At this time every year in the Ficino School calendar, Year 6 students are offered the opportunity to learn to meditate. This simple practice is aimed at providing a deeper rest than is usually availed by the Pause.

Meditation is a scientifically proven technique for increasing health and wellbeing. Neurological imaging of long-term meditators shows significant strengthening of the areas of the brain associated with memory, complex decision making and focused attention. Furthermore, those parts associated with fear and anxiety are reduced dramatically in some test results.

There is an anecdotal story from the time of the Buddha, when he was asked why he wasted two hours a day meditating. His enigmatic response was, “So that I don’t waste the other 22”.

The meditation offered by the School of Philosophy is a mantra or word-based meditation and it has the effect of reducing cortisol levels in the body and thereby gently stilling the mind. An analogy is sometimes given of actors on a stage. In a drama, actors need to go backstage to refresh their make-up and costumes. If they go on playing their part, their costumes become worn out and their part becomes stale and repetitive. The same can happen in the drama of life. Mediation offers the chance to regularly replenish ourselves and feel refreshment and lightness of being.

The meditation when it is offered is, of course, entirely voluntary and requires parental permission. Many students do choose to take the opportunity and speak freely about the benefits they find. They often speak of an increased calmness and how it sets them up well to meet whatever the day presents.

Peter Crompton, Principal