Post-war energy transformation

It’s been a few weeks after our intense 3-day “Black Belt” Operation.
The first week offered up a huge challenge to come back to mindfulness.

From being inundated with 90 rockets in our small immediate area, we were suddenly expected to be calm and ready to resume a more usual sense of  constant alert. How might the 12 year olds react to being invited to lie still and scan their bodies in a state of rest? That first week I discovered that it was to be almost impossible.

The normally pleasant suggestion was acceptable intellectually. The kids agreed to get comfortable and agreed to having lights out, but allowing themselves to be still was a completely separate set of commands that they found beyond their abilities. Any bustle, rustle or hiccup set off nervous energy. The line between one person’s space and another’s was blurred into nonexistence.

Over the week, each class had reacted a little differently, depending on the children present in the room, the time of day and the degree of dissonance or frustration experienced till that point.  I found sessions welcomed as a break from normal school, but that the “welcome” manifested either as a wish to nap or as a giggling roller coaster ride.

I used bean bags to offer outlets for energy – whether as tactile aids for breathing meditation or as tools for creating exercises for mimicking.

In general, my task was to hold some form of structure to offer a safe framework for energies that needed to be expressed.

The second week after the war was a little different. The first classes were quite hyperactive – engaging in jokes that placed me in a position of needing to step aside. I suddenly experienced my own PTSD in the form of a stone within my chest. I felt a contraction and needed to step aside mentally in order to observe myself.

I sat there silently for 10 minutes, while the pupils slowly noticed and tried to hush themselves into readiness to learn.

Eventually I asked in teacher-like fashion if they valued the lessons. They said yes, so I asked why.

One girl spoke of how they helped her learn how to relax, how to calm herself. Another said they helped her be quiet inside when things were hard in her environment.

More of the same and I knew that they knew the right answers. Therefore, with a little lighter feeling, I guided them through the qigong exercise called “Shake the tree” in which limbs are shook, chest and back shake, head shakes and then slowly we come back to standing still to notice our sensations. We took 3 breaths, ending with a serious self-hug and a verbal reassurance “There’s nobody like me”.  Slow disengagement from the hug and then we bid ourselves goodbye.

To end with self-love is to end well. I felt better. They felt better as life, whatever that may be, invited them to collect their backpacks, put on their shoes and exit from our room.

May we be safe.

Second Semester, 2nd Meeting

We meet on Thursdays, the end of the school week, a wonderful time for 9th graders to ponder their week and to clear their heads.

This new group is still evolving; out of the original 15 pupils, one girl left, another boy arrived. There was a scurrying for bean bag chairs as each found a comfortable place in the circle.

After reviewing the rules of the sessions, we practiced Take Five, a short 5 breath meditation, a basic tool for pupils to use in their daily lives.
We took stock of how we felt, how our past week was and 
then checked our current level of attention to our surroundings. With closed eyes, what colour was the door to the room, colour of my shirt, colour of their cushions, colour eyes of the person beside them.

We watched a short clip of surfers surfing huge waves, spilling, and trying again. Jon Kabat-Zinn’s quote: “You can’t control the waves, but you can learn how to surf.”

We had our first official teabreak: Green tea with lemon grass.

The Chinese teapot on the white background

We spoke of how during these sessions, unlike any other lessons in school, we were offering ourselves the chance to get to know what’s going on inside ourselves. Our chance to pay attention to our thoughts, feelings, sensations.
They each found a comfortable position and I led them through a body scan. To revive ourselves, to get ready for transitioning to life outside the meditation zone, we did some qigong exercises, and finished with a dry shower to tap our energy back into place.

A What’s App group was created, meant for respectful messages such as reminders of homework (doing Take Five for example).
We parted, they thanked me saying they really enjoyed the session.
This I was happy to hear, since as a new group, they are just beginning to learn to speak only when holding the talking piece, how to allow themselves to be still, not to interrupt someone else.

This week, our area near the Gaza border underwent the noise of rocketfall and counterattacks. I sent instructions for Take Five to the kids via What’sApp.

One student thanked me and said it helped. Others sent messages of giggles and making fun. After observing that trend, I closed the option of their sending messages in our group. (They have alternate ways to communicate).

The next day, I gave them authorization to message the group, but so far, no one’s used the option!

Quiet and peaceful somewhere, at least!
This week, we’re continuing the theme of listening to one another. Slowly, the group will become cohesive, in its own way, in its own time. Fascinating process!