“It’s not affiliated with religion at all.” “People sometimes see mindfulness and think religion,” Hersey said.

director of education and training for MindUP, the curriculum is not promoting any religion and is a secular program based in neuroscience, psychology, social and emotional literacy and mindful awareness training. “Although the circuit we use for meditation may be a tool used by Buddhists as a part of their practice, the underlying circuit is no more a religious circuit than our ability to memorize or speak.”Īccording to Maria Hersey, U.S. People of various religions memorize scripture, but that does not mean our circuitry related to memorization is a religiously based circuit,” she said in an email. We have circuitry in our brain that permits us the ability to memorize new information. “Every ability we have, we have because we have brain cells that perform that function. Jill Bolte Taylor, a Bloomington neuroscientist and consultant for the MindUP program, isn’t concerned that using mindfulness in a classroom is a religious practice, either. I’m satisfied that it will actually help the students to be better prepared with less stress.” I’m satisfied that it is not a religious teaching or an indoctrination. The school board was introduced to MindUp in November, and teachers at Arlington Heights, Clear Creek and Klein said in a telephone interview, “anything that has to do with relaxation techniques, I’m sure, had basis in various religions such as yoga and all kinds of other things.

“You probably ought to consider what it might end up costing the district in the loss of state support as families move to alternative educational options,” he said.ĭespite Brown and Moore’s objections to the program, MCCSC School board President Keith Klein has not been swayed. He also warned that it could mean families would take their children out of public schools altogether. could cause parents, grandparents and community members to stop volunteering at the schools.

“It will be perceived as an introduction of Buddhism into the classroom and forced participation in a religious activity,” Moore said.įrom Moore’s point of view, the potential impact of using MindUP in Monroe County Community School Corp. “Mindfulness points children to more openly Buddhist resources,” Candy Brown, a professor of religious studies at Indiana University, told the MCCSC board at a recent meeting.Ĭraig Moore, pastor of Southside Christian Church, also spoke out against MindUP, saying he represented several pastors in the community as well as his congregation. He told the board that bringing in MindUP would be not be seen as a positive move by a segment of Christians in the Bloomington community. MCCSC has begun piloting a brain-centered program developed by the Hawn Foundation called MindUP at three elementary schools in the district, but some members of the community don’t want to see the new curriculum become a more permanent part of the school system. They feel the focus on “mindfulness” in the MindUP curriculum reveals ties to religion, specifically Buddhism. 'MindUP' teaches brain chemistry, not religion, say supportersĮditor's note: This story from The Bloomington Herald-Times is being published here as a courtesy for readers of IU in the News. 'MindUP' teaches brain chemistry, not religion, say supporters.

Mindup kindergarten