This Baltimore City Public School started sending students to yoga class instead of detention and the results are incredible.

Fort Worthington Elementary School launched a mindfulness initiative to inspire a positive change in the way students deal with conflict.

The initiative is meant to address the school’s high suspension rate. By encouraging meditation and reflection, the school hopes to address problems associated with trauma in an innovative way.

There are many benefits to yoga that extend beyond physical health. According to Harvard Health Publishing, yoga develops inner awareness and focuses on the body’s ability to be present.

The school has hired professional yogi, Ramone Brown, to assist with the program.

“Meditation is good for letting go of trauma, letting go of any hate, any anger and just getting yourself into a peaceful place away from the daily stressing.” Brown told Now This.

Brown guides the children through meditative classes where he leads them through creative visualization and mindfulness techniques.

The school's principal, Monique Debi, hopes the initiative can set an example for other schools in the area. “

I think it’s created this overall sense of collective here in the school and unity. That when something happens, there’s been harm in the village, right, and instead of tearing that child down and you know, isolating a child and excluding that child, you’re bringing a child back in to let them know that they are loved and they are safe, that they made a mistake, and that they are able to fix it.”

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