Rev. Danny Fisher

“Fourth graders at Toluca Lake Elementary School in North Hollywood, Calif., learn meditation using exercises that include singing, breathing and well wishes toward others.” Photo by Dan MacMedan for USA Today.
This from our friend Secundra Beasley: USA Today has a feature in today’s paper about the use of mindfulness meditation techniques in schools and hospitals.

Once thought of as an esoteric, mystical pursuit, meditation is going mainstream. A government survey in 2007 found that about 1 out of 11 Americans, more than 20 million, meditated in the past year. And a growing number of medical centers are teaching meditation to patients for relief of pain and stress.

More than 240 programs in clinics and hospitals teach [a type of mindfulness meditation] says Jon Kabat-Zinn, who developed mindfulness-based stress reduction 30 years ago at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center.