The David Lynch Foundation is partnering with Frederick Douglass Academy, a charter school located in South LA. The Academy aims to bring academic success to this underserved, predominately African-American district through rigorous college-prep curriculum and mandated parent involvement. DLF will help prepare students for academic and social success on the road toward higher education by providing meditation instruction, which fosters greater emotional intelligence and cognitive development.
Students face a tremendous amount of stress and violence in their environment due to economic hardships and broken homes that strain the learning process and hamper personal development. Additionally, the school faces the challenges of limited resources and overcrowding.
DLF is implementing the Quiet Time Program, which provides Transcendental Meditation, to the Frederick Douglass Academy student body. TM is a practical tool that empowers students to release stress while, enlivening creativity and learning readiness. TM also helps alleviate symptoms of stress and anxiety that can often trigger numerous health, emotional and cognitive issues. Together we endeavor to build student's self-esteem by fostering personal responsibility, accountablilty, and leadership.
It is our goal to give as many young people as possible an easy and effective way to access the calm, intelligent, kind, and creative person that lies within each of them through meditation. Studies show that young people who have learned to meditate have reduced levels of stress, anxiety, depression, violence, and substance abuse. They score higher on standardized tests, achieve better GPA's, and exhibit higher graduation rates as compared to non-meditating students.
