It is said that the first role models for children are their parents, and the best learning ground for children and adults alike is the family. Our children’s real inheritance is not their family wealth, family business or the house built by their forefathers. It is the healthy and value-based foundation on which they have been brought up and the experiences of their childhood spent with the family. It is on this foundation that they will subsequently rise tall and strong, and construct further for themselves and their own families.
A healthy family is a happy family. A healthy and happy childhood enables children to blossom into responsible adults, with the right values ingrained in their DNA. Then they are prepared to take over the reins of tomorrow – yours, mine and theirs!
And so the Family Wellness Program (FWP) was proposed by the Global Schools Foundation and developed into a structured activity of 90 minutes by the Heartfulness UAE team, Dubai. It was six days of healthy fun, fitness and family bonding. The one-week program took place during the Eid Al-Adha holidays at the Dubai campus of the Global Indian International School (GIIS).
The Heartfulness team devised a new theme for each of the six days and the themes were introduced at the start of the 90-minute sessions each day. The audience then engaged in 15 minutes of activities, games and music on the themes connected with health and happiness:
In the moment
Connecting
Harmony
The Art of Contemplation
Generosity
Love
Then, parents, children, relatives and neighbors started their morning with 40 minutes of Heartfulness Yoga, following by Guided Heartfulness Relaxation. The adults followed this with Heartfulness Meditation, while the children were busy with value-based activities, games, art and craft, and storytelling around the theme of the day.
Family Wellness was a new concept for the participants, and it was acknowledged during the six days as ‘quality family time’. The youngest participant was a two-year-old girl, and the oldest was a grandmother who had accompanied her family. Parents shared their surprise and happiness that their children were happy to get up early during the holidays to come for Yoga and other activities. The program ended with smiles all around, and the question “When is the next Family Wellness Program?”
