Scientific evidence that mindfulness produces demonstrable effects on well-being and health is well established.(1) Mindfulness classes are offered in many different contexts, to healthcare professionals, secondary school students or patients suffering from depression.(2) There is now also a significant body of research showing that mindfulness-based methods to develop empathy lead to a decrease in the biological markers of stress. (3)(4) Participants found they had greater compassion for themselves and for others after just two weeks of applying the techniques.(5) Happier teachers means happier students. An article in next month's Review of Educational Research corroborates existing studies on how teacher empathy improves student's engagement and achievement.(6)

Dr Paul Ekman is regarded as a world expert on emotions. His 1970s research shows that emotions are universal and the expressions associated with some emotions are common to all humans.
In recent years, Paul Ekman was invited by HH the Dalai Lama to enage in discussions on the nature and quality of our emotional lives and compassion, and co-authored Emotional Awareness.

Action for Happiness http://www.actionforhappiness.org is a new mass movement to create a happier society, based in the UK that already attracts 15,000 supporters in 115 countries.

Earlier this year, Action for Happiness partnered with BBC Breakfast in the UK to encourage members of the public to try out these simple actions to improve their happiness, based on the latest scientific research.

"Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non judgmentally."

Jon Kabat-Zinn

The benefits of teaching mindfulness to adolescents are confirmed in research between Tonbridge School and the Cambridge University Well-being Institute in the UK.

Can empathy and compassion meditation help reduce stress? This was the focus of a study published last year by researchers at Emory University in the US.
Sixty-one healthy students were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group participated in six weeks of twice-weekly classroom training in a secular compassion meditation while the other group (the control group) spent a similar amount of time in health discussions.