Meditation at Home

Introduction (5 minutes)

• Welcome the participants
• Introduce yourself and the Ideas Box project (give your name, say that you work for the Ideas Box, explain that the Ideas Box is a center that implements activities for the community to improve their access to knowledge and information).
• Ask them to introduce themselves (name and how they feel today)
• Introduce the activity: today we are going to learn about meditation and how we can practice at home

Ice-breaking game (10 minutes)

• Make room so there is space for all participants to walk around safely without bumping into anything.
• Instruct participants to walk in the space. The participants must not run or touch each other. When the facilitator claps their hands, the participants must stop. The facilitator will clap twice to indicate that walking can start again.
• After two minutes of walk and stop, give some new instructions to the participants. The facilitator will say “now the floor is like …” and participants should demonstrate the emotions and movements they would exhibit if that was real. For example, in reaction to: “now the floor is filled with glue”, participants should walk as if they were in a pot of glue.
• Try to change the environment to allow participants to explore different emotions like: “Now the floor is: hot sand, thorns, flowers, chocolate, sliding, burning, sharping…”. The facilitator can create new ideas. Keep doing it for five minutes, and change regularly the type of floor so the participants can express a large range of emotions.

Main activity (70 minutes)

Part 1: Understanding what is meditation and its importance in our everyday lives (15 minutes)

• Sit in a circle with the participants
• Try to get their understanding of meditation. Ask the following question: “Do you think there is a side to health linked to the mind?”

Listen to the answers and explain: When we are constantly under stress, it affects our mind and body. Stress is the pressure or the worry caused by our own everyday life problems. As an example, losing our job can be a cause of stress. Stress quickens our heart rate and breathing and increases blood pressure. We can lose our appetite and also, cannot sleep well. In this way, the restlessness that started from our minds negatively impacts our overall health.

• Explain the concept of Meditation: The act of giving your attention to only one thing which leads to an improved sense of presence, calm, attentiveness, and an increase in valued human qualities such as empathy and patience. A lot of things in life are beyond our control, but it is quite possible to have greater control over our actions and how we respond to the situations we find ourselves in. To do this, we need to cultivate awareness of how the mind works and the ability to maintain focus. In this case, nothing cultivates awareness better than meditation does.
• Explain to the participants the following story, to help them to better understand what meditation is:

Ali is stuck under a small waterfall. He cannot hear or see anything, because of the noise and pressure of the water. Ali is lost. What is the solution to escape from the water stream? If he stepped away from the waterfall, he would have a better view of the waterfall and would realize the beauty of the landscape, and could enjoy the noise of the water falling. To meditate, you need to step away from the flow of your thoughts.

• Explain what are the benefits of Meditation:

Improves the mood

Meditation stimulates various brain cells, which is likely to leave us feeling more relaxed and less anxious. This stress relief helps us to feel lighter and happier. We may also feel better about our appearance as we feel more physically and mentally fit. This can boost our confidence and improve our self-esteem.

Boosts our concentration

Regular meditation is likely to improve our concentration. Meditation teaches us how to focus on one thing at a time. This practice helps us to be more stable with high endurance level.

Ensures Better Sleep

Regular meditation can help us fall asleep faster, get better sleep and deepen our sleep. As we start to have a positive outlook, stress and worries do not bother us much which helps us to have a sound sleep.

Part 2: Mediation exercises (40 minutes)

Exercise 1 (15 minutes)

· Show the “Kids Meditation – Theme: Candle of Concentration” video from the folder “Yoga for women and children (Burmese & English)” of the Ideas Cube

· Ask everyone to do it following the instructions. Translate the video by taking pauses.

· After watching the video, explain how they can do similar meditation exercises at home without the video. As no other material/tool was used for doing simple meditation like this, they can easily do it at home.

Exercise 2 (10 minutes)

Now explain to the participants that they will learn a technique of self-massage. As a facilitator, you are guiding them so keep demonstrating the movement on yourself. Here are the steps to follow:

• Start by tapping your finger like raindrops on your head from front to back, then do it on your face
• Massage your face with the palm of your hands.
• Grab your nose and shake it up and down while breathing from your nose
• Take your ears between two fingers and move them up and down, then pull your ears.
• Open your right arm, breath in, and as you breathe out, bring your right fist to beat your left chest and release the sound of “Ahhhhh,” then repeat, but this time opening/stretching your arm further, then beating your chest strongly and releasing a louder sound. Repeat a third time, doing everything even bigger. Do the same with your left fist and the right side of your chest
• Massage your chest and your belly with your hand until it becomes soft.
• Bend your back forward and tap on your lower back and the middle of your back with the back of your hand.
• Tap on your left leg with both of your hands, from the top downward, till you reach your foot. Do the same with the right leg.
• Stand straight and shake your whole body, releasing whatever sound you like

Exercise 3 (15 minutes)

· Show the “Kids Meditation – Theme: Movies in My Mind” video from the folder “Yoga for women and children (Burmese & English)” of the Ideas Cube

· Ask everyone to do it following the instruction. Translate the video by taking pauses.

· After watching the video, relate how they can do similar meditation at home without the video. As no other material/tool was used for doing simple meditation like this, they can easily do it at home.

Part 3: Discussion (15 minutes)

Sit in a circle with the participants and ask them the following questions:

1. Which exercise did they like the most?
2. Which exercise will they be able to practice at home? Why do they think that?
3. Does anyone know any other meditation technique they would like to share with everyone?
4. When can be a good time to do meditation at home? Why?

Conclusion (5 minutes)

• Conclude the activity with a summary of what we learned today: how can we do meditation exercises at home easily without needing any content or materials. Practicing meditation helps to lead a healthy life.
• Thank the participants for their involvement in the activity
• Invite the participants to visit the Ideas Box center during their free time to use the content or to join a course in the future