I was one of the teachers who signed up to do after-school detention. It was easy money, but patterns began to emerge the more frequently I sat in. It seemed to be the same community members from our student body appearing over and over. They weren’t bad kids, but they were definitely frustrated, overwhelmed, and completely disconnected. I mentioned this to a school staff member one day, who profoundly muttered, “We keep doing the same thing and expecting different results.” She wasn’t wrong. We were trying to squash a behavior without taking any steps to create a positive culture or an action plan in the meantime.
That moment stuck with me through the rest of my classroom career and into the work I do now. It’s the reason I was so eager to talk with Dr. Kali Arnold and Danielle Brunson of The Namaste Project for my podcast. Their approach to changing school culture through mindfulness, yoga, and meditation is fundamentally different from the reactive discipline models most of us grew up with…and it’s working.
Click above to listen to this podcast episode. Below is the transcript for Student-Centered World Podcast Episode 32: “Changing School Culture with the Namaste Project”
What We’re Actually Talking About When We Say Changing School Culture
Before we go further, let’s get clear on what we’re discussing. Changing school culture means shifting the unwritten rules, automatic responses, and daily habits that define how people interact in your building. It’s not about a new policy or curriculum. It’s about what happens when nobody’s watching.
A positive school culture is one where staff members actually want to be there, where student behavior is managed through relationship rather than threat, and where the learning environment feels safe for everyone. In a strong school culture, you don’t have to constantly police student body behavior because students have internalized the expectations.
During my time in the classroom, I saw this play out in real time. My juniors in the nationally ranked academic school operated completely differently from my students in the CTE program. Not because they were smarter or better kids, but because the culture of those school buildings was entirely different. The expectations, the relationships, the way staff members talked to and about students, all of it added up.
Danielle Brunson, who taught elementary and university overseas before moving into school leadership, put it this way during our conversation: “Being over there and seeing the cultural difference in how they approach education, and how they valued it, and how teachers are treated and how the school culture was, and the climate was really stuck with me.” She noticed that the culture of schools centered on student well-being in a way that many traditional schools in the US don’t.
Why Most School Improvement Efforts Miss the Mark
Here’s the thing about educational change that nobody likes to admit: most initiatives fail because they don’t address the underlying culture. You can roll out a new math program, implement PBIS with fidelity, or hold regular meetings about student achievement until you’re blue in the face. However, if the staff division, the hidden curriculum, and the school policies all reinforce the status quo, nothing meaningful changes.
Dr. Kali Arnold, a former orthopedic surgeon who now practices integrative medicine, noticed this pattern in her own professional journey. “I was all about volume and obviously economics. It was just not what I had signed up for because I always thought I was a healer.” That disconnect between the mission and the reality is the same in education. We say we’re here for kids, yet our systems treat them like products on an assembly line.
The Namaste Project takes a different approach. They don’t just drop a program into a school and expect it to work. They work with the leadership team to assess readiness, build buy-in, and implement change in layers. The goal is structural change that actually sticks. Since 2019, they’ve reached over 100,000 students and supported more than 7,000 adults across the country.
A Quick Note on Who I Am and Why This Matters to Me
I started teaching high school history in 2007, and over the next decade, I worked with more than 1,700 students in two very different schools: a nationally ranked academic school and a Title I CTE school. The contrast in school culture was stark. In one building, students arrived ready to learn, and staff members felt supported. In the other, everyone was fighting upstream against the same problems year after year.
Since leaving the classroom in 2018, I’ve been training K-12 teachers across every grade level and school type, from elementary schools to high schools, from well-funded suburban districts to rural schools with almost nothing. I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t work across the board. I’m also the author of The Classroom Dichotomy and Teaching When You Have Nothing Left, and I’ve been featured in Business Insider, Yahoo Finance, and Teach Better. I mention all that only because I want you to know I’ve solved these problems alongside real teachers in real school buildings, not just in my own classroom.
This podcast interview happened after I left the classroom, but the lessons I brought to that conversation came directly from my years in the trenches.
What Mindfulness Actually Looks Like in Schools
It Starts With the Adults
Danielle emphasized this repeatedly: “If you don’t have your staff feeling good, it helps with teacher retention, first of all.” Her background in school leadership taught her that teacher buy-in is everything. “Our biggest thing is if you don’t have teacher buy-in, and teachers doing all these things, it’s not going to matter.”
When I was still in the classroom, I experienced this firsthand. Our school leadership decided we needed mindfulness training. They presented it as a curriculum requirement, something else to check off. Teachers resented it. We all went through the motions, but nobody actually bought in. The initiative died within a semester.
The Namaste Project avoids this by letting teachers experience the benefits first. They offer mini-breaks, fifteen minutes of breathwork, and guided meditation during staff meetings. Dr. Arnold described what happens after these sessions: “Usually after that, all the comments are typing is like, oh, my God, I feel amazing. I need this every day.”
When teachers feel the difference, they want to share it. It stops being a mandated program and becomes something they genuinely value.
Replacing Punishment With Practice
One of the most compelling aspects of The Namaste Project is its work replacing traditional discipline with mindfulness interventions. In many schools, detention and suspension don’t change behavior. The same kids keep coming back because they never learn a different way to respond to stress.
Dr. Arnold explained: “If you see a behavior, a negative behavior, and you keep responding to it or reinforcing that negative behavior with a negative treatment, that’s what you’re going to continue to get.” The goal isn’t to let kids off the hook. It’s to teach them something they didn’t know before.
In practice, this means sending students to “zen zones” or “meditation rooms” instead of ISS. These spaces aren’t punishments. They’re places where students can self-regulate, release frustration, and learn coping mechanisms. A trained staff member, usually a counselor or social worker, guides them through the process.
Superintendent Barbara Malkas of North Adams Public Schools described what this looks like in her district. One teacher told her that since incorporating mindfulness strategies, “I haven’t had a significant disciplinary referral this year.” Another teacher offers students facing discipline a choice: detention or yoga and mindfulness practice. Many choose the latter.
Making It Accessible for All
If you’re imagining yoga mats, incense, and chanting, you’ve got the wrong picture. The practices The Namaste Project teaches are simple, short, and accessible. They can be done at desks, in classrooms, or in group spaces.
Older students connect mindfulness to people they admire. Dr. Arnold noted, “You know, it’s not cool, but then you find out what, like LeBron James and Steph Curry and JLo and all these people that they look up to have a mindfulness practice who meditate. They’re like, oh. How do you think they’re so successful?”
For music, they don’t use “goofy” studio music. They find current songs that students relate to. The goal is approachability, not aesthetic.
A recent Education Week article noted that these simple exercises can be done at students’ desks without special equipment. Teachers in a South Carolina district observed significant improvements in emotional regulation and behavioral challenges after just five weeks of mindfulness intervention.
The Data Behind the Shift
The results aren’t just anecdotal. A 2024 study of 172 educators and 955 students in Massachusetts found that students with mindfulness-trained educators had significantly higher attendance rates and lower chronic absenteeism.
In North Adams Public Schools, the impact has been dramatic. At Colegrove Park Elementary, chronic absenteeism dropped 11% in one year, putting the school in the top 10 for attendance statewide.
Superintendent Malkas, who has practiced yoga for 30 years, points out: “By addressing self-care through mindfulness, through mindful movement and moments of presence, it allows teachers to all be there for their students and to provide that security for their students.”
What Actually Works (And What Doesn’t)
A Tiered Approach
The Namaste Project structures its work in three tiers, similar to RTI or PBIS.
Tier One: Everyone in the school participates in brief mindfulness exercises. Breathe together in the morning. Breathe together before going home. These small moments build a shared experience and a baseline of calm.
Tier Two: Students who are struggling get more targeted support. They might go to a meditation room, attend small-group yoga sessions, or work individually with a counselor.
Tier Three: Intensive, individualized support for students with behavior improvement plans. This could include daily mindfulness practice, counseling, and ongoing support.
Most schools start with Tier One and build from there. It’s flexible because every school has different resources and readiness.
What Doesn’t Work (I’ve Seen This Fail)
I’ve watched well-intentioned schools stumble in their efforts to implement mindfulness in four specific ways. Doing mindfulness as a mandated curriculum without helping teachers understand why it matters guarantees resentment rather than buy-in. Treating it as something just for “bad kids” instead of something everyone benefits from reinforces the very stigma you’re trying to break.
Expecting quick fixes rather than understanding that cultural change takes time sets everyone up for disappointment when the magic doesn’t happen in two weeks. Adding it as another thing on teachers’ plates without considering what else they’re already doing is a surefire way to kill any initiative before it starts.
My Honest Take: Start With Your Staff
If you want to change your school’s culture, start with the people in the building. Not the students. The adults.
I know that sounds counterintuitive. We’re in education because we care about kids. However, here’s what I’ve learned from working with more than 1,700 students and training hundreds of teachers: Students mirror the emotional state of the adults around them. If your staff members are stressed, overwhelmed, and reactive, your students will be too.
Danielle made this point in our conversation: “If you don’t have your staff feeling good, it helps with teacher retention, first of all. I mean, I used to lose teachers all the time. It’s a hard job, it doesn’t pay well, it’s super stressful.”
So here’s what I’d actually do if I were a school leader today, drawing from what I’ve seen work across the many schools I’ve trained in since 2018.
Step 1: Start with your staff. Not as a mandated training. As something you’re offering because you genuinely care about their well-being. Bring in someone like Dr. Arnold for a fifteen-minute staff meeting introduction. Let your teachers feel the difference.
Step 2: Build from there. Once your staff members are on board, start introducing practices into classrooms. Start with Tier One: five minutes of mindful breathing at the start of the school day. Keep it simple.
Step 3: Address your discipline system. Ask hard questions: Do we have kids who are repeatedly suspended or detained? Are those consequences actually changing their behavior? If not, explore alternatives. Start a pilot program where one teacher offers mindfulness as an alternative to detention.
Step 4: Be patient. Cultural change doesn’t happen overnight. The shift in how staff members treat each other, how they respond to student behavior, how they talk about the work, this takes time. Give yourself grace.
What I Learned From The Namaste Project
The biggest takeaway from my conversation with Danielle and Dr. Arnold is this: school culture isn’t changed by policies. It’s changed by people practicing something different, one breath at a time.
That sounds soft, yet it’s actually the hardest kind of change. It requires vulnerability. It requires trying something that feels unfamiliar. It requires admitting that what we’ve been doing might not be working.
The alternative is keeping the same systems that produce the same results. I’ve seen schools where the discipline referrals are the same kids, the same problems, year after year. The system doesn’t break the cycle.
What the Namaste Project offers is a different way. Not easier. Different. For the schools I’ve seen implement it, the results are real: fewer behavioral issues, better student-teacher relationships, and a stronger school culture. The work is ongoing, and like any meaningful change, it requires commitment from the entire school community. TNP has built systems designed to last, recognizing that one workshop changes a day, but their systems change cultures.
During our conversation, Danielle shared a personal story about her young son: “He’ll be like, this is bothering me. I know, like, when he was three, it was really frustrating for me as a parent. I was like, dude, just put the pants on and let’s go. I don’t have time for this.”
She learned to pause. They breathe together. “He was a totally different kid after that. So, it’s just the little things that parents and teachers, and schools can do that make such a huge impact on how kids go about their day.”
That’s the vision. Not a perfectly calm school with no problems. A school where people have tools to respond rather than react. A school where students learn something they’ll carry with them forever: how to pause, breathe, and choose a different way.
What has your experience with discipline at your school been like? Have you tried any mindfulness practices with your students? I’d love to hear what’s working and what hasn’t in your building. Share your story in the comments or reach out; this is a conversation we need to keep having.
Ready to Learn More?
This article was inspired by a conversation with Dr. Kali Arnold and Danielle Brunson of The Namaste Project. Their insights on changing school culture through mindfulness, yoga, and meditation offer a practical path forward for schools ready to try something different. If you’re interested in exploring mindfulness-based approaches for your school, The Namaste Project offers discovery calls, free resources, and training sessions. You can find them at tnpwellness.net or follow them on social media for daily tips and videos. 10% of every TNP purchase funds free yoga in Atlanta schools and training scholarships through the TNP Foundation.
Does this actually work with high schoolers, or is it just for little kids?
It works with all ages, but the approach matters. Danielle and Dr. Arnold recommend connecting mindfulness practices to people students admire, like athletes and artists who meditate, and using music and language that feels relevant. The practices don’t have to look the same in high school as they do in elementary school.
I’m a teacher, not an administrator. What can I actually do?
Start small. Pause for three mindful breaths at the start of class. Give students a one-minute breathing break between activities. You don’t need permission to do this. Danielle noted that individual classrooms that do this successfully often spark interest among other teachers. Your classroom can be a model for changing school culture from the ground up.
What about the behavior issues? Don’t we need consequences?
Mindfulness isn’t about eliminating consequences. It’s about replacing ineffective ones with something that actually changes behavior. When a student goes to a zen zone instead of detention, they’re not getting off the hook. They’re practicing self-regulation skills they never learned. As Dr. Arnold noted, traditional consequences often fail to change behavior; the same kids keep returning.
We don’t have money for a program. What can we do for free?
Use free resources like The Namaste Project’s 21-day meditation challenge or free guides available on their website. Start with simple breathing exercises you can lead yourself. You don’t need special equipment. Education Week notes that these exercises can be done at students’ desks without any special supplies. Consider partnerships with community yoga instructors or local nonprofits.
What if my admin isn’t supportive?
Start with what you can control. If your school leaders aren’t interested, try implementing simple practices in your own classroom. When other teachers notice improved student behavior and academic performance, they’ll start asking questions. Sometimes cultural change has to start at the classroom level before leadership notices. The Namaste Project even offers eCourses for individual teachers who want to learn without district buy-in.
This article was originally published on February 20, 2021.
