Enhancing teen development and wellness through contemplative learning
[The following is an interview with writer and educator Amy Edelstein, conducted by the Omega Center. Amy is the author of The Conscious Classroom: the Inner Strength System™ for Transforming the Teenage Mind and founder of an innovative high school program promoting teen development and wellness through mindfulness practice and contemplative learning. The interview was originally posted here. The Omega Center is an informational website supporting the work and vision of award-winning author and scholar Ilia Delio of Villanova University, and the evolutionary perspective of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Please visit their website to hear from other inspiring thought-leaders exploring an evolutionary worldview and the merging fields of science and spirituality.]
In this recorded conversation, host Brie Stoner asks Amy Edelstein to share some of the transformative impacts she’s witnessed since starting the Inner Strenght Program and bringing mindfulness to inner city high school students. As Amy explains, by introducing youth to mindfulness practice they become better equipped to move through challenging times, and empowered to more fully see and reach their potential. Through a contemplative pedagogy and the Inner Strength program that Amy has developed, students are provided with the tools of mindfulness, as well as an exploration of the nature of mind and consciousness through an evolutionary lens. The learning is supported through an empathetic approach, and sensitive to situations where trauma or high-level anxiety may be present.
Amy also shares how the thinking and vision of Teilhard de Chardin has been a potent influence on her life and her understanding of our inter-dependency and evolutionary unfolding. In the final minutes Amy shares a simple guided practice for listeners to follow along. You can read Amy’s related blog post here: Love in a Fractured World: Wholeness in Education
The quote that Amy mentions in her reference to Teilhard de Chardin is the following :
The day will come when, after harnessing the ether, the winds, the tides, gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And, on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.
~ PIERRE TEILHARD DE CHARDIN (from Toward the Future)
[cs_content][cs_section parallax=”false” style=”margin: 0px;padding: 20px 0px;”][cs_row inner_container=”true” marginless_columns=”false” style=”margin: 0px auto;padding: 0px;”][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”20px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/1″ style=”padding: 10px;”][x_button size=”global” block=”false” circle=”false” icon_only=”false” href=”https://www.paypal.me/InnerStrengthFnd” title=”” target=”blank” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover” info_content=””]SUPPORT TEENS and the INNER STRENGTH PROGRAM – CLICK HERE TO DONATE[/x_button][/cs_column][/cs_row][/cs_section][/cs_content]
