SERVAS PEACE SCHOOL Luglio 2022

Antakya (Turkey)

by Alberto Mazzoni

 

A few years have passed since I first heard about Servas Peace School in Turkey, a project that

started 15 years ago by a teacher of English named Mehmet Ates from Ekinci, a village near

Antakya where this summer school takes place.

For many reasons, I could not go till this year when I decided to embark on a beautiful journey.

Having an education that includes music, dance therapy, and mindfulness meditation

I proposed a workshop named “Masters of Peace”, a fantasy journey, in two sessions,

during which children were invited to look within themselves to explore their real

nature, a place of peace and wellbeing, completely free from fear, anxiety, anger, and sadness. Children, aged 10 to 12, experienced that “Peace” is not a concept or an idea but a quality

of their being, always present and available, and it is up to them to invite it and nourish it in every moment of their lives.

They learned to do it through conscious breathing, through the contact with the nature,

and visualization. The “Masters of peace” were the characters of a fantasy story that I created

for them, but also trees, stones, clouds, and the sky.

After the direct contact with the reality of peace in themselves and every living being in the nature, children were asked to draw their experience. The session ended with a song combined with movements. It was really beautiful to see the curiosity and the enthusiasm of the children while

doing the activities.

The depth of this experience made me think about introducing meditation to parents so that they could understand its value, and help their children to develop the habit to practice it in everyday

life. Although everything was done very quickly and by word of mouth, the following

day 12 people showed up at 8am. The initiative had such a success that after the first session

people asked to do it everyday, and so we did.

For four days we practiced Qi Gong, breath awareness meditation and dance as meditation.

Among the many topics, we talked about the importance of cultivating awareness in every day life, and let our body-mind rest in peace through simple meditation techniques.

We also talked about how to deal with strong emotions and challenging situations and

how to help our children to do that. There were four days of deep sharing and practice that,

as I know, it has been going on since then. Part of the group, infact, go on meeting almost every morning for a walk in the countryside combined with meditation.

Apart from my workshop, the entire experience in Antakya was extraordinary. The host families

were extremely welcoming and did their best to make us feel at home.

As volunteers, we all felt part of a big family who work for peace, both as a team and

with all the families involved in this project.

I am immensely grateful to life for having given me this opportunity and I wholeheartedly

hope that similar projects might spread more and more in many countries.

I am convinced that peace in the world in strictly interconnected with a more conscious education,

that includes a training in self-knowledge, adapted for the different ages, and involves parents

as well.