SAIIER 2020:Lilaloka
The vision of Lilaloka (‘the universe of Play’ in Sanskrit) is to be a Self-Learning and Resource Centre for the Child. Lilaloka offers various activities based on self-discovery and spontaneous self- learning through Play, which allow the child to reveal himself as an individual and amongst others, without competition or judgment.
Lilaloka is open to all children, schooled or not, having difficulties or not, beyond all categorizations and allowing mixes of ages. The team of Lilaloka works in collaboration with schools and parents, considering each child as an evolving being.
In the field of children with special needs we work close together with the team of supportive learning, Marion and the Teachers' Center.
Activities of the year:
This year a total of 64 children participated in the Lilaloka program and participated twice or three times a week. They were mostly children from the Auroville schools, home schoolers, children of Newcomers who were not yet able to enroll in a school, and children from long-term guests.
We have a regular admission of children from Friends of Auroville who come every year.
The afternoon sessions were mainly reserved for the children of Auroville, mostly children of the kindergartens.
Individual activities:
Working with Shiatsu and reflex therapy.
- (Author::Marianne:)
Working with Shiatsu and reflex therapy points are a means to connect with the children and gain their trust through a non-verbal communication. We start with a small alignment where we connect the sky and the earth to join into the heart.
The full session takes about 1 hour and happens once a week. The relaxation takes between 5 and 30 minutes. It can take 5 or 6 classes with active children to get to manage a 15 min. relaxation.
The rest of the session is tailored to the needs of each child through cognitive or physical games.
The aim is to release the body of the day to day tensions and increase confidence. It also gives tools to the children to learn how to cope with their emotions. Improvements in the behavior of the children have been noticed by parents and teachers.
Individual play sessions - Individual work is provided to the Auroville schools, Auroville home schoolers, and children who need temporary respite from school and take place mostly in the mornings.
- (Author::Jitta:)
The sessions aim to provide the opportunity for children to explore themselves, to be themselves, to find their joy that connects to a deeper layer inside, in the presence of an adult. To contribute to a balanced unfolding of children’s potentials by allowing them to face challenges and find their own way in dealing with them.
The sessions are centered around the child, meaning that he/she is the one who leads the play. There is an atmosphere created for the child to feel safe and accepted as he is, feel as comfortable and free as possible to do/ express what he/she needs to. We are there to acknowledge and reflect to the child some of the facts and feelings he expresses so that he gets insight into his behavior, feels accepted and free to change or continue. Each way is according to the child and the moment. We do not direct the play or conversation. The only limitations set to make the child aware of his/her responsibility in relationship with the adult are no destruction of play material, room or furniture, and no violence towards the adult or him/herself.
Group activities:
Group activities at Lilaloka take place 3 mornings per week from 9:30 till 12:00, and 3 afternoons from 2:00 till 4:00, open for children from ages 4 to 15. A yoga session for teenagers (15 to 18 years) is also held once a week.
We made a start with a small study hall once a week, after 5:15pm, to offer help in homework, reading etc. for children who needed extra tuition, in accordance with the teachers. The need is there but we could not explore this further due to the lockdown.
Morning sessions: (the mornings are open to pre-Newcomer children, as parents need to volunteer, as well as regular/long term guests and friends of Auroville)
We observed that most of the children need the social aspect of interaction with other children in a group.
We focus mainly on the development of social skills. We start with games like circle games, group games, card/board games depending on their choice. A play room to build worlds, an art corner are prepared. There is the opportunity for individual attention in a quiet place to read, play a game, or dress up. We provide a safe place based on free flow (meaning there is nothing imposed – if a child wants to lay reading all morning that’s fine, we will inform them of the activities going on but they are free to join or not). After snack there is a specific art/science activity offered which is loved by the children. Most children will flow through at least two spaces during the morning.
Afternoon sessions:
Our afternoon activities are conducted by three professional facilitators:
- Jitta: Discovering medicinal plants, Being one with all, art and science.
- Anna: Art and Nature's Theatre
- Margarita: Communication through sound
- We also had help from Samantha, a long-term Savi volunteer
Each afternoon there are two facilitators and one helper to conduct the sessions. The afternoon sessions are open only for Auroville children. This year the participants were mainly the children from the kindergartens and home schoolers.
Since we work with the principal of free flow and follow the children where their interests lay, each group takes its own direction. We soon realized that this year the groups had a strong passion for dress up, acting and art. Art to provide the props for the stories they felt to play out. To work within the concept of free flow asks for a great ability to be flexible and work as a team together. We made masks, crowns, wings, paper fairy skirts and some props for the décor. The instruments usually used for communication through sound became part of the play, and discovering medical plants turned into the mixing of special drinks for snack time, often with ingredients found in the Lilaloka compound. Children started to bring ingredients from home and shared ideas and the experiments they learned in the science sessions with Jitta. In the science sessions this year we did a lot of experimenting with mixing, observing, building and feeling.
Outcomes:
The most important aspect of Lilaloka is to provide a safe place where children feel at ease to be themselves and respect the others for who they are.
We could see an improvement in social behavior of children by being part of a group. We observed that having groups with different age levels was challenging as manual skills and concentration span is totally different. For the facilitator this means to offer enough possibilities on different levels. It was heart-warming to see how young adored the old and the old loved to help the young. They learned to recognize and accept the difference in each individual and how the group could benefit from the input of each individuals talents. This eliminated all feeling of competitive behavior, which brought a lot of joy and harmony in the group and had as outcome a flow of joy in creating, playing and exploring.
Children who received individual sessions were able after a while to integrate in the afternoon group sessions (always accompanied by the facilitator who conducted their individual session). The facilitator would take a more passive role, be present and available for the child to ensure this safe place. What was interesting to observe that if a child would withdraw from the group and find shelter with its facilitator, other children would join what made the integration easy for them. They felt safe and accepted for who they are.
Research highlights:
We learned how to best integrate children who participated in individual sessions into group sessions (see above). After different ways of exploring how to do this we found our way; the feedback we received from teachers and parents was very positive and there was an improvement in social management. We got a deeper insight into the needs of the Auroville children, parents and teachers. There is an increasing clarity on how to answer the need for individual sessions and participation of the outreach schools.
We developed educational toys which are used in group and individual sessions. These materials and toys aim to help the child’s imagination, support a first understanding of time tables and body proportion. The dollhouses and dolls give the possibility to arrange a world and outplay their emotions and feelings.
We wrote a chapter about Lilaloka and our way of working for a book which is now in the hands of a publisher and might be published.
Reflections:
This year there was a fast growing amount of children who wanted to join which sadly we could not provide through lack of financial and human resources. The children who were already participating in sessions were asking for more. This year we were lucky to have a very devoted consistent voluntary worker which benefitted the amount of children we could admit.
We managed increasingly to provide a space where the vision of Lilaloka could be manifested and to provide various activities based on self-discovery and spontaneous self- learning through Play, which allow the child to reveal himself as an individual and amongst others, without competition or judgment.
“Auroville will be the place of an unending education, of constant progress, and a youth that never ages.” Researches on education are thus of prime importance: children open the way to the future. To develop new educational approaches and places for all, based on free choice, creativity and non-judgment, is a demand expressed by many families in many parts of the world, where such initiatives are a beginning of an answer to the major human crises of today.
What is most challenging is to have enough dedicated consistent facilitators to work on a voluntary basis. This year we were lucky to have Samantha as a long term guest and Savi worker and Margarita as a group session facilitator. It was the first year we had such a consistent team, which made it possible to enroll 65 children each week. This and the dedication and input of Jitta made it all possible this year.
The shortage of budget, especially enough maintenance for facilitators, is making it difficult for Lilaloka to grow towards its full potential and answer the increasing demands.
