Detailed Course Report for December 2023 Children’s and Teen’s courses 

We had a wonderful children’s  and teen’s course. Six boys and two girls successfully completed the children’s course with three male servers and five female servers. There were four teen boys and three teens girls at the teen course and one male server and three female servers. The Dhamma received by the children and teens filled all the servers with joy in these two intimate courses. We told many stories including servers and children’s favorites including adapted Jataka tales (The Golden Deer, The Magic of Patience – The Monkey and the Buffalo), stories from the Buddha (The Buddha, The Angry Man and The Gift), and stories from the Book of Kindness (Matajuro and the Art of Attention). Stories helped teach the children metta, morality, mastery of the mind, and patience to name a few. The children and teens were very engaged. Again, the issue of Goenkaji’s accent came up (one of the children thought he was saying to focus on their bread not breath), whereas some children had no problem understanding his accent. Therefore, we did not have any discussion related to the stories, but focused our question and answer sessions on the instruction to make sure all children and teens understood what they were to be practicing, how to practice, and why they practice in this way. The children and teens were able to answer all the questions, where to be aware of the breath, what to do if the mind keeps wandering away or the five enemies that may come up, etc. – so we felt very good about their understanding of the practice.

Furthermore, both the children and teens were very serious when it came to the meditation. No one spoke during the meditation sessions or intentionally disturbed others, most children and teens kept their eyes closed, and the hall was very quiet. Sounds of loud planes and music came in occasionally, and multiple children mentioned it being difficult to focus when the sounds arose. Two children left early, the boy was happy to have made it through 3 sessions, and said it was more than he ever meditated but was too boring and hard to be in the room for that long. Language comprehension can be a huge barrier and a precursor for boredom, agitation and wanting to leave, despite having 1:1 check-in sessions with the children’s course teachers for these two children. The children’s course committee is considering brainstorming  on ways to explain the technique live to younger children who might have trouble understanding Goenkaji’s instructions. The little ones also seem distracted with the static in the audio recording.  It might be better also to include stories in the first half of the day for children to keep them engaged.

The interest in meditation can be seen by the teen’s questions and feedback. For the teens, note cards were provided for them to ask questions which are answered before the last session, the teen’s girls especially all wrote questions, and the questions showed their volition and inspiration:

“Can I meditate in any position? Or just sitting?”

“Can I meditate in any quiet space or just a space like this?”

“Can one meditate too much?”

“Can I meditate before I go to bed?”

And in the feedback when asked if they would recommend meditation to others, answers included:

“Yeah. Cause it’s cool.”

“Yes, because it helps your body and mind for your well-being.”

“Yes, because teenagers often need some way to be peaceful and positive. This helps.”

“I would recommend it to people who would take it seriously. Often, I notice people stop doing something if it doesn’t do something drastic for them immediately, and so I’m not sure they would actually use it well.”

“Yes, because even if you know the entire course’s content, you can still get something out of it, such as new techniques like I did.”

The greatest difficulty for the teens was posture, and for the children it was focus. For the teens the feedback forms included when asked about difficulties:

“Sitting in one posture for long”

“I found the positioning to be difficult.”

“I think it was sitting in the right positions. It hurt a lot but if i do it more, it’ll go away.”

“For me, it was maintaining my posture for 5-10min and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”

They were excited to know that any sitting posture upright was conducive to meditation when they got home. And that meditation could be done in many other postures as well outside of their 10 minute sittings.

Outside of the meditation hall children opened up with fun activities, comradery, and great food. Art activities included coloring in Mandalas and making friendship bracelets. Children were given a choice, and it was sweet to see the teen boys quietly filling out mandalas with markers in beautiful intricate designs. The children and teens also played outside with tennis balls, and soccer balls, and various games. After a discussion with the Children’s Course Committee we were less stringent on gender separation, and both in the teen’s and children’s course the girls also wanted to play “sports” with the boys. We carefully observed, but it went very nicely. We made sure the girls got to “get the ball” and had fun and whenever a child was about to do a put down, they were redirected to a positive comment. They understood the new way of playing quite quickly  and were able to talk kindly to each other and congratulate each other while playing slightly competitive games and putting in their all. No child felt left out to our knowledge, and they all made friends. No type of flirting or negative dynamics were observed between genders, but for larger courses this might be more difficult to observe and manage if anything comes up. Children and teens still ate with separate genders, and were  separated in the dhamma hall. The children’s course was full of the buzz of chatter between sittings, but the teens course was quite quiet between sittings, unless they were doing activities outside, with teens quietly discussing with each other or focusing on art. The children enjoyed homemade Mexican food, while the teens enjoyed pizza, and both enjoyed many snacks of hummus and veggies (one child said wow I have not eaten vegetables in a very long time), peanut butter metta balls, etc. In the teen’s course especially, they came in shy, many looking shut down or somber; all teens came out with eyes glowing and very happy, which was heartening to see such a quick change with just a day of Dhamma.

About half the children and teens came from Orlando, and one old student’s parent is wanting to organize a course there where he says there might be be hundreds of interested families in his Indian community. Many of the servers expressed interest and inspiration in going to Orlando together for the next course.

PS: The full feedback for teens course is below.

Tell us about your course experience. Was it beneficial ?

Yeah I’ll start meditating more now

Yes, it was. It helped me calm my mind.

Yes. I liked having a memory refresher on the course, and it motivated me to get back into meditation.

Yes, I enjoyed it. I meditate a lot, but this was more specific and direct. It felt really genuine and not plasticky ( I don’t know how else to describe it ).

Yes, I felt it was beneficial because I learnt some new techniques.

What was the most inspiring or rewarding part of your experience?

To meditate.

Meeting all of the new people and teachers.

Being able to focus on my breath consistently. It felt good being able to focus all my energy on something peaceful.

I really enjoyed the stories. I thought they helped me connect a lot.

Learning from Goenkaji was an experience itself and I’m grateful I heard his voice and ideas.

What did you find most difficult about the course?

Posture.

Sitting in one posture for long.

I found the positioning to be difficult.

I think it was sitting in the right positions. It hurt a lot, but if i do it more it’ll go away.

For me, it was maintaining my posture for 5-10min and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

How would you explain Anapana and Metta to a friend?

Focusing on breathing.

Anapana would be a calm friend, and Metta is a friend that teaches you kindness.

Anapana : Meditation by focusing on the breath. Metta : Meditating on well wishes for yourself and others.

I would say that Anapana is focusing on the breath and re-focusing when you stop being focused. Metta is wishing happiness and peace on yourself and the world around you.

Anapana is the awareness of the natural breath and being consistent. Metta is the way to show loving kindness to yourself and others.

How do you think you’ll be able to use your meditation of Anapana you’ve learned here in your everyday life?

Meditating.

After a long day at school or a tiring day after my practice.

I will do 10 min in the afternoon and evening and when i have time.

I get anxious a lot, especially before tests, so it would be useful then. Also, when I get aggravated.

Now that I know I can use it in whatever position or time of the day, I’ll be using it for homework and training.

Where in your home do you think you could do this meditation? Is there a special room in your home or a place in your bedroom where you would want to create a meditation space for yourself?

My room.

My room – there is a small space in my bedroom where I can meditate.

In my bedroom, on the floor.

I have a comfy chair at both of my houses that I could use. Or the backyard.

I already have a meditation chair in my room where I do daily.

Would you recommend this course to other teens ? Why ?

Yeah. Cause it’s cool.

Yes, because it helps your body and mind for your well-being.

Yes , because teenagers often need some way to be peaceful and positive. This helps.

I would recommend it to people who would take it seriously. Often, I notice people stop doing something if it doesn’t do something drastic for them immediately, and so I’m not sure they would actually use it well.

Yes, because even if you know the entire course’s content, you can still get something out of it, such as new techniques like I did.

2024’s Children and Teen’s courses will be held June 21-22 and June 22-23 at Dhamma Patapa.