The adults in the Zen commune I grew up in for a time may have been nutty, but they were brilliant in their approaches to teaching the children of the commune about meditation. There was nothing systematic or planned about how kids got lessons in mindfulness. Yet, all of us commune kids by the age of seven could meditate for a half hour, knew Japanese chants, zendo etiquette, and could do a full form from tai chi chuan—and even saw all of it as fun, as a game. I have organized these informal … [Read more...]
Mindfulness for Children
At what ages developmentally can kids meditate? I will be very honest with you and tell you, I don’t have a clue, but as far as I can tell, nobody else does either. I look forward to the day when some of the research scientists I work with figure this out. I am very interested in this intellectually, but what I am more interested in is teaching children how to approach experience with an open mind, with an open heart. Which brings me to the Quaker Oats box, how we start most of our new … [Read more...]
Teaching Mindfulness to Children
Christopher Willard, PsyD. taught "Child's Mind: Professional Training for Mindfulness With Young People" at BCBS April 20-22, 2012. He is a psychologist and learning specialist at Tufts University and in private practice in the Boston area. He is the author of Child’s Mind, Mindfulness Practices to Help Our Children Be More Focused, Calm and Relaxed, and is working on a series of follow-up workbooks for teens that he teaches nationally and internationally. He currently serves on the Board of … [Read more...]
Insight is Liberating Only If It is Lived
How did you first become interested in Buddhist practices? I first began my practice in the Tibetan sedition in 1970. By a strange set of circumstances I ended up in India at 17. Totally culture shocked, I sat in a dingy hotel room in old Delhi and wondered how quickly I could get out of India. An old India hand advised me to head for the mountains to recover before I fled. Arriving in McLeod Ganj, the home of the Dalai Lama and a large settlement of Tibetan refugees. I was stunned by the … [Read more...]