Do you have any resources for school teachers?
MITRA is a programme to promote mental well-being in school children. It is widely used in state schools in India. Mitra stands for Mind in Training for Right Awareness, and is also the Hindi word for “friend.”
Right Awareness, which is the essence of Mitra, is the awareness of the natural breath. The participants learn to observe the incoming breath and outgoing breath by focusing their attention at the entrance of their nostrils. They simply observe their natural breath without trying to change or correct the flow of the breath. In this way, they experience the beginning steps of self-awareness. This technique of breath observation is known as Anapana, where “ana” means incoming and “apana” means outgoing breath.
Mitra provides an education which leads to freedom from various mental barriers like anxiety, anger, hatred, lack of concentration, doubts, laziness, greed and restlessness. The format is an initial training of 60 minutes (plus 15 minutes for introduction and closing), then 10 minutes daily at the start and end of school.
With regular practice, school children can achieve enhanced concentration, memory, self-confidence, productivity and effectiveness, and they are also able to experience goodwill for others.
Requirements to run a session
Mitra sessions can be requested by any schoolteacher or youth worker who has successfully completed at least one 10-day course of Vipassana meditation as taught by S. N. Goenka, and meets the requirements to serve. This means that they will not have practised any other meditation technique since their most recent Vipassana course, that they are trying to maintain their daily meditation practice, and that they are seriously trying to observe the five precepts in their daily lives. The first one or two sessions will be conducted by a Children’s Course Teacher, and then, by mutual agreement, the applicant can continue to conduct the sessions themselves.
For further information, or to request a Mitra session, write to [email protected].
Can I bring my class to the meditation centre for the day, or run a 1-day course at the school where I work?
Courses for school children usually start with a meditator who teaches at a school. Following the course, the children are given the opportunity to continue their practice at school, for instance 10 minutes every lunchtime. Many notice tangible benefits in their everyday lives, from improved relations with their families to better concentration in class. Parents also comment on the positive effects on their children.
Schools can also bring their children to the meditation centre for the day. Teachers and teaching assistants accompany the children in a pastoral role and work alongside volunteers from the centre.
The technique is an instrument for change in behaviour, outlook and well-being, and can complement and enhance initiatives like Values Education to help improve the general ethos and atmosphere of a school, project or centre.
The Children’s Course Committee, which oversees the running of Anapana courses, is keen to support schools and other organisations working with children and teenagers (aged 8 to 18 years old) in running these courses, either at Dhamma Mahī, at Dhamma Sūriyārāma, or at their own premises in their local area.
The film A Time To Breathe offers an insight into the benefits of meditation for school children from the perspective of parents, teachers and the children themselves (see the link).