Using peace to promote learning.
In
the Times Education Supplement dated 31/01/03 is an article on the Maharishi
school in Lathom, Lancashire where pupils meditate twice a day to experience
the sense of ‘restful alertness’.
Meditation was introduced to improve
learning and supporters claim that this practice has helped to reduce stress
and encourage inner strength, which leads to greater clarity, creativity and
calmness among pupils.
The headteacher, Derek Cassell, says
that the benefits are huge in terms of improved learning, behaviour, and atmosphere
in the school. The school is now ranked 12th out of all independent
schools in the UK.
Why
this improvement?
Well, meditation is a combination
of relaxation, focus, time management and positive thinking. It is not complicated.
It is simply a means of teaching our mind to think the right way.
Meditation is mental relaxation.
In the case of the Maharishi school, the daily 20-minute sessions of silence
help to slow down the pace of thoughts. Time is used to reflect rather than
react to maintain a relaxed mind. A relaxed mind is a focused mind.
Meditation is time management where
the pupils focus on the present rather than re-live past incidents or dream
of future events. This is a wonderful technique that we have to be free from
stress.
But the school’s improved ranking
is not just due to the daily 20 minutes of meditation. A certain type of positive
knowledge that will lead to self-realisation of our relationships and ourselves
is needed to enable us to attain peace of mind and experience constant happiness.
Knowledge creates the self-realisation
to make those changes required for our personal peace of mind and happiness.
Success is achieved only when every
task is performed with our power of thought, or rather, positive thinking.
In positive thinking, we weed out
negative thoughts that create anxiety, confusion, worry and doubts to mention
some of the more obvious consequences of negative thinking which are predominant
in our daily lives.