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Meditation in Public Schools – Another Reason to Give Grandly

Most of you are already familiar with the cornerstone of Lotus Center’s community service work, Yoga in Public Schools (“YIPS”). Don’t look now, but the seeds for a Meditation in Public Schools program may have been planted!

In February of this year, Lotus Center administrator and meditation teacher Jeff Goin was dispatched to Aldo Leopold Middle School to lead guided meditations, teach meditation techniques, and, in general, explore ways that students might lead more peaceful lives through cultivating a peaceful mind. He leads one 30-minute meditation class per week for each of the five middle school “homeroom” classes.

“I was once a middle school student in a public school myself,” Jeff reflects. “I know that it can be challenging. I wanted to belong, but didn’t feel like I fit in. I didn’t like the way I looked. I suffered from low self-esteem. Fairly typical adolescent challenges, but at the time they were very confusing and painful. Without question, I would have benefited from a tool like mindfulness training. I am delighted and humbled to be able to offer these tools to some of our community’s young people.”

The meditation instruction offered to the middle schoolers is based on curriculum and lesson plans developed through a collaborative effort between two different departments at the University of California, Los Angeles: the Mindful Awareness Research Center and the UCLA Health Department’s Sound Body Sound Mind program. Participation in the meditations at Aldo is entirely optional.

Our meditation instruction at Aldo Leopold Middle School is provided at no cost to the school or the students. It’s through generous community support that we are able to offer meditation at Aldo, and to perform all of our other community service work.

Are you able to help us build on our community service work in Grant County? If so, here are three ways to donate through Give Grandly over the next week . . .

1) Come visit our booth Saturday, May 6, at the Give Grandly celebration at Silver City’s Main Street Plaza, parallel to Bullard Street at 7th Street, between 9 AM and 2 PM;

2) Make a donation online at the Give Grandly website:

www.GiveGrandly.org/Organizations/The-Lotus-Center

3) Mail a check to: Lotus Center, P.O. Box 21, Silver City, NM 88062

With deepest gratitude,

Your Friends at Lotus Center

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Who we are:

Lotus Center is a non-profit community center in downtown Silver City offering classes in meditation, yoga, and other types of mindful movement. Lotus Center welcomes people who seek to improve their health, relieve stress, and find inner-peace in a welcoming and serene place.