Mark Greenberg talks about the importance of mindfulness in youth development

On February 2, Dr Mark Greenberg will be returning to Vancouver for a special Speakers Series event, “Developing Mindfulness in Families, Schools and Youth”.

Dr Greenberg is going to explore what it means to be mindful. He’s also going to share some of the research he has done surrounding the ability to nurture mindfulness in kids, educators and parents.

The Dalai Lama Center spoke with Dr Greenberg about why he believes it's so important to cultivate mindfulness in youth.

“Development processes are important and the earlier you start and build a sense of caring and compassion, the more likely people are to carry that with them throughout their lives,” he says.

Part of this development, as Dr Greenberg sees it, can be aided with the mindful practice of yoga.

“One of the projects I’ll discuss is using yoga for supporting mindfulness and facilitating it.

“We’ve been doing studies in inner-city Baltimore with children who are both poor and had a lot of violence in their neighbourhood. We’ve only done some initial studies, but we’ve seen that yoga helps improve their ability to regulate emotion.”

Dr Greenberg says that yoga has also shown that it can reduce rumination in children. Rumination is the tendency to reflect on negative or intrusive thoughts, which Dr Greenberg says is a significant predictor of depression.

The Director of the Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development, Dr Greenberg is also one of the authors of the PATHS Curriculum that is used in thousands of schools in over 20 countries.

His February 2 talk will be the second time he has brought his insights on youth development to a Dalai Lama Center event. In 2006, he shared the stage with the Dalai Lama for the Vancouver Dialogues.

“I’ve been involved with His Holiness for over a decade,” he says. “He’s very interested in how children develop. I think he, more than any world leader, sees the critical role of education.”