The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a mindfulness meditation and yoga program on self-regulation and resilience in middle school students. Accordingly, the following research questions were established. First, does a mindfulness me...
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a mindfulness meditation and yoga program on self-regulation and resilience in middle school students. Accordingly, the following research questions were established. First, does a mindfulness meditation and yoga program have a significant effect on the self-regulation of middle school students? Second, does a mindfulness meditation and yoga program have a significant effect on the resilience of middle school students?
The participants of this study were 16 students attending B Middle School located in A City. They were divided into an experimental group of eight students and a control group of eight students. The experimental group participated in a mindfulness meditation and yoga program reconstructed based on the major elements of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). The program consisted of six 45-minute sessions, while the control group received no treatment. The program included mindful eating, breathing meditation, body scan meditation, walking meditation, sitting meditation, and Hatha yoga activities. Tests of self-regulation and resilience were administered before and after the program. The collected data were analyzed using frequency analysis, independent-samples t-tests, and paired-samples t-tests with SPSS Statistics 25.0.
The results of the study were as follows. First, the experimental group that participated in the mindfulness meditation and yoga program showed a significant improvement in self-regulation from the pretest to the posttest, whereas no significant change was found in the control group. Second, the experimental group also showed a significant improvement in resilience from the pretest to the posttest, whereas no significant change was found in the control group. These results indicate that a mindfulness meditation and yoga program may have positive effects on improving self-regulation and resilience in middle school students.
The findings of this study suggest that a mindfulness meditation and yoga program may help middle school students regulate their own states by enabling them to become aware of and observe their breathing, bodily sensations, thoughts, and emotions in the present moment with an accepting attitude, thereby reducing automatic and habitual responses. The findings also suggest that the program may contribute to restoring psychological balance in stressful situations by encouraging students to recognize and accept internal experiences, such as tension, discomfort, and distracting thoughts, as they are, rather than avoiding or suppressing them. Therefore, this study is significant in that it demonstrates the applicability of a mindfulness meditation and yoga program for improving self-regulation ability and resilience among adolescents in school settings.