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brother neil
USA
752 Posts |
 Posted - Dec 08 2009 : 10:03:31 PM
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My mom told me the other day she saw my 8 year old nephew in the bathroom sitting still so she asked him what he was doing, to which he said he was meditating. She asked him why and he said "uncle neil does it" Its funny cause I don't talk to him about it excpet that If I am over at my moms house I will go out to my car and do the DM there. I just tell them to let me have that time without interruptions.
I guess this is what they mean by setting the example, rather then talking about it.
Note to Ego, dont get to high on being an "example"
He also says that his ninth year will be his golden year. 
the beauty of a child
just felt like sharing a story
brother Neil
Disclaimer, yes yogani I have read your thoughts on DM and children and I have no plans in the next 9+ years of telling him to use a mantra  |
Edited by - brother neil on Dec 08 2009 10:07:58 PM |
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SeySorciere
Seychelles
1571 Posts |
Posted - Dec 09 2009 : 05:19:53 AM
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Thank you brother neil for that story.
It also gives me a perfect place for my question. My children (14 and 10)also watches me do meditation evenings and mornings and of course, they too want to meditate, so is it safe to introduce them to DM? If yes, for how long?
Thks
La Sorciere
P.S. I note your disclaimer - I have not come across any recommendation from Yogani.
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Richard
United Kingdom
857 Posts |
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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
Posted - Dec 09 2009 : 07:59:46 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by SeySorciere
Thank you brother neil for that story.
It also gives me a perfect place for my question. My children (14 and 10)also watches me do meditation evenings and mornings and of course, they too want to meditate, so is it safe to introduce them to DM? If yes, for how long?
Thks
La Sorciere
P.S. I note your disclaimer - I have not come across any recommendation from Yogani.
You can introduce your 14 year old to mantra meditation, but just for a short duration, like 5 - 10 min maybe. Also, teach the younger one breath meditation. No spinal breathing. But you can teach them anulom vilom (alternate nostril breathing).
If they are anything like normal teenagers (or almost teen), they will practice it for a bit and lose interest in it. So don't force them to meditate (which I am sure you wont, you are asking becasue they have shown interest). But do teach them to meditate. I feel, introducing them to meditation, is like planting a seed. If they don't practice it right now that is fine, they will carry the seed with them and when they are ready, they will use it.
PS: Beautiful story Brother Neil. Thanks for sharing. |
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Yonatan
Israel
849 Posts |
Posted - Dec 09 2009 : 11:45:01 AM
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| Neil that is a very beautiful story. Thanks for sharing. |
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CarsonZi
Canada
3189 Posts |
Posted - Dec 09 2009 : 1:16:01 PM
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Hey Brother Neil!
A beautiful and heart-warming story, thank you for sharing 
quote:
Originally posted by brother neil
I guess this is what they mean by setting the example, rather then talking about it.
Note to Ego, dont get to high on being an "example"
Hahaha...yes, it is easy to let this "puff up" the ego .... I truly believe that setting an example as opposed to talking about it is the only way to really influence people to take up practices themselves. I have been following the AYP system for 19 months now, practicing twice a day every day, and at first I tried to get my wife involved with it as well....but I soon realized that to live by example is a much more effective way of sharing the beauty of Yoga. While I was away at my teacher training my wife was having a hard time...being alone, pregnant, and having to be self-sufficient will do that to a person....so while I was away my wife decided (completely on her own, with no influence from me) to start her own AYP meditation practice to help her cope with the stress (it makes me cry with joy just writing this)....now that I am home we meditate together every morning....it is more beautiful then words can describe. We don't meditate together in the evenings (our schedules don't really allow it) but she still has her own meditation in the evening and already the changes are monumental. I'm pretty sure that her deciding to practice would not be so "bliss-inducing" if it were not for her deciding to do so of her own accord. So carry on my friend...you are obviously a walking example of the power and beauty of an effective yoga practice. Thank you for your shining example!
Love,
Carson
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Yonatan
Israel
849 Posts |
Posted - Dec 09 2009 : 1:36:40 PM
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| Carson that's really great. Good luck on both your paths =b |
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Christi
United Kingdom
4516 Posts |
Posted - Dec 09 2009 : 5:05:51 PM
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Hi all,
My 6 year old daughter asked me to teach her how to meditate, after seeing Amma meditating. I taught her how to practice deep meditation. The only other practice she does from AYP is the resting in the crown practice from lesson 199. She calls the shaft of the sushumna nadi rising through the crown her "straw".
I didn't teach her the crown practice, she developed it spontaneously. She was probably a Yogini in her last life.
Christi |
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brother neil
USA
752 Posts |
Posted - Dec 09 2009 : 9:36:57 PM
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friends, Thanks for your kind words, he is a pretty cool kid
carson, thats awesome
christi, kids have a way with words so simple |
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manigma
India
1065 Posts |
Posted - Dec 10 2009 : 02:08:12 AM
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Just wanted to share this story and a video
A very famous Lama has written in his autobiography, "When I was five years old, I was sent to a university to study. In the evening my father told me that the next morning I would be sent to the university. And he said, 'Neither I nor your mother will be there to say goodbye to you. Your mother will not be there because there will be tears in her eyes, and if you see her crying then you will go on looking back at her and there has never been a man in our family who looks back. I also will not be there because after getting on the horse if you look back even once, then you will be my son no longer, then the doors of this house will be closed to you forever. The servants will say farewell to you tomorrow morning. Remember, do not look back after getting on the horse. There has never been a person in our family who has looked back.'"
Such an expectation from a child of five years old! The five-year child was woken up at four o'clock in the morning and put on a horse. The servants bade him farewell. As he left even a servant said, "My child! Be careful! You can be seen until the crossroad, your father is watching from upstairs. Do not look back before the crossroad. All the children in this house have departed this way but no one has looked back." And the servant also told him, "The place where you are being sent is not an ordinary university. The greatest men of the country have studied at that university. There will be a very difficult entrance examination. So, whatever happens, try in every way to pass the entrance examinations, because if you fail there will be no place for you in this house."
Such harshness with a five year old child! He sat on the horse. In his autobiography he wrote that as he sat on the horse, "tears started flowing from my eyes, but how could I look back to the house, to my father? I was leaving for the unknown. I was so small, but I could not look back, because nobody in my house had ever looked back. If my father should see it then I would be banned from my house for ever. So I controlled myself and looked forward. I never looked back."
Something is being created in this child. Some will power, some life-energy, is being awakened in this child which can strengthen his navel system. This father is not hard; this father is very loving. And all the mothers and fathers who seem to be loving are wrong, they are weakening all the inner centers. No strength, no determination is being created within.
The child reached the school. He was a five-year-old child -- it could not be known what his capacities would be. The principal of the school said, "The entrance test here is difficult. Sit near the door with your eyes closed and do not open them until I come back -- whatever happens. This is your entrance test. If you open your eyes then we will send you back, because one who does not have even this much strength in himself to sit with his eyes closed for a while cannot learn anything. The door to learning has closed. Then you are not worthy. Go and do something else." All this to a small child of five years...!
He sat near the entrance with his eyes closed. Flies started disturbing him, but he knew that he must not open his eyes because once he opened his eyes the matter would be over. The other children were coming in and out of the school, somebody started pushing him, somebody started disturbing him, but he was determined not to open his eyes, else the whole thing would be spoiled. And he remembered his servants telling him that if he failed the entrance test then his father's house was closed to him forever.
One hour passed, two hours passed -- he sat with closed eyes afraid that even by mistake he might open them. There were many temptations to open his eyes: the road was busy, children were running around, flies were harassing him, some children were pushing him and throwing pebbles at him. He wanted to open his eyes to see if his master had come. One hour passed, two hours passed, three hours, four hours -- he sat there for six hours!
After six hours the master came and said, "My child, your entrance test is over. Come in, you will become a youth of strong will. You have the determination within you to do whatsoever you want. To sit for five to six hours with closed eyes at this age is a big thing!" The master hugged him and said, "Don't be worried, those children were told to harass you. They were told to disturb you a little so that you would be tempted to open your eyes!"
The Lama wrote, "At that time I thought I was being treated very harshly, but now at the end of my life I am full of gratefulness towards those people who were hard on me. They awakened something in me, some dormant strength became active."
Dragon Heart: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzCP_9njrUc |
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Pretty neat
