Page 158 - YBAM 50th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine

of wakefulness of mind, alertness- an the mind, developing self-awareness and
intrinsic awareness. Mindfulness practice
is usually directed to a specific ‘anchor’
such as the breath, body sensation or
mental content which serves as a means
of ‘coming back’ to the present moment
and may further leads to calmness and
stability.
Loving Kindness is a ‘state of mind which
aspires that all sentient beings may enjoy
happiness’ and compassion, ‘the wish
that all sentient beings may be free from
sufferings’.
Loving Kindness Meditation (LKM) is a
technique to cultivate and habituate the
mind to have good will towards self and
others especially in the mist of suffering.
The commonly used method is to focus
on good will and send good wishes by
generating silent phrases such as ‘May
I/you be well and happy’, ‘May I/you be
free from fear and worry’. It is a way of
learning to soothe oneself and feel safe
which helps one to develop a kinder intra
and inter relationship. While Mindfulness
meditation creates a ‘still quiet place’,
LKM enhances this place with warmth
and love and so enables one to stay
longer in this quiet place.
The Programme
M.I.L.K. was conducted twice-weekly over
eight weeks, with a total of 60 minutes of
activity-based learning per week. It has
three key components namely, calming
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The Result
developing loving kindness. These aim Chart 1 and 2 below, are detailed Overall, the children reported a 23 percent
to provide children with the strategies breakdowns of the number of stickers increase in positive emotions and 59
of ‘coming back’ and attending to their chosen for each emotion when they percent decrease in negative emotions
experiences with love and care. check-in and check-out respectively. The over the programme, as measured by
X-Axis shows the various emotions and the number of stickers associated with
The topics covered over the eight the Y-Axis the total number of stickers positive and negative emotions that they
weeks included: (1) Introduction to throughout the entire programme. Among stick in their logbooks during check-in
mindfulness practice, (2) Knowing the the negative emotions, ‘Worried’ and before the training session and check-out
‘present’ moment’,(3) Developing stability ‘Lousy’ are prominent at check-in but drop after the training session.
and attention, (4) Awareness of body distinctively from 27 stickers to 7 stickers
sensations (through mindful eating), (5) and 47 stickers to 3 stickers respectively
Awareness of thoughts and emotions, when checking out.
(6) Introduction to loving kindness, (7)
Chart 1: Breakdown of each emotion when check-in
Sending loving kindness to oneself and
others, (8) Celebrating success.
The children (participants) were given a
logbook with a set of stickers with different
facial expressions and the corresponding
words that relate to the facial expressions
to identify and describe their experiences
immediately before and after the M.I.L.K.
training sessions. They were also invited
to narrate their experiences next to any
chosen sticker in their logbook, which
was optional. Chart 2: Breakdown of each emotion when check-out
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50 YEARS OF DHARMA PRO PA GATION CO NTINUING THE MIS SION IN THE 5G ER A