As a caring teacher, you want nothing more than to help your children become happy, confident learners. However, you know only too well that if a child is not in a great place emotionally, this can also impact their ability to focus and learn.

You will often see:

• children struggling to manage their emotions – who may frequently become anxious, frustrated, angry, tearful, or withdrawn;
• children who frequently fall out with their friends or become easily upset by the things other children say;
• children who lack confidence in themselves and their own abilities
• children who display inappropriate or avoidant behaviour because it's easier than trying and failing.

As an experienced teacher and SENDCo I've seen this all too often, along with the negative impact that this has on not only the mental health of the children but on the relationships with parents and on the well-being of staff, who are already struggling to cope with the high demands of a crammed curriculum as well as out of class responsibilities. 

Sadly, this is becoming more prevalent, and not a lot of time is allocated to the curriculum to develop the emotional intelligence of children. Arguably, however, this is even more important than academic intelligence. Here's why:

• Happy children are better learners - they're not constantly distracted by the things that are worrying them.
• Less time spent dealing with fights and squabbles means more teaching and learning time. 
• Resilient children with positive self-esteem are more likely to try harder, which will enable them to experience success and further boost their self-esteem. 
• Children who know how to work well with other children and disagree respectfully will achieve better success and stay on task. They are more likely to help each other, which in turn will place less demand on the teacher, so they are free to target their support appropriately. 
• When children are happier and learning well, parents are happier and teachers are less stressed. This will also support teacher retention. 

Fortunately, we are seeing more meditation and mindfulness in schools now, which is a positive step forward. However, this is only tackling part of the problem. 

LLAMA Meditation Emotional Wellbeing and Empowerment Course offers more than just meditation.

By the end of this course your children will have developed a more positive sense of self-worth, self-awareness and resilience. They will have strategies to cope with negative emotions and change. They will also have the skills and knowledge to develop more positive relationships with others, along with a better ability to identify and build positive friendships, and feel more comfortable in having their own views, whilst being able to see things from different perspectives. They will also be better able to respect other people’s views and peacefully disagree with others.

Your children will also have developed a real sense of connection and awareness of who they are and how they are feeling, along with an ability to better regulate their emotions and tap into and trust their own inner guidance system. All this will be developed whilst having fun and spending quality time together. Plus all the physical and mental health benefits of meditation can be enjoyed by everyone, helping you all develop positive emotional well-being and inner peace.