Schools and Teachers

   

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MITRA is a programme to promote mental well-being in school children. It is widely used in state schools in India. Mitra stands for Mind in Training for Right Awareness, and is also the Hindi word for “friend.”

Right Awareness, which is the essence of Mitra, is the awareness of the natural breath. The participants learn to observe the incoming breath and outgoing breath by focusing their attention at the entrance of their nostrils. They simply observe their natural breath without trying to change or correct the flow of the breath. In this way, they experience the beginning steps of self-awareness. This technique of breath observation is known as Anapana, where “Ana” means incoming and “Apana” means outgoing breath.

Mitra provides an education which leads to freedom from various mental barriers like anxiety, anger, hatred, lack of concentration, doubts, laziness, greed, restlessness etc. The format is an initial training of 60 minutes (plus 15 minutes for introduction and closing), then 10 minutes daily at the start and end of school.

With regular practice, the school children can achieve enhanced concentration, memory, self-confidence, productivity and effectiveness, and they are also able to experience goodwill for others.

Details of the programme in Ireland

It is provided under the guidance of the Irish Vipassana Trust. www.ie.dhamma.org which runs 10-day Vipassana meditation courses for adults, and 1 day Anapana courses for children, at rented facilities. It is for use with children from 8 years and older. Mitra Sessions can be requested by any schoolteacher or youth worker who has successfully completed at least one 10-day course of Vipassana Meditation, and meets the requirements to serve. This means that they will not have practised any other meditation technique since their most recent Vipassana course, that they are trying to maintain their daily meditation practice, and that they are seriously trying to observe the five precepts in their daily lives. The first one or two sessions will be conducted by a Children’s Course Teacher (CCT) and then – by mutual agreement - the applicant can continue to conduct the sessions themselves.

For further information or to request a Mitra Session contact Brendan Moher: [email protected]