Students At Cottle Elementary School Finding Inner Peace With Meditation

TUCKAHOE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- In this wild world of technology where everything happens so quickly, some kids are slowing down -- on purpose.

CBS2's Cindy Hsu headed to a school in Westchester County where kids are meditating to cut the stress.

As they learn to meditate, some students at Cottle Elementary School in Tuckahoe imagined they were on a beach.

"It feels like I don't have to rush all the time anymore," said 7-year-old Jillian Conybeare.

Schools across the country are trying out meditation as a way to help kids focus and stay positive.

"We're seeing so much anxiety in our teenagers and our college-age students, and for some reason they're not acquiring the coping skills that we want them to have," said Karen Kelly, with Zen To Go.

At Cottle, meditation and yoga are offered during lunch time, right after they eat.

Tyler Cordoza said he uses the skills before a test or a big event. He said he likes to start with a pose.

"I like child's pose, it really calms me down," he said.

Chloe Angello is just 5 years old, but enjoys practicing meditation.

"And it helps you get bigger and bigger and stronger," she said.

"And she loves it, I mean, she wants to do it every day. She wants to practice in the living room," said mom Peggy Angello. "When she gets upset about something...I love it when she practices her little breathing."

While meditation is a lot about disconnecting from all that technology, there are actually a lot of apps that can help you and your child start calming your minds.

The students said you just have to be open about it.

"The first time I thought it was like, not a boy thing. But then my mom told me football players do it, so then I got all into it and I said I want to do real good," said 7-year-old Max Zarba.

The instructors said if you find it hard to meditate, there's no right or wrong way to do it, you can start with just sitting quietly for two minutes.