The neuroscience of stress - do we react or respond?
In order to consider how a daily practice of mindfulness can positively address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion, let’s start with the science. The sympathetic nervous system activates the “fight, flight, or freeze” response during a threat or perceived danger, and the parasympathetic nervous system restores the body to a state of calm. When a stressor causes the “fight or flight” reaction, our heart beats faster, our breathing becomes shallow, and our digestive system runs amuck. The vagus nerve is the main contributor of the parasympathetic nervous system, linking the brain stem with the rest of the body, spreading out much like the roots of a tree to interface with the heart, lungs, and digestive system. Through daily mindfulness practice and breathwork, we can expand our capacity to be more resilient in the face of challenges, decrease our defensive responses and return to a state of groundedness and clarity.
The vagus nerve is also where we can carry different forms of trauma - be it historical trauma, intergenerational trauma, persistent institutional trauma, or personal trauma. For example, we can feel a sense of hypervigilance, anxiety, or fear in situations where it might not seem immediately logical because the vagus nerve has stored old information about how we have historically experienced danger. The “fight, flight or freeze” response might kick in as we’re stuck in traffic and late for work, just before a parent meeting, or maybe when we’re in a large gathering of diverse people who are expressing themselves louder than our typical comfort level. Our bodies don’t intuitively differentiate social discomforts from life-threatening situations so we may overreact to a situation based on signals from our nervous system. Any and all of these situations could send us into an unexplained state of panic. Mindfulness helps regulate and calm the vagus nerve so that we’re less likely to reach that hypervigilant state and/or we’re able to recover more quickly when we do.
Where science, mindfulness, and social justice meet
When people experience marginalization and discrimination, it leads to chronic stress, chronic pain, and a myriad of health conditions. This state of dis-ease brought about by inequity and injustice not only affects the individual but impacts entire communities. There are a growing number of neuroscientists, therapists, education specialists, and others exploring the ways in which mindfulness helps raise individual awareness in relation to societal injustices.
Dr. Sará King, a postdoctoral fellow at the Oregon Health Science University, is a neuroscience pioneer in this work bringing together neuroscience, mindfulness, and social justice.
“...when you integrate science and mindfulness and social justice, suddenly people understand that they have an incredible amount of power to enact positive change on the system. If [trauma] is coming from our nervous systems, then that means that it can be healed.” Dr. Sará King. 1
Mindfulness practices that acknowledge and co-create an authentic safe space for the experiences of racialized and marginalized people can lay a foundation for healing. However, Dr. King cautions that mindfulness educators and practitioners need to honor and reflect the diverse cultural backgrounds of their students as well as their lived experiences. Otherwise, students may interpret a lack of acknowledgment as disregarding or minimalizing these core aspects of their lives.
Mindfulness-based SEL equips schools to address bias, prejudices, and instances of inequity
A daily mindfulness practice helps us attune to the distress, fear, and confusion that may arise around issues of racism and inequity instead of ignoring or suppressing those feelings. Further, it helps us to examine old “habits of mind” and beliefs in a compassionate, non-judgmental way, recognizing that our automatic thoughts are not always accurate. We can then start looking outside ourselves to what’s happening in our families, our schools, and the larger community with a different perspective. Mindfulness gives us that “inside-out” awareness needed to start questioning a harmful status quo.
Inner Explorer's Mindfulness-based SEL (MBSEL) program, when practiced consistently in the classroom, is shown to reduce stress (by over 40%) which influences behavior, classroom culture, and academic performance. MBSEL creates a safe space to cultivate emotional intelligence and be curious (not judgmental) about "others" (self-awareness, attention, self-regulation, motivation, creativity, and social skills). With a new level of awareness, empathy, and compassion, a classroom climate of mutual trust and authenticity can develop where all students feel empowered to express themselves and push past thought-limiting beliefs to explore what is truly possible for them as learners.
When schools bring the MBSEL practices into more parts of the day (e.g., faculty meetings, parent/teacher meetings) and families use the Tune-In feature at home, everyone experiences the benefits of awareness building, cognitive flexibility, and stress reduction. Expanding the practices beyond the classroom provides the “mental” room for the entire school community - students, educators, and families - to make informed responses rather than automatic reactions to unfamiliar or uncomfortable situations. When school communities are able to build empathy, it enables a greater understanding of diverse perspectives which in turn can facilitate relational reflective dialogue about power, privilege, and oppression. This is how communities heal.
1. Whitney-Coulter, Ava, et al. “Where Science, Mindfulness, and Social Justice Intersect.” Mindful, 25 Jan. 2022,
https://www.mindful.org/where-science-mindfulness-and-social-justice-intersect/.