WATERVILLE -- In the cable TV-watching, video game-playing, Instant Messenger-corresponding lives of many children, little time is dedicated to self awareness and reflection.

That concerns Waterville psychologist Miranda Ring Phelps, and is one reason she arranged a meditation group for children.

"I think it has a lot of potential to help kids with relaxing, focus and empathy for other people and animals," she said.

The first class meets from 9:30 to 11 on Saturday morning at the Universalist Unitarian Church. The free class, aimed at children 5-12, is not affiliated with the church and is planned for the final Saturday of each month -- the schedule will be adjusted during school vacation weeks.

Ring Phelps said meditation is rooted in the Buddhist tradition, a situation that makes some in this country consider the practice bizarre or exotic.

She argues just the opposite.

"In some ways I think our purpose is to show (meditation) is a useful, down-to-earth thing," she said.

Monique Roy-Nuki of China would agree with that.

Two years ago, she and her husband took their two children -- 6 and 8 at the time -- to a retreat led by Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thicht Nhat Hanh at Stonehill College in Easton, Mass.

The retreat had activities, including meditation type training, designed specifically for children.

"The kids actually loved it," Roy-Nuki said. "We weren't sure how it would all go, but it was all on a child's level. They taught them to be good to the earth and just to slow down."

Ring Phelps said the program she and fellow facilitator Meg Dellenbaugh have developed is based on the teachings of Thicht Nhat Hanh.

Mindfulness is part of those teachings, Ring Phelps said, and one of the concepts she and Dellenbaugh plan to introduce to their class.

Ring Phelps said mindfulness is usually defined as a state of nonjudgmental attention to the moment in both the internal and external sense.

She said the class will include meditation exercises involving focused listening and breathing, as well as eating in silence.

Roy-Nuki said the retreat introduced her family to silent eating. She said her children were not sure how to regard it at first.

"Initially it seemed a little odd to them," she said, "but in time they understood the idea behind it."

The idea, she said, is to gain an appreciation for the food eaten and an awareness that it comes from a certain place and required the efforts of many people to arrive on the dinner table.

Roy-Nuki said her family practiced eating in silence for a time after returning to Maine but eventually decided they needed dinner to catch up with one another.

Still, Roy-Nuki said, the lessons of the retreat continue to have a strong influence on her household. Her children plan to be part of Saturday's meditation class.

"They are excited," she said. "I have spoken to them about it, and they would really like to do it."

Colin Hickey -- 861-9205

chickey@centralmaine.com