Zen Wellness – Integrating Mindfulness and Movement for Gifted and High-Performing Students
Focus: Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of gifted and high-performing students (1.5); Create inclusive, supportive learning environments (4.1); Use effective classroom strategies to support student wellbeing (4.4); Engage in professional learning and improve practice in collaboration with colleagues (6.2); Contribute to collegial discussions to improve student outcomes (6.3)
Situation
When I joined Perth Modern School, the Covid-19 pandemic was still shaping the emotional and academic landscape for students. I was assigned a Year 11 Advocacy (pastoral care) group during a critical phase of their ATAR journey. Students were navigating academic pressure, performance expectations, and personal uncertainty. Many expressed signs of anxiety, perfectionism, and disconnection from their own needs and emotions.
Coming from a background shaped by intensity—first in journalism, now in high-performance educational environments—I had long understood the value of contemplative practice. I saw an opportunity to bring mindfulness, meditation, and movement into the classroom as a tool to support gifted students in building emotional regulation, focus, and identity clarity.
Action
Introduced weekly mindfulness practices in my Year 11 Advocacy class, focusing on the power of thought awareness, emotional regulation, and breathing techniques.
Guided students in short, intentional meditations aimed at separating thoughts from identity—helping them understand that they are not their stress or anxiety, but observers and agents capable of reframing.
Gradually expanded this work into other classes embedding principles of self-regulation, somatic awareness, and reframing cognitive patterns.
Collaborated with the Middle School Coordinator to formalise this approach through a proposal to establish a wellness initiative within the school.
In 2025, founded Zen Wellness, a Friday afternoon program open to students across year levels. It is a safe, non-competitive space where students engage in:
Breathwork and meditation
Light yoga and mindful movement
Group discussion around mindset, performance anxiety, and wellbeing
Framed the program not as an escape from rigour, but as a complement to high-performance thinking—offering gifted students a vital mental and emotional toolkit for sustainability, self-connection, and clarity.
Outcome
Students reported increased emotional balance, improved focus, and reduced reactivity both in class and in life. Several began adopting meditation as a daily practice.
The Zen Wellness space attracted a diverse mix of students some of whom expressed feeling seen and supported in new ways.
Teachers and parents shared positive feedback, noting observable improvements in mood, self-awareness, and academic stamina in participating students.
The initiative has become a progressively recognized part of the school’s wellbeing culture, with the hopes of being considered as a model for future integration into broader student support systems.
Personally, I developed a unique pedagogical blend of creative rigour, performance mindset, and inner awareness—deepening my impact as a teacher working with gifted students under pressure.
Research and Framing
Gifted students are more likely than their peers to experience heightened anxiety, perfectionism, and overexcitability (Neihart, 2002; Silverman, 2013). Interventions that include mindfulness and meditation have been shown to improve executive functioning, emotional resilience, and self-concept clarity—especially in academically gifted populations (Meiklejohn et al., 2012; Zenner et al., 2014).
By creating spaces where thoughts can be observed without judgment and identity can be grounded in awareness rather than achievement, we help students become not just successful performers, but healthy, reflective, and grounded individuals.