Mindfulness for teens

En español

As a professor at Universidad Marista de San Luis Potosí, I have worked with teenagers for at least 12 years, at the Preparatory school.

Usually there’s pressure from parents, peers and teachers. It’s a time for students to reaffirm who they are and to guess what will be the future for them. Parents have their own idea of what they expect from them, but they want to be themselves, as a unique individual, and they also want to fit in the group, which may confuse them on who they really are.

I think that there is something that a teenager could learn at this stage, and this is connecting within, learn a technique that may allow them to get in contact with themselves (individually), in the present moment, consciously.

Mindfulness can be such a thing. They can learn to pause, to get in touch with their feelings and understand where they come from. It’s a technique that can make them diminish a state of anguish, focus better and longer, and be more empathic.

It’s a way to know themselves without tags, understand who they are, and that they have the opportunity of choice. As Carl G. Jung said: “Your vision will become clear only when you look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes”.