(This photo came up on Tara Brach’s Insta page this morning. May the photographer and subject enjoy the love and appreciation that we experience by sharing this image.)
The Dalai Lama once said that “If every 8-year-old in the world is taught meditation, we will eliminate violence from the world within one generation.”
This quote appeared in my social media thread this morning. It seems it had gone viral several years ago and just today came to my consciousness. Serendipity? What is the message I am to get from this? Did the Dalai Lama really say this? When? Where?
Anyway, it reminded me of a fundamental goal of Mindful Youth Mindful Future: teaching youth mindful meditation and compassionate awareness are ways to encourage a kinder future. I’ve had this idea for a while when contemplating future endeavors in mindfulness. I’m curious whether teaching mindfulness-based calming practices would be a way to avoid school shootings in the future. What if one would-be gunner had learned mindfulness meditation, and if that child used meditation instead of guns to deal with stress, how many young lives would be saved?
How old is “old enough” to teach children mindfulness, meditation, contemplation of self in the moment? Surely, the very young can sit and color a mandala, walk a labyrinth and follow a finger labyrinth. Eventually, each child could learn to focus on breath, bodily sensations, internal feelings.
Article on teaching youth meditation from HuffPost
One million youth meditating for world peace in Thailand from https://www.enlightened-consciousness.com
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