Getting Om the School Bus?

While perusing Yahoo News this morning, I came across a short article entitled McCartney, Starr still meditate on India trip. I recall (quite a few) years ago, seeing one episode of the Beatles documentary miniseries on network television, which dealt with the lads' trip to India to (among other 60s type things) visit with the Maharishi. While Ringo (my personal fave Beatle) and Paul are the only two still with us, this Indian experience still resonates with them just as the experience of meditative practice continues to influence others who embark on that path--and one that is not solely a religious one.

According to the article, a number of celebrity-types, including the two surviving Beatle, as well as Moby and Sheryl Crow among others, will be performing at a benefit concert in New York City (where else?) for the David Lynch Foundation. The organization's initiative is to teach one million at risk youths transcendental mediation techniques.

While I am not overly familiar with transcendental mediation as a specific school of mediation, the idea of imparting upon at-risk (or any) youth the discipline of mediation seems to me a powerful one. It is an idea I have toyed with as an educator since my first positions in the penal system up to the point where I work (now) with students stressed over their performance on standardized assessment.

Of course, the highest hurdle might be convincing (or reassuring) conservative school board members that this is not a cult inculcation program or a religious conversion system... regardless, it is a connection that would seem to bear exploring, at least to this educator/nascent "student" of meditation.

Breathe in, breathe out… YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!