-year old says meditation makes him feel happy and calm and he even practises at home.
“When someone’s getting me frustrated I just take a deep breath in. It helps me calm down and forget about what happened,” he said.
That inner calm is having a noticeable effect within Balwin’s walls. Between September and October last year, the school handed out 35 suspensions. So far this year there’s been three. Standards have not changed but the school climate has, says principal Wolf Kolb.
“We’ve got calmer kids, we have less incidents and we also have less triggers for those kinds of behaviors. Because as you can imagine if you are sensitive to violence and trauma, you need a calm environment to go to school in.”
Meers says when his students move on to another classroom he takes solace in knowing he’s given them the tools to succeed and be happy.
“Because they deserve happiness. After all they’ve been through, they deserve happiness.”
