In recent years, it has become very fashionable to look to meditation and mindfulness as solutions to the problems caused by the modern world.

Indeed, many education systems are looking to create opportunities to slow young people down and encourage them to reflect.

But, at Aiglon College in the Swiss Alps, morning “meditations” have been a central facet of the school since it opened over 70 years ago. They were introduced by founder John Corlette and inspired by the Quaker traditions of routine, respect but also inspiration.

However, before I explain what meditations are at Aiglon, it is perhaps important to outline what they are not, in order to banish any misconceptions you may have:

• It isn’t sitting in silence, but it does involve silence.
• It isn’t religious, but rather it involves a consideration of the spirit.
• It isn’t an assembly, but it does happen in our assembly space.

What is meditation?

It starts with silence.

I always enjoy how, when we have visiting teachers used to struggling to silence groups before school assemblies, they are shocked by how our whole school drops into instant, pin-drop silence - simply because our deputy head stands in a certain position to signal that the meditation has begun.

That silence is followed by a procession of our head of school and our “guardians” (essentially our head girl and head boy) and student leaders.

Then a member of the community - be that a teacher, a student or a guest (no one knows who it will be except the speaker themselves) -  stands and walks to the stage.

They pause for a period of shared silent reflection - anything between 30 seconds and a minute - and then they share something with our community. Exactly what they share is even harder to describe. Essentially though, anything goes.

It is often a personal experience, a philosophical reflection of a concept or a discussion of hard-hitting world issues, but we have also had students who have given full stand-up routines, a father and daughter duo who learned how to foxtrot, and one teacher who let the students cut off her hair.

Time to think

And yes that can cause logistical issues.

A good meditation can destabilise the entire school morning: the first period can be eaten into by a lengthy meditation (there are no time limits) and what’s more, one that truly makes an impact will lead to a collective debate that can replace any learning you had planned for that lesson. 

This space for time, thought and reflection is very much the point though. Mediation at Aiglon is not about emptying your mind, but filling it with questions that may change you as a person.

Corlette himself said: “The meditator’s task was to drop a thought into the pool of silence where it would cause ripples of significance.” When the meditation ends - whether the meditator is a teacher, a student or a visitor - it is followed by a longer silence that seems to last forever.

Sometimes, for up to three or five minutes, our whole school reflects on the central message of what we have jointly experienced, consider how it relates to us, or, if it didn’t have an impact, centre ourselves before our day and consider what comes next.

Importantly, meditations end without clapping.

The meditator gets up and leaves the hall in total silence, before being followed by everyone else.

A lifelong impact

Good meditations leave you with questions that stay with you for the whole day but they are also remembered for years after, in a way a lesson hardly ever is.

It is the shared essence of the experience and the vulnerability of the person leading the meditation that can create a truly profound and lasting impression. 

Our meditations are organised by Mike Cornish, Aiglon’s service and spiritual coordinator, who has the unenviable task of picking the right order of speakers, ensuring that the students don’t say something they later regret, and predicting the pulse of the school. Not to mention currently moving them online due to pandemic restrictions.

He explains: “The silence is as important as the message itself. Certain meditations are so memorable that it is no exaggeration to say they become part of the history of the school. Although that is not the fancy ones - it is generally the simple ones that really move people.” 

It is certainly notable that when students return to school as alumni long after graduating, they chiefly discuss the expeditions they went on and the meditations they remember.

As moving as the mountains

This gets to the heart of our school philosophy, which espouses the balanced development of mind, body and spirit.

It is the last of these three components that means we are committed to developing young people who consider the essence of themselves through the exploration of faith, service and purpose in life.

And meditations, just like the mountains that surround us, offer the space for that deep contemplation.

Tomas Duckling is Director of Learning at Aiglon College, Switzerland. He has taught internationally for eight years