Bringing Meditation and Psychic Self Defense to the Youngsters
I.Overview
The program is designed to present basics of meditation and psychic
self-defense to inner city high school juniors and seniors. The students are led
through meditation exercises and those who are open to it are exposed to the ego
deconstruction protocol. The key to this is the two peer teachers who bridge the
gap between the coordinator and the students. Without this the students would
not participate in the exercises.
In addition to meditation the students are taught basics of psychic
self-defense. Using the model of the biocomputer the students are taught about
psychological programming, the effects of others thoughts and beliefs upon their
own perceptions, energy management and so on.
II.Team
The team consists of Stan Koehler, Jonathan Figueroa and Kris Acevedo. Stan
is a Zen priest and mentor Jonathan and Kris. Jonathan and Kris are both
freshmen in college and grew up respectively in the South Bronx and East Harlem.
They have both been trained in psychic-self defense, energy management and
meditation.
III.Methodology
We work with a single teacher’s class for about 4 hours each afternoon.
There are his regular students and as the time goes on more and more students
hear of the workshops and join the class. At the same time other students rotate
out.
Stan begins by establishing a theme; defending ones mind from being at the
affect of others by slowing and controlling one’s thoughts. Jonathan and Kris
then take turns, first describing their neighborhoods in New York and opening to
some questions about the difference between NY and East Oakland. They then each
speak about what they thought of meditation before they came to the dojo. They
originally had no interest in meditation. They were interested in martial arts
and fighting. Somehow they found themselves in the Zendo and were exposed to
various meditation techniques.
At this point either Jonathan or Kris might relate a story about their
experience with controlling thought and energy. Both have stories of how to
interact with police. At some point we will introduce the meditation exercise.
At that point the students are instructed on how to sit and to focus on a bell
that one of the young men rings. This exercise will last for 10 minutes after
which the students are asked about their experience.
Students are then identified that are interested in going deeper and
appointments are arranged to do the ego deconstruction protocol at another
point.
Depending on how much time there is Stan might enunciate a principle or an
exercise (we need to be aware of the people closest to us and bring to
consciousness the thoughts they have that do not serve us). Jonathan or Kris
then picks up the theme and relates it to a personal experience. With Jonathan,
he will speak how in his family it was always thought that he (and they) were
not the sort of people who went to college. Other people, the Chinese or the
White kids went to college, not people like him. He’ll develop this theme and
talk about the various psychic self-defense moves he had to do to get into and
stay in college.
Each of the young men has various accounts illustrating the principles that Stan
will lays out. The process is interactive and the students for the most part are
sitting in a group. Questions and answers will go back and forth and after
awhile the student’s issues will engender the enunciation of a principle and the
concomitant experiences with which it is associated.
During the breaks the team interacts informally with the students and
comparisons between East Coast and West Coast slang and accents come up. At
times, between classes, Jonathan or Kris will show fighting or self-defense
techniques.
IV.Conclusion
At the end of the process a significant number of inner city students have
been exposed to basic experiences associated with contemplative practice.
Practical applications of these experiences to day to day life have been
explored. For the most part Jonathan and Kris have established the connection
and accomplished most of the teaching. Stan’s function is to remain in the
background, perhaps pointing out a concept or two. At the same time Stan is
responsible for managing the overall flow in the room, keeping Jonathan and
Kris’ energy balanced and dealing with any questions or issues that come up from
the students that might be disconcerting ( “My pastor says that meditation is
bad; do I have to do the exercise?).
The goal is for the afternoon to flow and the team to interact as if they were a
jazz trio, mixing spontaneity in the moment with a collection of structured
modules. The students both observe and are incorporated into the experience,
each according to their interest and the amount of energy they wish to expend.
Meditation, formerly a practice that was distant and alien to their world has
become practical and available.