Click below for the various parts of this series on mindfulness:
New Age/Buddhist “mindfulness” invading preschools and public grade schools nationwide – including Canton, Ohio’s Plain Local School District…
Who is Congressman Tim Ryan, and why is he pushing New Age/Buddhist “mindfulness” in public schools?
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Now on to the current blog:
New Age/Buddhist “mindfulness” invading preschools and public grade schools nationwide – including Canton, Ohio’s Plain Local School District
(revised 04/06/13)
http://www.blogher.com/files/yoga_kids_hero.jpg
I was recently reading yet another article about how the ACLU is fighting against any display or practice of Christianity in public schools. Then I stumbled across news articles praising the inclusion of another religion’s practices in public schools. Namely, an occult New Age-ish Buddhist practice called “mindfulness meditation” or simply “mindfulness”, being implemented in preschools and public grade schools nationwide. One example can be found at Warstler Elementary School, a Plain Local grade school near Canton, Ohio. (In fact, school administrators plan to implement mindfulness in all of this school district’s schools!)
Click here for a Wikipedia article on the Buddhist origins of mindfulness. And click here for a Wikipedia article on the adaptation of Buddhist mindfulness for psychology.
Several questions I have:
1) Why was this reported in the Akron Beacon Journal – a county away – not in the local Canton newspaper (The Repository)?
2) Since this was not reported locally, how many parents in Plain Local School District are even aware this is going on?
3) To Plain Local Christian parents who are aware this is going on: are you protesting and pulling your children out to be homeschooled? If not, why not?
Unfortunately, mindfulness is being implemented in preschools and gradeschools nationwide. This is a abomination. The fact that it is being implemented at such a young age is proof, as I see it, that New Agers are trying to indoctrinate our public school/”government school” students into occult New Age practices. These words of our Lord Jesus Christ come to mind:
1) “Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! 2) It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones” (Luke 17:1-2) .
I have reposted much of the article on this, from the Akron Beacon Journal. Click here for the original site of this article, in its original format and wording. On the original website, the article is followed by 41 comments as of 03/22/13; I hope to incorporate some of the comments into this blog. In the excerpts below, I have emphasized certain points by bolding, and inserted comments in [brackets]. I have also inserted links to pertinent Internet articles. (Note – I do not feel comfortable reposting the entire article verbatim. I am in the process of revising my blog, whittling it down from a repost of the entire article to just include excerpts from the article along with paraphrases of pertinent sections.)
Ironically, Warstler Elementary School was rented out to High Mill Church of the Resurrection for years in the 1980s-90s for their church services [before High Mill became involved with Richard Foster's heretical Spiritual Formation ala Spiritual Directors and spiritual retreats]. I can picture the setting of today’s Buddhist practices: 330 students and teachers chanting, meditating, “praying”, etc. in the very same gymnasium where High Mill once worshipped and praised our Lord Jesus Christ. Sickening!
Check out these Christian discernment articles exposing the occult side of mindfulness. Several of the articles deal with mindfulness being taught to preschool and grade school children:
Marcia Montenegro, More on Mindfulness: Never Mind the Mind (March 2010)
Marcia Montenegro, Mindfulness: No-mind Over Matter (November 2010)
Marcia Montenegro, Mindfulness Goes to Kindergarten (Jan. 2012)
New Age and the Dangers of Mindfulness (audio interview between Stand Up for the Truth! and Marcia Montenegro)(Feb. 2012)
SBrinkman, Goldie Hawn Pushing TM and Buddhism in Public Schools
(February 27, 2012) – I oppose Catholicism, but this Catholic article is very helpful for researchers; although not mentioned in the title, the article covers mindfulness
Before proceeding, check out this YouTube video favoring mindful education nationwide – a practice being implemented behind the backs of Christian parents:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMK481p5wWM
The article reposted below describes how Warstler Elementary School counselor Joel McNenny has initiated a “mindfulness” program. Beware – Joel McNenny is more than just a school counselor. As of March 2013, he deals with “Mindful Solutions”, working for a New Age business called Total Health and Wellness Center of Ohio in Canton. One of their Facebook sections says this:
We have established a Wellness Center that serves the physical and emotional needs of individuals for all of Northeast Ohio.
Dr.’s Hatcher and Kucyk believe that healing involves the body, mind and spirit. They hold a vision that the mind plays a profound role in the healting process.
Standard medical treatments usually target single body parts or systems with the use of prescription drugs and surgical interventions that have provided great benefits but may also lead to greater health risks and thus greater health costs.
Our Health and Wellness Center provides an “integrative approach” to standard medicine. We look at the entire person and work to improve their symptoms through mindfulness / stress reduction, psychotherapy, acupuncture, massage / reflexology, yoga / tai chi and other supportive therapies.
We work in collaboration with hospitals and are available as a referral source to other health care providers.
Another section of their Facebook Page states this:
The Total Health and Wellness Center is dedicated to the growth and wisdom of the “individual” with a focus on improving their overall health through integrating services which balance mind, body and spirit. We provide the following services: -Acupuncture -Mindfulness Counseling -Massage Therapy -Yoga/ Praise Moves -Tai Chi -Meditation
Additional New Age info can be found on their website. Facebook mentions that one of their yoga teachers is Rhonda Kuster, who also teaches at The Yoga Place in North Canton, where there are many other individuals listed teaching New Age practices.
Long story short: it appears that Warstler Elementary School counselor Joel McNenny associates with numerous individuals promulgating New Age practices locally.
Now on to the Beacon Journal article:
Plain school district teaching students ‘mindfulness’
By Stephanie Warsmith
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published: December 29, 2012 – 10:39 PM | Updated: December 30, 2012 – 01:10 PM
Joel McNenny (center), school counselor, leads mindfulness movements to help students focus and relax in his mindfulness classes. (Paul Tople/Akron Beacon Journal)
PLAIN TWP.: Most schools start the day with the ringing of a bell, but, normally, it isn’t a Tibetan bell.
And it isn’t being used to signal a short, contemplative period before the bustle of the day.
That’s how Warstler Elementary School in Plain Township began a recent school day.
Taylor Swinhart, 9, rings a singing bowl as school principal Jody Ditcher watches as part of the morning school opening ceremony. The bowl is part of mindfulness program taught by counselor Joel McNenny to help students focus and relax at Warstler Elementary School. (Paul Tople/Akron Beacon Journal)
Taylor Swhihart, a fourth-grader, hit the bell and a hushed silence fell over the 330 students and teachers in the gymnasium where minutes before they had been dancing together to a Wii game projected onto a large screen.
Taylor hit the bell a second time. And a third. The students and teachers stood silent and still — doing nothing but breathing in and out.
“That’s enough,” Taylor told Principal Jody Ditcher, who held a microphone up to the bell.
“You guys feel better?” Ditcher whispered.
The students then filed out of the gymnasium, walking quietly through the hallways — a school rule — to their classrooms and getting on with the business of learning.
This is the morning routine [every morning] at Warstler where the school practices mindfulness, a form of [Eastern] meditation that involves using techniques like “belly breaths” and “mindful movements” to improve students’ focus and help them better cope with their emotions. The Stark County school district piloted mindfulness in Warstler last year [2011-2012 school year] and was so pleased with the results that it started the practice The district hopes to expand the method to every school by next year [2013-2014 school year]. [Plain Local is also publicizing their implementation of the "Common Core" standardization of public schools - another issue offensive to Christian parents.]
Plain is thought to be the only district or one of the few in the Akron-Canton area using mindfulness, though U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Niles, who recently wrote a book about the practice, has helped get it started in several schools in the Youngstown area. Other area districts are considering adopting the method, with the Canton City school district recently calling Joel McNenny, the counselor at Warstler, to ask about the practice.
McNenny, a counselor for 19 years, with nine of them at Warstler, calls mindfulness “transformative” and “revolutionary” and insists it can be a cure for what ails schools of all sizes — improving test scores, decreasing behavior problems and lessening problems like bullying. He says the practice is steeped in science — not religion — and provides students with a skill that will last a lifetime. [This is very deceptive. How can this practice not be steeped in religion, if occult Buddhist symbols and rituals are involved?]
“I’d like to spread the word,” said McNenny, who was inspired by Ryan’s book and other research he came across about the practice while working on his counseling doctorate. “It’s a simple program that can be taught and has very powerful affects.”
Mindful discovery
McNenny first saw mindfulness in action through the First Tee program, which teaches youths the game of golf.
McNenny, who is working on his clinical counseling degree and interned with a mindfulness therapist [I wonder if this "mindfulness therapist" graduated with a Spiritual Psychology degree from the New Age-ish University of Santa Monica, the alma mater of New Ager Roma Downey], said youths in the program were given a 10-minute lesson, which was then reinforced by instructors on the course. He was surprised by the results.
“The kids just took to it,” he said.
This got McNenny thinking about the possibility of teaching mindfulness at Warstler and other schools in the Plain district. What kind of results could this net, he wondered. He did some research to find out more about mindfulness.
Mindfulness is “a particular way of paying attention. It is the mental faculty of purposefully bringing awareness to one’s experience. Mindfulness can be applied to sensory experience, thoughts, and emotions by using sustained attention and noticing our experience without reacting,” according to the website for Mindful Schools, a nonprofit organization based in Oakland, Calif., that teaches the technique. [This info on mindfulness is very, very watered down, barely mentioning its strong New Age and Buddhist origins.]
Mindful Schools partnered with the University of California, Davis in the 2011-12 school year and found statistically significant improvements in behavior in students who had received four hours of mindfulness instruction versus students who had not, according to the Mindful Schools website.
The practice has gained champions over the years, most notably actress Goldie Hawn. [I oppose Catholicism, but I did find this helpful Catholic article exposing Goldie Hawn's involvement in promulgating mindfulness.] Others include NBA coach Phil Jackson, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and the U.S. Marine Corps.
McNenny came across Ryan’s book A Mindful Nation published in March, in the course of his research and was very excited to see a prominent Ohio politician writing about a process he was helping implement in his district.
“It helped me make it so it could be done,” he said. “It showed that it can be done in schools with a nonfaith-based method. I was encouraged by that.” [Again, how can mindfulness at Warstler be considered "nonfaith-based", when Warstler is using Buddhist symbols and rituals?]
McNenny went to a campaign event Ryan had before the November election and thanked him for his book. He’s invited Ryan to visit Warstler, a visit Ryan’s staff is hoping he can make early in the new year.
“We’d love to have him,” McNenny said. “We are not in his district but he is close by.”
Mindful methods
Warstler has a mindfulness room where McNenny meets with the students on a rotating basis.
The room has a lava lamp, blankets draped over the bulletin boards, a rug for the students to sit on, scrolls featuring quotes from the Dalai Lama {a Buddhist, not a non-faith leader] and hand painted inspirational messages like, “Simply become who you are.”
McNenny started a recent session by having the students sit cross legged on the rug, with the blinds closed, the lights dimmed and soothing, instrumental music playing [it's more than just instrumental music - it's New Age music]. He told them to sit up with their hands on their knees or their bellies and said they could close their eyes or look at the floor.
Jikaiya Holston, 7, one of the students, rang a bell slowly three times. The students sat quietly with downcast or closed eyes for three minutes. Some made circles with one hand on the other hand.
“OK, you OK?” McNenny asked the students.
He asked the students to explain mindfulness to the visiting journalists.
“If you get angry, you take a belly breath and calm down,” one boy said.
“When you take a test,” another student chimed in.
“Any time you’re stressed,” a third said.
“Memories don’t mess up your brain,” a fourth student explained.
McNenny said a belly breath involves putting a hand on your belly and taking a deep breath and feeling yourself inhale and exhale.
McNenny asked the students to stand for “mindful movements,” a series of exercises paired with breathing in and out. They raised and lowered their arms, rolled their hands to the sides of their heads and back out, put their hands on their waists and made circles with the upper parts of their bodies, crouched like frogs, and lifted one leg off the ground.
“Remember: mind on your movements,” McNenny instructed. “If your mind is on your movements, you should be able to balance.”
McNenny ended the 35-minute session by having the students lay on their backs with their hands on their bellies and close their eyes, concentrating on breathing. He turned the light off in the room and closed the door. Most of the students laid still, though a few squirmed or whispered to the student next to them.
“Mindfully stand up,” McNenny said. “If your friend is asleep next to you, wake him or her up.”
Besides the morning routine and McNenny’s sessions, teachers reinforce mindfulness in the classroom, using a chime when they think students need to pause and take a breath. They often use this tactic to help students focus before taking a test.
McNenny sometimes meets with students one-on-one or in small groups when they are having problems, like test anxiety or behavior issues.
Not all of his mindful experiments are successful right away. He recalled taking students outside one day to have them practice “mindful walking.” Half the students made a beeline for the playground. He then changed his approach, giving the students books to balance on their heads — an old trick for improving posture that helped get across the idea of focusing on walking.
Mindful results
McNenny and Ditcher think mindfulness has helped at Warstler and point to both quantitative and anecdotal evidence.
Ditcher, who has been Warstler’s principal for four years, credits mindfulness for helping to boost the school’s performance index …
“I believe it’s a conduit for our practices,” she said. “I can’t imagine running a school without it.” [Ditcher goes on to describe various increases in student performance, which she attributes largely to mindfulness.]…
Some Warstler parents initially had questions about mindfulness, with a few concerned that it was meshing religion and education. [Actually, born again Christian parents would not mind Christianity being meshed with education, but they would abhor occult Buddhist mindfulness being meshed with education. Especially in light of the fact that Christian teachings are forbidden in public schools.] Ditcher said she explained that meditation is a component in many faiths, but that they aren’t teaching mindfulness in “any religious way.” She said a student recently told her that some youths at his church were anxious before a performance and he told them, “Here’s what we do in my school,” and showed them how to belly breathe.He said the exercise helped calm their nerves before taking the stage.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705 or swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @swarsmith. Read the Beacon Journal’s political blog at www.ohio.com/blogs/ohio-politics.
FOR FURTHER READING
Christian discernment articles rightly condemning mindfulness
CANA’s complete list of articles on mindfulness
Berit Kjos’ complete list of articles on mindfulness
BEWARE – The first guide for children (ages 3 to 10) to centering prayer – Centering prayer overlaps with mindfulness; it also comes from Eastern religions (specifically Buddhism).
Articles favoring mindfulness
A HUGE list of Google hits on the search string ["mindfulness" "children"] – I have found very few Christian articles exposing the indoctrination of children into occult Buddhist mindfulness. I suppose this should come as no surprise, considering that most born again evangelical denominations are becoming involved in contemplative spirituality ala Richard Foster’s Spiritual Formation. And Spiritual Formation is largely based on Buddhist, Hindu and other Eastern meditative practices. Tragic!
Amazon list of 442 resources for teaching mindfulness to children
What Is Spiritual Psychology? – This article by Kate Nesbitt gives a New Age definition of Spiritual Psychology (which includes mindfulness). Note that 1) the writer graduated from the same school as “Touched by an Angel’s” New Age starlet Roma Downey. And 2) Downey has stated elsewhere, since she graduated with her Spiritual Psychology degree, that she hopes to become a “therapist” (similar to Kate Nesbitt, I assume). I believe Downey could eventually incorporate mindfulness into her New Age therapeutic practices, becoming basically a “poster child” for mindfulness. She is already the driving force behind various children’s publications, including the occultish Little Angels series.
Online books favoring mindfulness – general referance books
Jon Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation In Everyday Life (2009)
Articles favoring mindfulness in education
SEL and mindfulness
Mindfulness for teachers and students in NYC: Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in Schools
Online books favoring mindfulness – in education
Deborah Schoeberlein and Suki Sheth, Mindful Teaching and Teaching Mindfulness: A Guide for Anyone Who Teaches Anything (2011)
Online books found using Google search string ["mindfulness" "education"]
Goldie Hawn, Jim Ryan and others have also written books about mindfulness in education.
Online videos favoring mindfulness practiced by children
YouTube list of videos re: mindfulness practiced by children
Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Benefit for Mindful Schools: The Role of Mindfulness in Education
Articles mostly favoring Congressman Jim Ryan and mindfulness
Jim Axelrod, Ohio congressman’s meditation crusade (02/19/13)
Google list of hits on search string ["Jim Ryan" "mindfulness"]
Articles mostly favoring Goldie Hawn and mindfulness
Google list of hits on search string ["Goldie Hawn" "mindfulness"]
So-called “Christian” resources endorsing mindfulness
Phil Monroe, Christian Psychology and Mindfulness
Christian Book Distributor (CBD) list of eleven so-called “Christian” mindfulness books. They are anything but Christian – and CBD long ago ceased to be a born again, biblically sound Christian book company.
Google list of hits on search string ["Christian" "mindfulness"] – most of these hits consist of so-called “Christian” articles favoring mindfulness. What an abomination – the so-called Christian writers favoring mindfulness have departed from the Christian faith, entering apostasy.
Ohio educator articles mentioning mindfulness (note – they do not mention the occult New Age-ish Buddhist origins of mindfulness)
Dr. Ralph Johnson, Opening Day Speech 2003
Dr. Charles Q. Gage, “The Meaning and Measure of School Mindfulness: An Exploratory Analysis” (2003)
Addendum: my comment to Amy and Mike of “Stand Up for the Truth!” 03/23/13, posted here:
Amy and Mike, I’m writing a blog on mindfulness in public schools. It’s a work in progress: http://davemosher.wordpress.com/2013/03/22/occult-buddhist-mindfulness-being-adopted-by-all-plain-local-district-schools-near-canton-ohio/ The actual title now is: “Occult New Age-ish Buddhist “mindfulness” invading preschools and public grade schools nationwide”.
This ties in with my blog about Roma Downey’s degree in Spiritual Psychology. I’m guessing many if not most “mindfulness therapists” graduated from the same school as Downey – the New Age-ish University of Santa Monica – with a degree in Spiritual Psychology.
I’m amazed how few Christian discernment articles there are exposing mindfulness in preschools and grade schools. This, as opposed to the huge number of articles and books favoring this and instructing teachers how to teach it.
Looks like we have our work cut out for us. I’m hoping to write a series of articles about mindfulness in preschools and public grade schools, similar to the format I used with my Roma Downey blogs.
God bless you – Dave
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