Anapana Courses for Children and Teenagers 2024

The Romanian Vipassana Trust organizes two Anapana Meditation courses for children and teenagers between 8 and 18 years old, one in Cluj-Napoca on March 24 (registration starts on March 2, 2024), the second in Bucharest on July 14 (registration starts on June 30, 2024). The courses will take place between 8.30 and 17.00.

If you would like to attend a course, please fill in the online application form for children or servers here

At the course are accepted children and teens aged 8 to 18, who are informed about the course and want themselves to attend the course. 

For the organization of the course we need servers for the following roles: manager, group coordinator, organizer of games and creative activities, supervisor, for cleaning and arranging the room/spaces/tables. Only servers who have done at least one full 10 days Vipassana meditation course with Mr. S. N. Goenka or his assistant teachers and have not practiced any other techniques since the last course can be accepted.

An overview of the course can be found in the Anapana Courses for Children and Adolescents booklet. More details about the course can be found in English at: Anapana courses for children and teens (https://www.dipa.dhamma.org/courses/childrens-courses).

"Exercise is good for making the body healthy and strong.

Anapana meditation is a mental exercise that makes the mind healthy and strong."

 

In 2018, two Anapana courses for boys and girls with ages 8 – 18 were organized in Romania: one course in Cluj-Napoca on September 30th, and one in Bucharest on October 7th.

The course organized in Cluj-Napoca was held concurrently in Romanian and Hungarian at a kindergarden with a very pleasant ambience and a spacious garden, ideal for outdoor activities. Eleven children participated – 4 boys and 7 girls, 5 of them being old students who had done their first course the year before at the same location. The course was conducted by 3 Children Course Teachers, one from Hungary for the Hungarian side and two from Romania for the Romanian side, which ensured a smooth communication with the children in their native language. Eight servers participated, many of them being the children´s parents.

In Bucharest, the course was held at the welcoming and pleasant premises of a company put at the disposal of the organisers by a generous old student. A total of 12 children participated, of which 4 boys and 8 girls, 2 of them being old students. The course was conducted by 2 teachers from Romania. 12 servers helped on the course, some of them being the parents of the participating children.

The children and teenagers joined in both courses with great enthusiasm in the activities and games organized indoors as well as outdoors, especially as the weather was very nice and unusually warm for the time of the year.

All meditated very seriously, asked questions and made efforts to learn the technique. The courses were very successful, many of them being interested in coming back next year.

Some fo the comments made by the children and teenagers at the end of the courses were:

<<Meditation is…a wonderful thing/ the art of controlling your mind/ a way towards liberation/ relaxing/ easy/ simple/ useful/ an exercice through which I try to concentrate/ to calm down, to have a healthier way of thinking, a healthier life and concentrate on a certain objective;

When I meditate, I feel… love/ quiet/ inner peace / calm/ that I calm down/ a wave of peace and warmth envelopping me/ that I am relaxed, attentive;

On this course I liked…to meditate/ everything/ the atmosphere/ that it was quiet/ the games you came up with / painting on stones/ that I made new friends/ the fact that I realized that I can overcome any form of discomfort I might experience/ that I learned to meditate and I learned to control my mind/;

The most important three things that I gained from this course are… quiet, love and understanding/ concentration and peace / meditation/ to control my mind/ relaxation, attention/ to observe my respiration, to be calmer/ the capacity to gain total control over my mind and my thoughts, whenever I might need it/ to concentrate;

I found it difficult to … in the beginning, to focus/ to bring my mind back/ nothing was difficult/ that I had to keep my eyes closed/to be aware of the breath / to stay concentrated/ nothing/ to meditate;

What I would like to add … May all beings be happy!/ it was very nice/ everything was perfect/ organize such coursee more often, I liked this course very much/ that the course was very good and I hope it will be organized again/ thank you. >>

Pictures from the course organized in Cluj-Napoca can be seen  here, and pictures from the course organized in Bucharest here.