Mindvalley ran an experimental education program in Barcelona for kids ages 5-17, teaching yoga, energy work, and empowerment instead of traditional subjects. The focus was on relationships and life skills, with separate tracks for younger and older students.
Chapters
So MindValleyU is an experiment that we tried for the very first time in Barcelona this year where we bring together a community of people from all over the world to come together to interact, learn, grow, inspire each other. We've had workshops every day, speakers from all over the world sharing their knowledge, tools, resources and socials and connecting. And it's really become, over the past month, it's really become a. A family facilitator, the good speaker.
You don't ask your audience to do.
Anything that you're not willing to do first. So the ambition and the concept behind this project is huge. We're reinventing people's way of learning, of the concept of a university, of the life skills that we're acquiring in life, of community living. And from a logistical standpoint, being part of the events team, we had such a massive undertaking to plan. A month worth of content and different workshops happening single day, a different premium seminar every single day, flying in speakers from all over the world, having a co working space with hundreds of people working out of it. It was really a huge undertaking and one that we're quite proud of. So one of the really unique things about this program is that we've catered it for all ages, from little children to adults and everything in between. One of the beautiful things about this community is that we have such a wealth of talent and knowledge within it. So we're drawing each other's skills to teach what we're best at and what we're passionate about and what we know. And so we really have people that are coming from different respective areas.
Hi, I'm Jenny Harlan Khan and I'm here running alongside my Valley U, a kids education program.
My name's Chad Myers and I've been an educator for almost 25 years. I come from the United States, from Michigan actually, and I'm the head educator in this program. And it's an experiment alongside mindvalley U, which I know. This is an experiment that Vishen had created. And so we thought, why not do the same with the kids?
So we've got two age groups happening. We've got under nine, so it goes from five to nine and then nine actually up to 17. We have a 17 year old. And what's beautiful is that the 17 year olds are helping the younger kids, but they all seem to be getting something out of it. So I wasn't sure whether those age scoops would work, but it seems to be, seems to be working. So in the curriculum we're trying to cover topics that aren't covered in the school traditional system. So, I mean, we've got all sorts. We've got yoga, we've got energy work. We've got kids learning how their mind works. We've got sessions on empowerment and self confidence. We've got field trips. We went to the science museum last week. They're going to be learning about the Catalan culture this afternoon in Park Guell. You know, we've got children from so many different countries here, so we're learning about each other and where everyone's coming from, but it's really focusing on the personal. That's on how they connect to each other and connect to themselves and how they show up in the world and having them know that they're whole and complete as they are. So all of our work is based around that, which I feel gets a little lost in the traditional system.
Yeah, I've been in education now for 25 years. Started in inner city schools. And one of the things that I noticed right away there was a poverty of relationships.
That's amazing.
And everybody ready? Start. Whoa. That was great, you guys.
Okay, now you're ready to go.
The kids were desiring that relationship with me, and I was more concerned about the curriculum. But I switched real fast, and once I developed those relationships, I could teach them anything. So. So we created, like a learning community. And we would, like, there might be 35 kids, and we would all help each other get the work done, and then we would head outside and just play. The kids know. They already know what they need. We should be asking them more what they need instead of us telling them what they need. I literally worked in the ghetto. I worked in the hood. From there, I moved into more suburban settings and worked in public education. Met actually, Jenny Harlan Kahn, who kind of helped create this vision together with me. Jenny and I just kept chatting overseas. And so finally she said, are we gonna do this or not? And I said, yes.
So my son was in private school, actually, and he was so interested in sort of questioning the teachers and asking new things and sort of expanding the questions, you know, and sort of challenging what was going on, because he was so curious, inquisitive, and he's really sort of an exact person. And sadly, the teachers didn't really see that as a gift. In fact, I spoke to them many times and said, you know, this is challenging as a child, but as an adult, that's really going to serve him. And they both just told me, no, it wasn't going to work out. They didn't like it. He needed to change. And sadly, their answer for that was medication. They really actually told me that unless I was prepared to medicate him, he wasn't welcome back in the school. And as a private school, they had that opportunity. So my option was to put him in public school, which at that time I didn't also feel was a good fit for him. There's just so many things happening in the public school system that I just didn't feel comfortable with either. So the answer for me was I was going to take my kids traveling for a year and just figure it out, work it out, try homeschooling, try a different type of school, try world schooling, try this program and see if their education could grow in a different kind of way other than traditional school.
