Mindfulness and the Teenage Brain

Jessica Morey runs a program called iBme – Inward Bound Mindfulness Education – sort of like outward bound but with a focus on mindfulness activities.

In this talk to secondary students she introduces the question “where is your mind?” In this quick little exercise students realise that their minds are not where they most obviously think they are…

She talks about the brain evolving for social engagement, allowing adolescence to connect with people beyond their parents or immediate family. As the human race has evolved we’ve needed to expand our social connections and groups in order to survive, and this is how our brains understand and make sense of the world around us.

In today’s context Jessica reminds the students that young brains are still doing the same thing. You might not get invited to a party, and this causes you to be really upset…. “you might feel like you are going to die.” Back in the day…. if you were left alone outside your tribe, you would have been likely to die because you would not have been able to survive alone. As Jessica points out, “… it’s not just you making it up or being overly dramatic, this is a real experience that is happening in the brain that is left over.”

Mindfulness can help us manage some of the changes in brain development with calmness and happiness.  Gratitude and kindness practices are also helpful to recognize the good things in life, so that they can work to offset the normal evolutionary brain state of focusing on the negative.