Fantastic day

Yes, I had the best day so far.

Even the little ones did well. I read the Muchalinda (giant Cobra) story that Dorian wrote and they liked it a lot. They were quiet for most of the time. The reason: the Kindergarten kids did not come. There were still about 20, but the little-little ones make a whole lot of difference.

With the older ones, we did Bhante's guided meditation on metta. Fantastic. I think that Bhante voice has the same effect on them as he does on me. I did some new things that seemed to have helped:

1. I sat in the office, before leaving to the school, and then again in the classroom, before the kids came in. This gave me a lot of energy and focused my mind. I followed Bhante's talk, the same I would use with the students.
   
2. Asked the two most 'active' boys to lie down in the floor instead of sitting.
   
3. Told the rest to be in the position they felt most comfortable with. Have sat, have lied down.
4. I kept my own voice to a minimum. I tried to leave it to Bhante and just sit for most of the time. I followed the guided meditation myself.
5. When the kids moved, I looked at them or pointed to them, looking straight to the eyes. Since the other are were with the eyes closed or quiet, when I looked at them, they were more 'alone' with me. It was the most one to one I can get in this large class.
6. When H, one of the two that are two active had relaxed I asked him to sit, and I sat close to him and send him metta. He did great! yes I was so impressed that I praised him at the end of the class. I think he was impressed himself, even though it was only about 2 minutes that he kept still.
   

At the end of the day I went to see the principal and asked her what had happened with the Kindergarten kids. She had forgotten to take them to the class! Well, I said 'it was the best day so far, so I am grateful to you'.

PD: I saw some school statistics. They have about 290 students in the whole school. 40-50 each year. This means that 15-20% of parents want their kids to learn about Buddhism. It is very impressive considering that the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates the Buddhist population in Australia at about 4%.