Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science Inc. and The Lineage Project

This Collaboration Grant between Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science Inc. and The Lineage Project supported the “Mindful Village Project,” the pilot for a long term program to bring the basics of Buddhist methods of contemplative awareness, self-regulation and self-healing to at-risk youths in the New York City school district – specifically, addressing the behaviors and assumptions of previously-removed students with behavioral issues and school staff through a series of interventions using mindfulness, meditation, yoga and advanced interventions of visualization and identity formation.

This project is intended to be the pilot for a long term program to bring the basics of Buddhist methods of contemplative awareness, self-regulation and self-healing to at-risk youths in the New York City school district. Specifically, the pilot will focus on those students who have been removed from their classrooms for behavioral issues and, following an extended period of removal, are returning to their classrooms. This reintegration poses a serious challenge for the returning student, the teacher, security personnel as well as the other students, all of whom must avoid a reversion to prior behaviors and assumptions about others’ attitudes. This pilot will address the behaviors and assumptions of both the returning student and the staff through a series of interventions designed to educate both groups about their respective roles toward the success of reintegration. This will involve practical tools of mindfulness, meditation, yoga, and, when possible, advanced interventions of visualization and identity-formation. Conjoining the practical applications of behavioral modifications of Buddhist techniques with the insights of psychotherapy and Buddhism that identity is a narrative construction, this pilot will bring to both student and staff new ways of coping, behaving and thinking with respect to one another, instilling a sense of shared humanity with which to proceed at this critical juncture. Outreach will extend to parents as well.