By Anna Langdell | Director of Individual Giving
The David Lynch Foundation’s Quiet Time program has kicked off with a great start for the 2016-2017 school year. Since September, your support has helped us teach TM to 27 low-income students (one classroom) and 16 staff members at the Brooklyn Urban Garden School (BUGS). Overall, the students and staff who learned TM report that they feel more relaxed and more energetic. One teacher was quoted saying that one of her students who has anger issues now has a tool to manage his outbursts – he leaves the classroom to meditate to avoid interrupting the entire class.
Quiet Time began at BUGS in 2013 when the charter school opened for the first time. The school focuses on sustainability and holistic education. Quiet Time provides full-time meditation teachers in the school who teach kids about the practice and science behind Transcendental Meditation (TM). Located in Brooklyn’s Windsor Terrace neighborhood, BUGS serves New York City’s District 15, which includes some of the richest and poorest neighborhoods in the city. The school has about 200 students, nearly half of whom qualify for free or reduced lunch and one-quarter of whom have disabilities.
Students participating in Quiet Time at BUGS demonstrate increased patience, focus, and confidence after learning and practicing TM. For example, a sixth-grade student at BUGS opened up to her TM teacher during a follow-up session and asked for advice on how to tell her mother that she is gay. Because of the unique role of Quiet Time as a safe place at school, and because of improved confidence after regularly practicing TM, she was able to open up to her Quiet Time teacher in a new way. Although they are not counselors, the Quiet Time TM teachers share tools and advice with the students to help them be more in touch with themselves and increase their confidence. This girl's meditation practice and relationship with the Quiet Time team helped her during an important life milestone.
Thank you so much for your support of the David Lynch Foundation and the important work we do bringing a lifelong tool for empowerment and healing – Transcendental Meditation – to underserved students who need it most. You are helping students reach their full creative potential – thank you!
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