Provide children with a space where they can have a vision of the future, promote a healthier life and a better relationship with human beings. These are some of the goals of the NGO Mente Viva, which emerged in 2007 and has been spreading a lot of love for schools and children.
Me Without Borders: What is Living Mind?
Live Mind: It is an NGO with no political or religious affiliation aimed at encouraging children to build a better, more peaceful and collaborative world, promoting a healthy lifestyle in every way. We understand that children's energy can be oriented towards building positive foundations for the relationship between human beings and with the planet.
ESF: What does work consist of?
Live Mind: Our work is based on interactive communication with children through different media. Mente Viva is the platform that forwards this communication and this occurs through our Facebook page and digital media:
– Web Radio: with quality music and content suitable for children, such as healthy recipes, games, interviews, excerpts from children's tales and stories, guided meditations, among others, this is also a vehicle for children to express their ideas, suggestions and solutions for a better world. Song lyrics are supervised and approved prior to performance. Non-commercial, the radio is managed through the Mente Viva platform. We are currently piloting the demo version and very soon we will be able to promote the radio domain to the general public, which can also be heard through an Android and iOS smartphone application.
– Minicartoons: through playful language, the boy Gabriel, a character and spokesperson for Mente Viva (a nine-year-old boy who meditates and is enthusiastic about finding solutions for the planet) will talk to children to promote reflections that involve emotional intelligence , ethics and behavior, inviting children to participate with their ideas and suggestions.
– Community: On-site work is carried out with public and private schools based on cartoons, children's literature stories, reflection exercises, awareness of natural and functional food, relationship with the planet and ideas for building a new model of education based on the democratic participation of children at all decision-making levels, encouraging children to play a leading role in the school and community environment. The work also takes place with the use of relaxation and meditation techniques.
ESF: When and how did it come about?
Live Mind: Mente Viva emerged in 2007, formed by a group of volunteers with the desire to build a more peaceful and collaborative world. For eight years, the NGO's work has focused on forming a network of volunteers to disseminate and implement meditation in schools, based on recent scientific studies on the benefits of meditation, which include increased empathy, anger management and control. impulses, as well as improving student performance. We started in the city of Gramado using creative visualization techniques (inspired by the principle of active imagination by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung), working with students and also with teachers, in caregiving journeys with the caregiver. Through joint efforts with a group from Porto Alegre, we are dedicated to disseminating a technique of meditation for peace in schools based on repetition of phrases and based on the concept that peace begins within people.
The work expanded to several cities in Spain and some abroad, reaching 42 children, and reached its climax in 2014. In June 2015, we understood that a cycle had ended, starting another existential stage of Mente Viva. In our meetings and brainstorming, the essential question arose: what comes after meditation? The answer is simple: lively attitude! Mente Viva therefore decided to focus its efforts on communicating a healthy lifestyle for children, having as a guiding principle the focus on integral health, happiness and well-being. In this way, we became a platform to communicate health and peace, and started to develop tools to disseminate and facilitate communication with children, in an interactive and democratic process, built in conjunction with the desires and ideals of the current generation of children.
- Text written by Angélica Weise from the Eu Sem Fronteiras Team.
