EIW June 2006 Update
Ht Kids First Children's Spiritual Retreat Program
At
Faith In the Rockies, Canmore, Alberta, May 5-7th, 2006
On May 5th to the 7th, 2006, HT kids group with Lynne Cox and myself presented the initial children's spiritual retreat program during the Neale Donald Walsch retreat "Faith in the Rockies". This program was created by the Canadian HT kids team as the first stage of the goal to create a spiritual program for children at gatherings and HT groups.
8 children were registered for workshop, with two 4 year old girls, two 6 year old boys and one each of age 7, 8, 9 and 11 (the 9 year old a girl). Lynne and I each brought material selected from a list of materials that had been complied previously (refer to HT Kids Spiritual Retreat program outline), based on the ages of the children in attendance. The organizers supplied us with a dedicated room, paper, CD player, TV/DVD player, pillows, blankets, chairs and couches, flip charts and healthy snacks and drinks between meals. The program times exactly matched Neale's schedule (7-10pm Friday, 9 to noon, 1:30 until 6:00 and 7:00-10:00pm Saturday, 10:00am until 1:00 and 2:00 until 4:00pm Sunday), so parents could fully enjoy their gathering.
Lynne and I met each other for the 1st time at the retreat, and agreed to come a day early to put together the agenda for the program. Situated at the Radisson Hotel in incredibly beautiful Canmore, we were awed at the view as we unpacked and sat down choose the agenda together.
Hotel View
Lynne and Wilma
A solid format was chosen for Friday PM, and generally for the remainder of the weekend. Lynne is the creator of the "Shining Light Program" for young children, and we chose to stay with younger children activities for the most part, with the intention to fine tune one day at a time as we learned more about those in attendance. We were quick to discover our kindred spirits in the process, and spent wonderful hours each evening compiling our plan from the material brought, while supporting and enjoying each other in the process. Pictures were taken when there was a volunteer to allow myself to withdraw to do so, but many of the most precious moments lie in our memories only!
Hotel Prep
More Hotel Prep
Themes for the Program: The focus is on introduction of the concepts of spirituality as outlined in the CWG book series in a fun, practical and interactive way. Body, mind and spirit (tri part being) is addressed directly (or indirectly, depending on the age level of the children in attendance) with the incorporation of principles such as chosen lifetimes, soul/light within and finding ones inner voice, communication and listening, equal voice and sharing/caring activities, developing intuition skills, interconnectedness of all life, creative power of imagination, visualization. The underlying theme is Love of Self, with plans in the future for incorporating a portion on diverse cultures and beliefs. Spirituality is definitely the gist, but we wish children to tie this into the everyday stuff of life and have fun!.
What Happened - Lynne and I recognized the importance of ourselves models of behaviour for the children, and set the intention of the positive, loving atmosphere for the weekend. From the beginning we were amazed and encouraged at the beauty of the children, the openness, and respect of/for each other. Each session we created a list of activities, alternating between discussion, games, crafts or artwork, stories, music and other interactive activities which were aimed at the sub-themes listed in our outline. We shared who would lead each segment of material. The following is the highlights of what happened.
The Friday PM opening was circle time with an exercise of getting to know each other by pairing up and learning more deeply about the other, and introducing your partner to the group. Then an exercise of looking deeply within each others eyes, and expressing how they felt. We then moved into creating life-sized drawings of themselves to hang on the walls, which would tie into looking at feelings each day, and how that would be reflected in drawing their faces and personal energy.
Stories were a big part of the delivery of spiritual messages, and an easy way for children to understand and discuss the meaning(s) for themselves. We were constantly amazed that even with the diversity of ages within the group how each could draw something from what was read. The first story was "God Made You Special", a funny, poetic story about vegetables talking about why each of them were special based on physical features. Each child was asked how God made them special, and all of them had something beautiful to share. Neale's story "The little Soul and the Sun" was read next, with lovely discussion following on re-incarnation that had some really interesting responses of what they have felt or seen, and bridging into discussion around seeing angels.
From here is was outside for a playtime, as several had been asking and we agreed this was the time, then back to use the remaining time until 10:00pm with the movie "Brother Bear" (a movie about reincarnation and learning to love and understand an "enemy" and all living creatures as one family on this earth).
Group Photo
Playground
Saturday AM opened with welcome exercises, and putting new faces on their paper selves to represent their inner feelings that day. Lynne then opened with "Breathing Free" meditation story, and moving on to talking about feelings, and what you focus on grows. Questions were asked to allow the children to explore how feelings (happy and sad) affected how they thought and behaved. Images such as thunderstorms, waves on the ocean and how things always changed were used. A slinky was used a visualization of how certain part of us can g..r..o..w with those feelings, and how we are whole (forming a circle with the slinky) no matter what part of us we are feeling at any one time. Physical feelings were compared to emotional feelings (when you are cold - put on a coat) so emotional feelings can be signals to alert them to pay attention to what the feeling were telling them. Although it was getting almost too much for them at this stage, it moved into breathing to relax, and look at things differently when sad or upset.
Group with Brian and Lynne and Wholeness
Laughter Yoga was next, which the children really enjoyed. The exercise helped immensely in showing how feelings (happy in this case) affected them. Outdoor activity was needed at this point for the children to engage in some play and some healthy energy burn. It then moved back inside to the story "All I see is Part of Me" by Chara Curtis (about a child who discovers the light within, and then expands this vision to see the same light within all living things). The discussion following was about "the light within" each of us. Next was the song "This little light of Mine" followed by a craft called "Blanket of Love". In this (Shining Light Program) activity Lynne introduces how each individual could beautifully decorate paper strips, but when everyone's strips were woven together, it became something of even greater beauty.
Saturday PM we were blessed with Master Young Hee and a Dahn Hak session for the children. It was an amazing, high energy session that went spontaneously and beautifully into "I love myself" and movement to feeling personal energy and the body. From here we went to a game of removing one of the senses by blindfolding and through feel, taste and touch, visualizing items being passed around and identify them, one at a time.
Using Your Other Senses
Outdoor activities were next, and the first time we split the children into completely separate activities. Three at a time to the forest nearby learn to sit quietly and silently back to back and observe and record all that was seen, heard and felt in nature. A drawing was made of what each felt was the most interesting thing discovered, and then discussions around what each had recorded (discussions only with the younger group who could not write). A small walk about followed to see more closely what had been observed while sitting quietly (complete with magnifying glasses) and then a gift of sunflower seeds left by each to the animals. At the same time a bubble blowing activity went on in the playground, and observing how bubbles joined, the colours and how long and large they could make them. Games created by the children themselves followed these two activities.
Story time was next with "Children of the Earth.. Remember" by Schim Schimmel. A magnificent story that highlights the oneness of all life, as told from the view of the animals and the earth. Questions and answers followed. Immediately following was the story of the "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silvertein (a story of unconditional love).
A craft of putting together a puzzle - one piece per child - was introduced as an illustration of wholeness and belonging, and afterward a spontaneous game (suggested by a child) of making a pictures on the floor by arranging their bodies together. The picture shows the fun, with all of us joining!
Floor Smiley Face
Community Puzzle
Having Fun
After supper Saturday was intended to be a quieter time with movies from Kids Spiritual cinema. "Ryans Well" - about a 6 year old boy who manifested his dream of a fresh water well for those in Africa, "Paws" - a spoof on animals and their consciousness, and "Finding Neverland" (imagination in adults and children, and the importance of dreams). Paws was well received, but the other movies were not and the children decided to create a tent city. When completed it took up nearly half the room and was promised to left up for the next AM for all to enjoy.
Tent City and Creators
Sunday AM circle time was held within the tent, with each child expressing how they felt at that time, followed by the Shining Star meditation. After creating their faces for representation of their feelings for the day, we began an activity of appreciation where each child was asked to speak about what they appreciated about each other as well as the volunteers who had helped for a few hours within our group. The older children then helped create "We Appreciate" certificates for those volunteers, while others listened to the story "Its OK to be Different" by Todd Parr. Outdoor physical activity and games followed (very popular with all the children - and a good format for Lynne and I to speak or work with a child individually). The indoor tent city was then dismantled while a picture "The soul needs nourishment" was coloured by younger children. We then introduced musical instruments and making music and rhythm together. From here we took the children to a large mirror to study their own eyes then looking at each other and making faces and how all of it affected them.
Story Time
Next was the story "The Incredible You - 10 ways to let your greatness shine through" by Wayne Dyer. It was introduced as 10 mini stories and themes in one, and we worked together one at a time, with separate comments and questions for each theme. Although there was concern it would be too much, the themes in this book are beautifully and simply presented and it in fact held them attentive throughout. Themes were "Share the Good, Find what you love, You are filled with Love, Find a quiet place Inside, Make today great!, Change your thoughts to Good, Take care of yourself, Picture what you want, Everyone is special, especially you and Good thoughts give you Energy".
After lunch Sunday we were blessed with Young Hee again, and after observing Lynne and the "Sand Castle Dreams" story and the children describing their visualizations from that, Young Hee chose to respond to the lower energy levels in the room (the children were getting tired) worked with their crown chakras and personal energy in discussion more than actual physical activity.
The "I Can Bee" wishes and dreams craft was then introduced, followed by the story "The Value of Believing in Yourself - the story of Louis Pasteur" by Spencer Johnston. Not only was this story about believing in yourself, but introduced well the theme of believing in the unseen, and enduring ridicule for those beliefs. The "I Can Bee" activity emphasized belief in the seemingly impossible based on the life of bees. Appreciation certificates were handed out to the children that highlighted each of the wonderful observations the children had expressed about each other earlier, as well as personal notes of the same from Lynne and I to each of them to take home and remember for the future. We also handed out certificates to each (with the 11 year old Anthony generously offering his incredible calligraphy skills for the certificates) as being the first group to participate and help create the first spiritual retreat program for children. This spontaneously took the children to asking (through the suggestion of one child) to creating posters about the program they had just experienced. Lynne and I both felt this, and the parents comments as they came to pick up their children from that final session- was indeed a very precious gift to us (picture "Lynne and Wilma HT kids"). We also had private times individually with parents to give our observations about their children, and how incredible they really were.
Kids Posters
Conclusions: Although a rather long summary of the 1st HT kids spiritual retreat, the intent is to show everyone that the magic of these children is magic that can be created by anyone or group who wishes to work with children. The rewards of such cannot truly be described, and a suggested list of materials is available for all to try.
Many things happened at this program that are unsaid and a result of the high and positive energy created and supported in what was a nurturing and respectful environment for each child as an important part of the group. The children felt and inherently knew this was for each and everyone of them. The program presentation was based on how we perceived their needs and responsiveness while following our themes, and responsive they were! Parents appreciated how the children enjoyed themselves and reflected back to us what their children had spoken and enjoyed of the program. We were rewarded so richly by their eagerness to be with us (and would come to be with us before scheduled times or engage with us in the hallways with small gifts and conversation). Each offered something unique to the dynamics, and all accepted, enjoyed and became unified as a group who openly called each other friends in their statements of appreciation. One 4 year old had to return to her parents when a certain fears set in, but would return with eagerness later, while another older (soul) of a child chose to spend some of the last hours partially with his mother in Neale's session, while still returning to partake of the activities with us he did not wish to miss. One child required far more individual attention from ourselves and volunteers than the rest, but this was accepted and facilitated the progress of the program focus for all.
When we look at our intended themes of body, mind and spirit (tri part being) we find it was addressed both directly and indirectly in this case, based on the young ages in attendance. The incorporation of principles such as chosen lifetimes, soul/light within and finding ones inner voice worked well, while communication skills was eliminated based on the 4 year olds in attendance. Listening and respect for others was modeled, and a stuffed Beaver was respected as the "talking stick" in which the holder was respected by all (adults included) as being the one to speak. Equal voice and sharing/caring activities was part of the entire weekend, interconnectedness of all life, creative power of imagination, visualization and dreams were addressed through certain activities and stories, but need more exploration, time and discussion beyond that of a single retreat.
All in all, it was a wonderful first attempt at a spiritual retreat program for children, and very positive results to build upon in the future. Much more of the material is waiting to be used that were not based on age of the children in attendance and lack of time. We encourage all HT groups to explore the material (refer to HT Kids Spiritual Retreat program outline) to involve children in their meetings with any of it. Thank you to HT Canada for allowing and supporting this first retreat program to happen!
Love and LIFE,
Wilma Lagerwerf
Canadian Education and Innerwork Co-ordinator
Canadian HT Kids Co-ordinator
Humanity's Team, Canada
Also on behalf of Lynne Cox
HT Canada Member
Shining Light Program creator
