Words Tina Chantrey
Let’s cut straight to the point: you think meditation is for hippies, right? “I’ve been teaching meditation for over 30 years in schools, having learnt it on a retreat in the Himalayas among saffron robes, looking out at eagles swooping across golden terraces of corn. So far, so hippy right?” says Julie Leoni, a coach, yoga and psychology teacher and author. “That’s what people always used to think when I snuck meditation into my secondary school classes. But in a class of 30 children, every time I have taught it over those 30 years, all but five or six children would really love it and report that they felt more relaxed and calm.”
Now Julie teaches meditation to groups of hundreds in schools. “I smile when I meet the inevitable cynic; the science teacher who checks her Fitbit for heart rate and blood pressure, only to, 10 minutes later, announce that her heart rate and blood pressure has gone down, even in such a short time.”