Breathe in. Breathe out. Repeat. Mediation has received a lot of attention lately. There are so many helpful options people can use to help them calm themselves including apps and classes. Not only does meditation feel relaxing, it is now being used in place of disciplinary action in schools as well as a tool to bring some clarity and peace to daily life.

Meditation does not have to include religious practice or prayer. Instead, it is a way to gain some clarity and destress. In order to meditate, one can learn breathing techniques or try some apps to get involved in meditation.

Schools in the United States are beginning to offer quiet times for meditation as well as taking large measures to meditate by allowing meditation as a replacement of detention. With high stress levels in and out of school, it can be hard to focus or refrain from acting out for some students. With schools that have implemented programs of meditation, 40 percent reduction in psychological distress, including stress, anxiety and depression, as seen on davidlynchfoundation.org. Meditation is extremely helpful for those in school to not only reduce stress, but also promote more creativity or focus.

In PV, students can be found meditating in psychology class. Berger supports meditation by saying, “We all need to have some quiet in our day. I enjoy that we can create it here at school, especially with past suicides in our school. It’s made me think about mental health a little bit more.” Students have raved about how a small amount of mindfulness can really impact the rest of their day. Senior, Gracie Wilson, says, “I meditate when I’m extremely stressed–like when I have a big test or a speech coming up or even a dance performance–to calm me and make me focus on my breathing instead of the things stressing me out.”

A New Year’s resolution for some may be to feel less stressed. The best place to start is by trying some meditation techniques. Meditation may be just the right thing to help simplify some aspects of a busy lifestyle.