#Fourways: Healthy body, healthy mind for schoolchildren
FOURWAYS – Nutritionist Shayin Rawjee and Buddhist monk Gelong Thubten speak to schoolchildren about keeping both the body and the mind healthy.
It was a day of learning about healthy bodies and minds at the Education Incorporated school on 14 September.
The boutique school, located on Kingfisher Drive in Fourways, invited nutritionist Shayin Rawjee and Buddhist monk Gelong Thubten to speak to their learners about keeping both the body and the mind healthy. The guest speakers, schoolchildren and some parents gathered outside on the school grounds for the presentations, with many of the children sitting on big pillows on the ground.
“We met Thubten about a year ago when we brought some of the children [from Edu Inc] on a tech tour in Dublin where he did a bit of mindfulness with the children,” explained Jacqueline Aitchison, director of the school.
“Before he speaks, we’re going to hear from Shayin about having a healthy gut, and particularly about sugar and the gut.”
Rawjee the ‘gut doctor’ was up first. A nutritionist based in Rivonia, she talked about the importance of having a healthy gut and what sorts of food she recommends to the public to maintain body bacteria. She printed out a list of superfoods and advice which the children could take home and stick on the fridge, answered questions and promised to come back again and host an interactive workshop with the children in the future.
“You are responsible for your body,” she said to the listening children.
“It’s really important for you to take charge of your life.”
Second up was Gelong Thubten, who has been a Tibetian monk for about 25 years now and who teaches mindfulness at major global companies such as Google and Siemens. He became a monk after, as a young man, he was diagnosed with a serious stress-related illness and realised that he needed to change his life, and has spent years working in schools and prisons teaching mindfulness.
“Why is mindfulness so relevant in the modern world?” he asked the crowd at one point.
“Our stress levels have gone up, and the increase of technology means we are easily distracted. So being aware of the present moment and our breathing can help us manage our mental reactions, which then have an impact on the body.”
Thubten taught two simple meditation techniques to the attendees and was available after the talk to answer questions.
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