What I taught 8-year-olds about Healing
As part of a reflective exercise, I came across the concept of the inner child. The belief, that a nurtured childhood could impede us from turning into complicated adults spoke deeply to me. Keeping this concept in mind, I decided to tread softly on the minds of young children. As an educator and Yoga teacher, I wished to introduce my students to the possible idea of healing.
Certain tools to help them swim through the waves and tides of human life.
Out of my 8-hour module, here are 4 perspectives that showed an endearing reaction.
Wellness through spaces
Research shows that our environment affects our stress levels, which in turn affects our physical well-being. On showing the children a series of decor photos, a unanimous agreement was reached on spaces that brought them peace. Well-lit clutter-free spaces, natural textures, and having spaces for specific activities worked for them. I also eased them around technical terms such as Biophilia, Fengshui, Wabi-Sabi that had the underlying objective of Harmony. I made them realize that spaces can be an extension of their personality and energy. The essence lay in the fact that each space can be different but have common elements that propagate peace, sustainability, and awareness. The idea was to differentiate spaces and see them as spaces of safety and growth.
Wellness as an emotion
With the overload of technology and information, there could be a need to understand the gift of pause. The idea of pausing through concepts such as Fika (break), lagom (Just the right amount) proved to be a possible blend of culture with mindfulness. The need to understand these pop culture references was welcomed with joy. For example, a pause through baking, with loved ones could be relished as a wellness Fika break. The idea was to make them familiar with words that connote soothing experiences of other cultures. Their favorite term was, Gezelligheid, a Dutch word that means cozy, time spent with loved ones, and general togetherness. Each of them hinted at a special person or a hobby that provided them with this sort of emotion.
Wellness through failure
As a program based on personality development and self-love, we worked on the idea of success and failure through action. In most of my workshops, I hoped to see and point out the difference in their idea of leadership, success through empathy and perspective. From extensive journal writing to debating, children constantly focussed on the idea of retrospection. A thread of entrepreneurship was concluded. Each of them believed that if they had to restart from tomorrow they would be able to do so through their skills. Failure, heartbreak, disappointments, and providing space to experience all of it were essential.
Wellness through spirituality
The beauty of practices such as Yoga and meditation is about the idea of sustaining resilience when things fall apart. It is about regularly weeding out the unnecessary before they overtake your garden of thought and nourishment. The idea is about wholesome existence, meditation helps to awaken the ‘unshakable freedom of being fully alive’. Whether it is through adopting the ayurvedic cycle of Dinacharya, opening stuck energy through Yoga, the option of believing the mind-body connect was open to them. This incorporation with concepts such as Wu Wei (effortless action), à l’écoute( to listen within) opened their mind to subtle concepts of holistic living. Their vision boards consisted of these tiny bits of knowledge that helped incorporate their goals with a twist of spirituality.
The journey through my workshops was about contacting and connecting the self to refresh without any labels. It remains a space where children who are on the threshold of becoming- mold, rewire, and most importantly feel liberated through the fluid process of healing.