The program organized by Ms Nanda Dissanayake was conducted by the Sati Pasala facilitators for 70 students, 12 teachers and 35 parents.
The program commenced at 08:00 o’clock with the children making a welcome speech, both in Sinhala and English. This was followed by a little drama based on the Tortoise who was clever enough to recede into his shell in the face of danger. The students then recited a few ‘kavi’ that they had written specially for the occasion, with mindfulness as the theme.
Parallel to these activates a session on mindfulness was conducted for grade 9 students, teachers and parents using simple, clear instructions with well supported audio visuals. The group also had an opportunity of practicing guided mindful sitting and walking.
A new segment on first aid was introduced by a medical doctor to add further interest to this program.
The younger children participated in a variety of activities ranging from yoga to mindful games. All these activities gave a powerful message in equipping the children with some very useful ‘tools’- to look within, to calm down and in general to be mindful in diverse situations.
The most valuable message communicated was that everyone needed to slow down a little bit in their day to day activities, applying SMS (Slowly, Mindfully, Silently). It was further emphasized that the true benefit of mindfulness could be reaped only by regular practice.
After every activity there was a discussion where the children had an opportunity to express how they felt before, during and after each activity.
In general the common factor in their feedback was that they all had felt relaxed and calm throughout these sessions & that they were the ‘richer’ for this experience. The expressed their gratitude to everyone responsible for giving this rare ‘gift’ to them.
The parents and teachers were also very happy with the program and discussed further as to how they could implement ‘Mindfulness’ on an ongoing basis.