Mindfulness, meditation, relaxation and stress reduction with the OTvest
How the OTvest™ can Promote Mindfulness, Meditation, and Relaxation...Reducing Anxiety and Stress
Across the country, schools are exploring alternatives to traditional discipline. Districts such as Oakland Public Schools in California and Baltimore City Schools in Maryland have begun incorporating mindfulness and meditation practices in place of detention to help students regulate emotions and behavior.
While these approaches are highly effective for many students, some children struggle to benefit from mindfulness practices due to neurological or psychological challenges such as sensory processing disorders or attention deficit disorders (ADD/ADHD). These students may experience:
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Overreaction to loud noises.
The OTvest helps calm in an over-stimulating world -
Difficulty with handwriting or fine motor tasks
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Excessive or insufficient movement
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Heightened anxiety, agitation, or poor attention-to-task
For students or individuals who have difficulty self-regulating, being asked to “sit still,” meditate, or focus inward can feel overwhelming rather than calming. As a result, they are often viewed as candidates for medication rather than meditation.
Video of real life use of the OTvest to increase function
How Can We Help These Students and Others Relax and Focus?
With the OTvest™ sensory, deep pressure weighted vest
The OTvest™ is a denim, weighted vest designed as a natural, non-invasive classroom intervention for individuals with ADD, ADHD, or sensory processing challenges. For students and others who experience sensory overload, the OTvest™ provides the foundational support needed to successfully engage in mindfulness and meditation practices.
Deep Pressure Therapy and Mindfulness
The OTvest™ supplies deep pressure therapy, a form of sensory input that has been shown to promote calmness and improved attention. Deep pressure stimulation helps support the nervous system by encouraging the production of calming neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, which can reduce anxiety and improve emotional regulation.
By helping the body feel calm and grounded, the OTvest™ allows students to more easily access mindfulness and meditation techniques—rather than struggling against internal restlessness or sensory overload.
Who Can Benefit?
Although the OTvest™ is especially helpful for students with sensory or attention difficulties, it can benefit anyone who:
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Struggles to unwind from an overstimulating environment
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Experiences anxiety or agitation
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Has difficulty focusing during meditation or mindfulness exercises
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Needs additional sensory support to feel calm and centered
Deep pressure therapy offers that extra layer of support, enabling individuals to fully participate in mindfulness programs and experience greater success at school or work—often leading to increased confidence and self-esteem.
Why Deep Pressure Works
Deep touch pressure is the type of firm, evenly distributed pressure experienced during hugging, swaddling, or petting an animal. In contrast, light touch (such as tickling or brushing the skin) can be alerting or even irritating.
Research and clinical observations have consistently shown that:
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Light touch activates the nervous system
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Deep pressure calms and organizes it
As Temple Grandin (1992)¹ famously observed, just as a cow may react to the tickle of a fly but relax under the firm hands of a farmer, humans often respond to deep pressure with a sense of calm and security.
The OTvest™ weighted vest can be used as a supportive tool for anyone interested in meditation and mindfulness who may struggle to release daily stress, manage overstimulating environments, or regulate feelings of anxiety or agitation. By providing calming deep pressure therapy, the OTvest™ helps individuals feel more grounded and focused, allowing them to more fully engage in mindfulness and meditation practices. This added sensory support can lead to greater success at school or work—and foster increased confidence and self-esteem.
How the OTvest™ Delivers Deep Pressure
The OTvest™ uses patented, concealed steel weights that are flat, dense, and evenly distributed across the upper trunk. These weights are stitched securely into an internal insert, providing consistent deep pressure directly to the body without bulk or discomfort.
Because the OTvest™ looks like everyday clothing—not medical equipment—it can be worn discreetly and independently throughout the day.
Practical and Flexible Support
The OTvest™ allows calming deep pressure to be delivered:
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As needed throughout the school or workday
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Without assistance from another person
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In classrooms, homes, or community settings
It can also be used before mindfulness or meditation sessions, either alone or in combination with sensory tools such as rocking chairs, movement cushions, or swings, to help lower arousal levels and prepare the body for focus and relaxation.
→ORDER THE OTvest to feel the calming difference by CLICKING HERE.
Creating the Effective Weight Placement in the Patented OTvest™
The creator of the OTvest™, N. VandenBerg, MS, OTR, conducted and published a landmark research study in collaboration with the Plainwell Public School District and Western Michigan University. The study measured differences in students’ attention during classroom activities with and without a weighted deep pressure vest, comparing on-task behavior when weights were positioned directly on the body versus no weighted input.
Results showed that students with ADHD demonstrated a 19–25% increase in attention while wearing a weighted, deep pressure vest, with a 95% probability that the improvement was directly attributable to the weighted vest rather than chance. At the time, the study was inspired by the growing concern that 1 in 10 students in an elementary school building was being prescribed attention-related medication, prompting exploration of effective, non-pharmacological interventions.
The findings were published in _The American Journal of Occupational Therapy_², providing early research-based evidence supporting the use of weighted vests to improve attention-to-task in the classroom. This research is linked here.
Building on these results, Ms. VandenBerg went on to design an improved weighted vest that optimized deep pressure input by positioning the weights more precisely across the upper trunk and body core. This innovation led to the development and patenting of the OTvest™, a vest specifically engineered to maximize the calming and focusing benefits of deep pressure therapy while remaining comfortable, discreet, and practical for daily use.
Persons putting the OTvest™ on for the first time almost always spontaneously say, "It feels good!"
When we Feel Good, we Do Better--and the difference is the weight placement in the OTvest™ weighted vest.
→ORDER THE OTvest to feel the calming difference by CLICKING HERE.
References:
¹Grandin, T. (1992). Calming effects of deep touch pressure in patients with autistic disorder, college students, and animals, Journal of Child And Adolescent Psychopharmacology, Vol. 2, no. 1.
²VandenBerg, N. (2001). The use of weighted vests to increase on-task behavior in children with attention difficulties, American Journal of Occupational Therapy, Vol. 55, 621-628. doi:10.5014/ajot.55.6.621
³VandenBerg, N., The use of weighted vests to increase on-task behavior in children with attention difficulties, Pediatric Issues in Occupational Therapy: A Compendium of Leading Scholarship (Royeen, 2004) published by AOTA, Chapter 25.