QTR Meditation at School
Today's school demands an intense pace. Sometimes, for some boys and some girls, a simple classroom test or an oral exam can become a source of profound emotional tension. When this happens, the body often reacts with physical symptoms: stomach ache, headache, a racing heartbeat, flushing or pallor, excessive sweating or restlessness.
This is how pupils can come to experience cognitive blackout in such situations. Anxiety stimulates the amygdala, the area of the brain linked to survival: this temporarily clouds the prefrontal cortex, responsible for memory and reasoning, bringing on the classic "mental blank".
The emotional impact becomes still sharper when the fear of disappointing parents or teachers sets in. In everyday school life, tests can be experienced, even by the youngest pupils, as a judgement on who they are, rather than as an assessment of their learning journey. All of this can undermine self-esteem.
Quantum Touch Releasing® (QTR) meditation, whose method was founded by Dr Ileana Rotella, is emerging as a useful tool for restoring balance, reducing performance anxiety and improving concentration.
For children of this age, meditating is a playful, colourful exercise that fosters awareness: it focuses the individual on deep, mindful breathing and on engaging the five senses through imagery, allowing an immediate sense of calm to be re-established before picking up a pen or organising one's thoughts.
Through deep, mindful breathing and playful words and actions, the child activates the parasympathetic nervous system. This lowers the heart rate and reduces cortisol levels, the stress hormone, restoring an immediate sense of wellbeing.
The practice brings positive thinking into the present, into the here and now, and refocuses attention on the questions to be answered. The face breaks into a smile again, and concentration returns.
Just a few minutes a day are enough for meditation to become a shield against school-related anxiety, whether practised at home or directly in the classroom before a test. Introducing QTR into children's daily routine means giving them an emotional compass.
A child who learns to manage the tension of a school test will grow into an adult capable of facing professional and personal challenges with focus and awareness. School thus becomes a training ground for growth, where inner balance matters just as much as a good mark in the register.
Paola Maria Coxe, primary school teacher, naturopath, life coach, QTR instructor.