The Impact of a Regular Mindfulness Practice on Teachers: A Critical Review

Teaching can be a highly stressful profession and educators have become increasingly concerned about their mental health and well-being since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, mindfulness has emerged in the literature as an effective intervention to alleviate educators’ stress levels and improve psychological difficulties. The purpose of this literature review was to examine the impacts of a regular mindfulness practice on educators. I synthesized 40 peer-reviewed studies that were published between 2010 and 2021 and included a sample of working K-12 educators. The most significant and consistent effects of a regular mindfulness practice were reported on educators’ overall well-being on psychological measures of stress, anxiety, and depression, and on physical health outcomes. Findings also indicated strong effects on educators’ emotion-regulation and levels of self-compassion. This review concludes by offering specific recommendations for teachers and other school-based personnel who are interested in cultivating a personal mindfulness practice