Mindfulness Instruction for Children

Hi everyone!

I recently joined a group of MA education students who are teaching mindfulness to 5th graders in a Tel Aviv school. The professor of this course is also writing a research about it. The attempt is to help kids with learning disabilities and emotional difficulties by teaching them mindfulness techniques.
The MA students have learned different techniques of meditation in the Fall semester and also theories and researches about mindfulness in education, health, and other related areas. In the Spring semester they are engaging in practice, so they teach 5th graders through 8 meetings. The class is divided to groups of 2-4 kids, with one or two instructors. I am one of the instructors.

I can write and update here how is this project going.
We also met with the parents once and explained to them what we are doing.

Please write questions or comments!

Saturday class: The Healing Power of Loving-Kindness

The Healing Power of Loving-Kindness

with Tulku Thondup Rinpoche

Sat December 18th: 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM

All happiness in the world
Comes from wishing happiness for others.
All suffering in the world
Comes from the desire to have happiness only for oneself.

- Shantideva

Loving-kindness is the thought of wishing total happiness for others and putting that wish into practice. It is the thought of unconditioned, pure, and universal love towards all beings without attachment, self-centeredness, or expectation of rewards. Our mind has the power to generate love or hatred, inspire helpful or harmful actions, and enjoy joyful or painful experiences. Our mind has the power to ease all our pain and stress and to enjoy peace and happiness simply by loosening its tight grasping at mental objects.

The true nature of our mind is inherently peaceful and joyful. Once our mind is filled with love, whatever we say or do will be the expression of loving kindness. We will become a source of peace, joy and love for others. However, our mind is highly impressionable. We become what we see and think. If we meditate on the Buddha of Loving-Kindness, we turn into a person of Loving-Kindness.

In this workshop, we first visualize and pray to the Buddha of Loving-Kindness and Compassion (Avalokitesvara) and enjoy his blessing light of loving-kindness. As a result, thoughts and feelings of pure loving kindness - the pure qualities of our own mind - will be awakened in the depths of our heart. Then our mental, emotional, and physical energies spontaneously start blazing forth as the energy of pure love. Finally, whatever we see, hear, and feel will turn into the images, sounds, and experiences of unconditional love. Then our lives will become joyful lives of true loving-kindness - the source of peace and joy for many.

Tulku Thondup Rinpoche was born in Tibet and trained at the Dodrupchen Monastery. He moved to India in 1958 and came to the United States in 1980 as a visiting scholar at Harvard University. His many books on Tibetan Buddhism include The Healing Power of Loving Kindness, Boundless Healing, The Healing Power of Mind, Masters of Meditation and Miracles and Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth. Tulku Thondup teaches throughout the United States and Europe.

Dharma Friends of Israel: List of Links to Israeli Buddhist Groups

List of Links to Israeli Buddhist Groups

Friends of the Dharma- English site is more limited than the Hebrew one.

"If the Buddha Dated" by Charlotte Kasl

"If the Buddha Dated: A Handbook for Finding Love on a Spiritual Path" by Charlotte Kasl was given to me by a house-maid of a luxurious Southampton villa, who was inspired by Buddhism and thought I would like it. I do like it very much! I am grateful for receiving this gift from her.

Being on a spiritual path, for me, means being honest with myself and comitted to be as good as I can. To be "fully human being," as Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, my spiritual teacher, would say. So it is very interesting to explore this notion in two! How to be kind to myself by finding a partner who can be kind to himself (or herself), and how to cultivate a relationship that is deeply honest and kind.

To synchronize with our partner, it helps us if we are synchronize our own body and mind. To be authentic with our lover, we need to search for that authenticity within ourselves. And that means being brave to handle the ugly parts as well as to acknowledge the beautiful parts.

It also helps, as the book suggests and gives exercises, to know ourselves, and our values. What do we actually want, or need from a partner? What would we like to give? The clearer this is, the easier it is to see if it's a match between two people.

Ultimately, the spiritual relationship is deep, willing to cope with whatever arises, combines mind and body of the two lovers, and brings out the best of both.

What do you think or feel about this subject?

Charlotte Kasl Official Site

Buy the book on Amazon