Youth Mindfulness

I remember vividly the first time I taught children to meditate...

It was in the Spring of 2012. The classroom walls were covered in bright displays of oranges and greens. I looked out at a room of thirty children full of curiosity at this strange new arrival in their midst. They sat quietly and expectantly, but I knew their good behaviour wouldn’t last if I didn’t capture their interest. 

So I eagerly started into the lesson, exploring questions like “what is the mind?” and “what is its connection to the brain?” I used bongo drums to illustrate neuroplasticity and metaphors of video games, musical instruments and country paths to explain how we can train the mind. And eventually, with a little apprehension, we engaged in a mindfulness of breathing practice.

It was only short - perhaps a minute and a half. But, for me, it was electric. It was not just the stillness and quiet that landed in the room like music. It was the quality of presence that came alive amongst these thirty little humans. They were tuning into this fundamental capacity for awareness - to be in touch with and awake to what is happening in the moment - a capacity that is crucial to emotional wellbeing, to the health of our relationships, to our capacity for wisdom, and perhaps to the direction of our planet as a whole.

This was the moment I knew that what I was hoping for was not just a pipe dream, but was something real: it was possible for young children to practise meditation and cultivate the inner qualities a wiser, more beautiful world depends upon.

Over the years, Youth Mindfulness grew from those early sessions to a global education initiative. Today thousands of Youth Mindfulness trained educators teach our curricula in more than 50 countries on every continent, and we’ve impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of young people. This work has been deeply rewarding and I feel immense gratitude to all the good-hearted souls I’ve encountered along the way.

Recently, I have felt a call to new work and new projects alongside the realisation that my role in leading Youth Mindfulness is now complete. However, it is my hope that the Youth Mindfulness Programmes can continue to benefit young people around the world. For this reason, the Charity’s trustees and I have decided to offer them freely to those who wish to carry this work forward.

As a charity we still have costs (web hosting, software subscriptions, learning platform etc.) but we trust that those who value this work will help keep the digital doors open. If you do decide to train with us, we’d very much appreciate whatever donation you can offer. And if you’d like to support us you can do so here: https://donate-to-youth-mindfulness.paperform.co

If you’d like to follow my work you can do so here: https://michaelbready.substack.com/

With gratitude,

Michael Bready February 2026