CAE JOY - Be Kind to Your Mind

In a room lit by candles and colourful lamps, a group of students gathers forming an oasis of mindfulness and calm amid the energy of the big school event "A Night at Romani High School", arranged by the school as an invitation for future students to experience different types of activities and workshops, in order to promote the values of the school along with encouraging the future enrollment of middle school pupils.

In the workshop called "Be Kind to Your Mind", the visiting pupils - some sitting on chairs, some sitting cross-legged on the floor - are invited to engage in a guided meditation, led in English by students of the school who are attending the last year of the Linguistico course, specialising in the area of foreign languages. The students of the final year take turns assuming the role of the guide, creating an exchange of positive energy within the group. The atmosphere is charged with the common intent to cultivate mindfulness, create self-awareness, and learn breathing techniques to relieve stress, including the stress of school exams.

The "Be Kind to Your Mind" experience is a gentle journey, leading the participants through mental landscapes of calmness and serenity, in which they breathe mindfully, while they are guided in the opening of the chakras for further relaxation. The room becomes a quiet and colorful space, in which soothing tunes play and the sweet scent of incense expands, reducing the external pressures, as the participants dive into the practice.

The guided meditation becomes a way of nurturing and sharing a culture of well-being, and a sense of unity among current and future students of the school. As the session concludes, everybody's mood is uplifted, and a collective feeling of JOY spreads, leaving the participants refreshed, rejuvenated, and better equipped to face life and school challenges in the days to come.

In this unique exchange, students and participants not only find comfort but also learn how to build a supportive community centered around mindfulness and the idea of nurturing body and mind. The leading students practise the use of the tools of mindfulness and yoga to face exam stress and to ease the pressures coming from school results, and spread to their peers the techniques they have learned by preparing this workshop. Furthermore, they have a chance to use the language skills they have acquired throughout their learning journey, and to take care of their and others' mental and physical health, by trying the experience of being an instructor of breathing techniques and mindfulness for a night.