Visit to Rougemont School, Newport, May 8th 2009

In May six people from the Newport & Cardiff Centres were involved in a visit to Rougemont School, Newport, Wales, UK.

We were there, at the schools' request, to introduce the pupils to the simple, natural experience of meditation. There were 3 groups of approximately 16 children, each session lasting for about one hour. The sessions were guided by one of the meditators who had been instrumental in devising a very open, relaxed programme that seemed to create a lot of spiritual space. The children were quickly at their ease as we spoke to them about the benefits of meditation in everyday life and how the mind as well as the body needed to be cleaned of thought pollution. Three other meditators, each taking one class, demonstrated how to calm the mind and the body using our connection with nature through a gentle guided visualisation of a journey into the countryside. The feedback from children and their teacher was extremely positive and interesting. Their questions and comments demonstrated their acceptance and willingness to participate in this activity.

The children were then told a very appropriate, thought-provoking story to which, again, there were good responses. During the feedback the reader made sure that none of the children were made to feel that they had given any wrong responses.........each to his or her own experience.

The children were then taken a little deeper into the subject, using a picture of the aura colours and simply worded examples, we talked about how our thoughts affect our aura and how we unconsciously sense through the aura whether things are good or not good for us. The children were asked to close their eyes, with their palms face up on their laps, and relax again in readiness to experience their inner colours. This time another meditator guided them up through the colours from the red base chakra to the golden crown chakra, where they were asked to rest their attention for a little while. (We didn't actually use the word 'chakra', but hope to introduce this and more understanding about Samarpan meditation in subsequent visits).

In the 5 minutes of 'quiet time' that followed, whilst the meditators chanted the mantra silently, almost all the children seemed to go deep inside themselves. The energy was strong and pure but very gentle.

We were astonished by some of the comments that were made when they returned to normal consciousness. Many of the children seemed to demonstrate an innate ability to 'see' their colours and one even made comments relating to emotional connections to the colours. One little boy said that each time a thought crept in to his head, the indigo colour "came and rubbed it out "! A useful tool for others to employ maybe! Even though we had not, on this occasion, openly taught them the mantra several children felt a cool ‘wind’ on their palms and one little girl felt something moving up her spine.

The teachers were very positive in their comments too. They actually participated in all the activities and even sat on the floor with their pupils. They, like the children, said they would like us to return at a later date to take them further in their experience and understanding of meditation.

At the end of each session the children were given a handout to take away with them with a word game involving words related to things we had talked about, and a grid of 45 days where they could write a comment after each days meditation, should they choose to continue.

We all felt privileged and very happy to have been a part of this event. We were very aware of the abundant flow of energy through Swamiji and feel blessed that we were able to be involved in this wonderful Guru’s work.

Jane Watkins, Newport, Wales (UK)