|
|
Students at an Israeli High School speak about Transcendental Meditation As a previous article in Excellence and Action reported, a High School in Israel has been transformed from being almost closed down due to violence and poor academic achievements, to being an award winning school in both 2008 and 2009. Dr Shauki Sfuri, Vice Principal of the school, reported the results from his own practice of Transcendental Meditation. ‘I feel quieter,’ he said. ‘I am more focused at work and my achievements at work are a lot better—a lot better for sure than last year. ‘As far as the school goes you can really feel the quiet. It's much easier for us to deal with the students. They are quieter and more focused, and their achievements have improved substantially.’ Dr Sfuri suggests to other schools at all levels that they introduce this project. ‘They will see in a very short time the positive effects on the students, on the school, and on the environment where the students live,’ he said. One student said that she felt a lot calmer now than she was before meditation—‘even in moments of depression or bad times, I feel happiness in my body. I’ve become a lot calmer. I can concentrate better on my homework and when sitting in the classroom,’ she said. A young man reports that before meditation he was an angry person: ‘I had a lot of problems. Even when I slept I would wake up every half an hour. Now I almost don’t have any problems. They have solved themselves. My relationships are better and I am much calmer now. Another girl reports that her parents say that her behaviour has improved a lot from before meditation. ‘Now after meditation it is much better,’ she said. Finally, one girl says that ‘meditation is like a diamond. I took it into my life. It was the best thing I have ever done in my life.’ Commenting about the students’ behaviour, the School Principal, Abed Elsalam Masalcha, said that in order to change the students' behaviour or to overcome the discipline problem, they have seen ‘we need to change something within the students. It is not enough to make rules and try to make everyone follow them,’ Mr Masalcha said. ‘In fact, you don’t change their behaviour at all. That is why we adopted Transcendental Meditation. ‘By practising meditation the students will start to really change, not just for a year or two or three. We are giving the students the possibility that throughout their life, they will not only succeed at school for a short time, but through the meditation, they will also succeed throughout their life.’ Excellence in Action will feature a third article about the National Education Awards that this high school won in 2008 and 2009.
© Copyright 2010 Global Good News®
|
|
