In Meditation We Trust

Today was a special day for us. We came to Darpana for practice today. And as usual we get their about a half hour early so that we can do our group prayer, meditation and sharing before the teacher, Kishore Sir, gets their.

As we finish prayer and silence into meditation its always a unique experience. I lead our meditation by suggesting different things for the kids to do each time. Today I suggested, while all our eyes were closed, for all of us to take notice of any specific sound in the environment, whether it be in the room, outside, of nature or machine, anything. And try to keep your focus on that sound for the next minute or two. If your mind wanders away from that sound, no worries. Once you realize it has wandered just bring it back. Then we will share all our respective sounds that we connected with after meditation is complete.

But something was different this time. For the first time, over the many months that we have been doing prayer and meditation, I didn’t feel this internal tension that the kids are restless during meditation. For some reason or another, something in the air, felt like the kids were comfortable in this space of silence.

After meditation was complete and everyone shared their sounds, it just felt right to ask the kids about how they were feeling about meditation. From the many months which we have been religiously practicing, 2 times a day (before and after practice), 6 days a week, have they notice a difference in how they are feeling in this space of silence. The majority of the kids were excited to respond and really shared their comfort and joy in the meditation process. I really wanted to encourage it being okay, if someone was not comfortable and so finally Guddi responded saying that she feels really impatient still in the process. Then Krishna followed up saying that she used to feel really impatient and restless as well, but now doesn’t feel that way.

The question was asked (a question we have previously discussed in depth), ‘why do we do meditation’? To bring peace to our minds and our bodies. To train and exercise our minds. To take out bad thoughts. To quiet the mind and body that is constantly running all day. To just listen without judgement.

Bharat then shared how he just can not find a peace of mind. He said he has a lot of anger inside of him. We continued on a in-depth discussion, as a group, about Bharat’s anger and why it might be there, and what are some potential roads to easing that anger and bringing a little more positive energy and peace.

Its beautiful, that we were at dance class today, but that meditation felt like the more powerful experience of the day.

Love.

We've Got the Whole World in Our Hands

Today after dance practice we sat in a big circle. Within the circle, using chalk, we made a dot representing the Gandhi Ashram. Then a small circle around the dot representing Ahmedabad. Then a small awkard figure surrounding Ahmedabad suggesting Gujarat. Then India. Then Asia. Then Africa, Europe, North and South America, Australia, and Antarctica. What started out as a small dot, turned out to be a huge illustration of Planet Earth, that covered the entire room.

This was the kids' first lesson in understanding the world a little better.

"Can anyone name another country, other than India?"

“London!”

“No, that’s a city.”

“Rajasthan!”

“No, that’s a state in India.”

“Africa!.”

“No, that’s a continent.”

Okay, so we have some learning to do.

Does anyone have any ideas as to how many countries, just like India, there are in the world?

“9”?

“26!”

Okay, so we have some learning to do.

Sure, obviously the kids are not clear as to how the world works and what lies beyond Ahmedabad, Gujarat and India. But they were quick to grasp, the big chalk map we drew on the ground and started pouring out questions as we discussed the continents and the make up of the world.

“This world, umm…how did it come about?”

“How do you get from India to Australia?”

“Are there similar animals in Asia as there are in America?”

The kids loved the discussion and are excited to learn more about the world. We ended up doing our prayer and snacks on the illustration of the globe. The funny joke the kids started was passing the milk to Vicky, who was sitting on the illustration of Antartica. They were asking him if he can take our milk and turn it into ice cream. He was getting so many requests, he said, while sitting on Antartica, that maybe he should start an ice cream business here. J