For April's Family Program we explored the themes of stretching our brains and moving with change. We began by introducing ourselves and sharing something we had been noticing about the natural world, such as the weather continuously changing its mind between winter and spring, the return of the robins, and green bulb shoots poking through the ground. We then listened to the story of the Blind Men and the Elephant, in which each blind man touches a portion of an elephant and insists that the elephant is like a pillar (leg), a rope (tail), a wall (body), a tree branch (trunk), and a pipe (tusk), depending on the part they were touching. We discussed how each of us has a unique perspective, which is only partly true, so it is important to respect and listen to the perspectives of others as well.
Next, we looked at a variety of optical illusions, which challenged our brains to see things differently. Another brain-stretching challenge was trying to write or draw with our non-dominant hand. We also played a game called Morph, in which each person copied the movement of another person, who also was copying the movement of another, and practiced moving with change while staying in the moment.
After snack, we proceeded to the Temple zendo, where we shared the Morph game with the adults, and ended with a bell-ringing meditation and group OM.
