Movement-Based Mindfulness is by far the best for improving Executive Functions

- Prof. Adele Diamond, Developmental Cognitive Neuroscientist

Field-Tested & Evidence-Based

Executive Function Enhancement

Mindful movement "is by far the best in every single category of comparison" to develop Executive Functions such as:

  • Self regulation
  • Selective attention
  • Reasoning
  • Cognitive flexibility

Executive Functions increase the likelihood of healthy life choices and enhance the quality of our lives.

Neuroscience meets Trauma Research

  • While neuroscience says mindfulness enables attention control, emotion regulation, adaptive coping, and empathy
  • Trauma research says movement is essential for healing psychological trauma
  • Therefore, movement-based mindfulness practices such as Dynamic Mindfulness (DMind), provides a powerful convergence of neuroscience and trauma research

An Important Inductive Connection

Since movement-based mindfulness improves Executive Functions (EFs) and EFs enable healthy behaviors and better lifestyle choices, then movement-based mindfulness such as Dynamic Mindfulness (DMind) must enable healthy behaviors and lifestyle choices

Improving Executive Functions

Review of the Evidence on and Fundamental Questions About Efforts to Improve Executive Functions, Including Working Memory (Diamond and Ling, Cognitive and Working Memory Training: Perspectives from Psychology, Neuroscience, and Human Development; 2020)

Mental Health & School Performance

Effectiveness of a School-Based Yoga Program on Adolescent Mental Health and School Performance: Findings from a Randomized Controlled Trial (Frank, Kohler, Peal, Bose, Mindfulness; 2016)

Impact on High-Risk Youth

Effectiveness of a School-Based Yoga Program on Adolescent Mental Health, Stress Coping Strategies, and Attitudes Toward Violence: Findings From a High-Risk Sample (Frank, Bose and Schrobenhauser-Clonan, Journal of Applied School Psychology; 2014)

Our Research Team

Jennifer Frank, PH [Research Director] Frank is Assistant Professor of Special Education and School Psychology and Research Assistant Professor at the Pennsylvania State University Prevention Research Center (PRC). Her research focuses on the development and evaluation of evidence-based prevention and intervention programs delivered in school settings with an emphasis on programs designed to promote the development of social-emotional learning within the at-risk youth segment.

Kimberley Lakes, PhD Lakes specializes in Clinical Neuropsychology and Mental Health at the UCR Health Irvine and Inland Empire Psychiatry Centers. Her extensive background includes teaching, clinical practice, and more. She has received a broad range of awards, including the 2008 Outstanding Recent Graduate Award, Aspen Brain Forum Prize in Neuro-Education, Young Investigator Award, and multiple National Institutes of Health awards for Health Disparities Research.

Adele Diamond, PhD, FRSC Adele is the Canada Research Chair Tier I Professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, BC, Canada. She co-founded the field of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience and continues to be recognized as a world leader in both Psychology and Neuroscience. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Diamond has been named one of the “2000 Outstanding Women of the 20th Century” and has been listed as one the 15 most influential neuroscientists alive today.

Related Published Independent Research

Yoga as an adjunctive treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder: a randomized controlled trial (van der Kolk, Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, June 2014)

​Self-Discipline Outdoes IQ in Predicting Academic Performance of Adolescents (Seligman et al,Psychological Science, December 2005)

High Self-Control Predicts Good Adjustment, Less Pathology, Better Grades, and Interpersonal Success (Tangney et al,Journal of Personality, May 2004)

Implications for Learning & Teaching

"Teachers who are able to reduce the level of stress they are experiencing have an improved ability to recognize a student's perspective and how their own judgments or biases are impacting their reaction to a student"

- Tish Jennings, Professor of Education at the School of Education and Human Development, University of Virginia

DMind Develops CASEL's Social Emotional (SEL) Core Competencies

Dynamic Mindfulness (DMind) has passed CASEL's stringent criteria for Evidence-Based Practice

Niroga enables stress resilience and expands Social Emotional skills to student learning (SEL), teaching (SET) and parenting (SEP)