The 6th Integral Education retreat brought me back to the first one held in June 2004. I was amazed at how time flies, especially since I was out of the programme for more than two years. It felt good to be back in the familiar environment of the center. However, this time I saw the morning’s programme from the viewpoint of a facilitator as well as a parent.
I was excited to bring my daughter, Ananya, along with me to the center. We started out with meditation on Mother’s music. After that, Shreevalli narrated a short story from the Mahabharata relating Arjuna’s concentration while shooting a toy bird’s eye. Although all of us knew this tale, it helped to reinforce that we need to concentrate on our activities and always be present in that moment.
We then moved on to the ice-breaker session. We played “Whacko”. The game helped all of us to know each other’s names. For the older children, it was a good test of memory plus a good warm up session for the subsequent physical activities. For the younger ones, it was just fun to watch everyone run in circles! Later, we split into two groups and I went to help out with the youngest group of children, aged two to five.
The first activity we had was making ‘clean mud’. This involved unrolling lots of toilet tissue and mixing it with soap and water. The texture then became that of a mud that the kids enjoyed exploring. It was great to see mothers pitching in and making some ‘mud sculptures’ with their little ones. We noticed that the children enjoyed getting their hands ‘dirty’. The main joy for them was that they played in an unrestricted environment.
After a round of outdoor games, we moved indoors for a short break. The next session involved some story telling and art work. The children were given flash cards of various animals that they imitated. Kiruthika narrated the story of the very hungry caterpillar using props. Each child was given a character from the story. It was nice to see everyone alert and attentive during this session. The art session that followed was interesting too. The children were given access to a ‘salad bar’ of art supplies and they came up with original pieces of art work. What struck us most was how the children got along with each other and worked on their individual art without any fuss and noise. Everyone was polite with each other, quietly taking turns when needed. And all this was done with minimal supervision from parents and facilitators.
The morning ended with a light lunch with everyone chattering happily about the day’s activities. Indeed the Sunday of 28th June was different – one well spent – a day that gave immense satisfaction when one reflected on it.
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