Finding Her Worth

Connie Clotworthy Brings Meditation to the Classroom Through Worthy Beyond Purpose

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

After receiving the gift of meditation, Connie Clotworthy knew immediately she wanted to share it with as wide an audience as possible.

This led to the creation of Worthy Beyond Purpose, a nonprofit that brings mindfulness and meditation into schools in Los Angeles, with Marquez Knolls resident Andi Wagner on its board of directors.

“There was a time in my life when I started to really dive into meditation,” Clotworthy described. “It just started to enhance everything in my life, everything just started to get a little bit better—and some things got really good.”

Wagner got into Transcendental Meditation about eight years ago, leading her to an even deeper journey into meditation over the past three years, which is eventually how she met Clotworthy in October 2023.

When Clotworthy was introduced to meditation, she said she was taught how to be still, to connect to her breath and find her heart, leading to a wholeness inside: “The term I like to use is the chains came off. There was a wholeness and fullness to where I didn’t need anything out here to fix me.”

Prior to founding and leading Worthy Beyond Purpose, Clotworthy spent more than two decades in the restaurant and bar business. In 2016, she got sober, which she said shifted her perspective on where she wanted to be working.

Around this time, Clotworthy was looking for ways to share the “amazing gift” of meditation when her brother invited her to Jamaica to volunteer at a kids’ camp with him, helping with activities like arts and crafts.

During lunch one day at the camp, Clotworthy was doing her meditation practice when one of the campers approached her and asked what she was doing. After explaining that she was meditating, the kid asked Clotworthy to show her how.

“I just did this little playful guided five-minute meditation with her, and I watched this shift happen,” Clotworthy said. “I watched this rambunctious kid run to me, find her place, and I watched this dropping down. When I brought her out of it, she slowly opened her eyes and said, ‘Whoa, I want to do that again some time.’”

Clotworthy said after that moment of working with the camper, she realized she was meant to be working with kids, teaching them about meditation. She returned from Jamaica and said she felt like she was “on fire.”

“It was a time in our society where there was school shooting after school shooting … it was like one after the other,” Clotworthy said.

After reading about an idea to arm teachers, Clotworthy took to Facebook to post about arming students with “the tools they need to manage their emotions” instead. That led to the creation of a group of four people who got together each week.

“We talked about our practices, what works for us and how we can make that kid friendly,” Clotworthy described. “We started to reach out everywhere—to schools, after-school programs, YMCA, Boys & Girls clubs … ”

A lot of places said they did not have the time or money to bring a program of that nature in, so at first, Worthy Beyond Purpose visits began on a volunteer basis. Over time, they learned what worked and what didn’t, leading to crafting a 10-month curriculum, including things like mindfulness basics, gratitude and kindness—and their first third-grade class in 2019.

Clotworthy shared a quote attributed to the Dalai Lama: “If every 8-year-old in the world is taught meditation, we will eliminate violence from the world in one generation.”

“This is one of the reasons why we began our teaching with third-graders (8-year-olds) but we have since grown and now our weekly curriculum teaches kindergarten through fifth grade,” Clotworthy said.

Shortly after, the COVID-19 pandemic closed school campuses, with Worthy Beyond Purpose shifting to online, where kids from LA joined, but also joined from as far away as Jamaica and London.

“It was just a space where kids could come together and see each other, and relate to one another and talk about their fears, their anxieties, their worries, what’s going on,” Clotworthy explained. “This is where I started to see impact happen super quick.”

After campuses reopened, there was more interest in bringing Worthy Beyond Purpose into the classroom, but most schools did not have it in their budget. So Clotworthy began fundraising, raising $77,000, which allowed seven schools to receive free programming.

Heading into the next academic year, Worthy Beyond Purpose is currently working with eight schools serving 1,500 students, which is covered through a mix of the schools paying and fundraised money. The program’s latest fundraising effort—Pack the Schools with Mindfulness—is currently underway.

Worthy Beyond Purpose also hosts quarterly fundraising breathwork and sound bath events that are geared toward adults. Clotworthy offers free adult meditation via Zoom on Wednesdays at 10 a.m.

Wagner and Clotworthy met at one of these fundraising events, with Wagner sharing that Worthy Beyond Purpose’s efforts “tugged” at her heartstrings.

“I said, ‘What can I do?’” Wagner recalled.

She went up to Clotworthy after the event, telling her she’d donate and also help in any way that she could. They met the next day and “hit it off.” She asked Wagner to be part of the board of directors.

Wagner described it as “kismet,” adding that the “universe connects people at the right time in the right places.” Now, Wagner helps spread the message of Worthy Beyond Purpose to create “synergistic relationships between community and other businesses in the neighborhood.” She also helps with fundraising efforts and accompanies Clotworthy to schools.

“This whole thing has been like I’ve been led to just show up, and do the work and let go of the results, and let it take care of itself,” Clotworthy said, “and it’s just transformed and blossomed into this beautiful thing.”

For more information, including a link to donate or sign up for the email list, which includes future fundraisers and events, visit worthybeyondpurpose.org.