Stillness – A Healing Methodology in Swedish Pre-Schools and Schools

Abstract

The increased mental disease and violence among Swedish students has resisted amelioration by experts in any of the conventional ways. The situation calls everyone in the society, not only politicians, principals and teachers, but parents and grandparent, to question the very fundamentals of the Swedish life style. Anna Bornstein, writer and journalist, discovered students’ ‘hunger for stillness’ when lecturing on non-violence in high schools. Today, the Dream of the Good programme she initiated has become a healing factor in pioneering schools and pre-schools in many parts of Sweden. The method, consisting of simple stillness exercises, works with all ages and can easily be woven into the curriculum. Not only children and students but also teachers experience a quantifiable increase in wellbeing and a reduction of stress.