The Samsung Welfare Foundation is preparing a healing program for daycare and kindergarten directors nationwide, offering meditation lectures, music performances and an exhibition tour in one setting.
The Samsung Welfare Foundation said Wednesday it will hold the "National Daycare and Kindergarten Directors Special Lecture C&I DAY" on the 20th at the auditorium of the Samsung Children's Education and Culture Center in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. C&I DAY is a program that embodies the meaning of Culture & Insight, designed to provide directors dedicated to early childhood education with time for learning and recovery.
This lecture is an encore session prepared in response to renewed requests from the childcare sector following a lecture by Kim Joo-hwan, a professor at Yonsei University, titled "Meditation and Mental Strength That Bring Change to Life," held in May last year at the meditation center of the Samsung Human Resources Development Institute in Yeongdeok, North Gyeongsang Province. At the time, on-site registration closed as soon as it opened, and more than 8,000 people accessed the YouTube live stream, drawing a strong response.
This year's event will be held under the theme "Inner Communication Meditation to Build Mental Strength." The Samsung Welfare Foundation focused on helping directors who lead educational sites for the healthy growth of young children to care for their own bodies and minds and manage their mental health in daily life. In particular, in line with the trend toward integrating childcare and early childhood education, the foundation expanded the target audience beyond existing daycare directors to include kindergarten directors.
The first lecture will be given by Professor Kim Joo-hwan, an authority in the field of neuroscience-based meditation. Under the theme "Mental Strength and Inner Communication Meditation," Kim will explain the process by which meditation enhances mental strength and resilience from a neuroscientific perspective. He also plans to introduce inner communication meditation methods that can be practiced on-site, guiding directors to practice self-care on their own.
In the second lecture, Kim Eun-joo, a child and adolescent mental health specialist and professor at Gangnam Severance Hospital, will explain the characteristics of early childhood brain development and the effects of meditation under the theme "Children's Brain Development and the Power of Meditation." She plans to introduce the positive effects of meditation on the emotional stability and non-cognitive capacity formation of young children, delivering insights that can be used in institutional operations and parent counseling.
The final session will feature "Inner Communication Meditation with Music," presented by Professor Kim Joo-hwan and saxophonist Brandon Choi. Participants will experience a meditation program that focuses on breathing and relaxes body and mind to the melodies of a classical saxophone.
Participants will also be offered the opportunity to view the Leeum Museum of Art special exhibition "Into Another Space: The Synesthetic Environments of Women Artists 1956–1976." Through immersive environmental art using light, sound and everyday materials, directors will be able to step away from their duties for a moment and enjoy time for artistic liberation and recharge.
Registration is available free of charge on the Samsung Welfare Foundation website starting at 10 a.m. on the 8th. On the day of the lecture, anyone can watch in real time through the Samsung Welfare Foundation's YouTube live link.
Since 2022, the Samsung Welfare Foundation has operated tailored special lectures for directors that combine celebrity lectures, exhibition tours and music performances, using Samsung's education and culture infrastructure. About 24,000 people have participated in the lectures held online and offline to date. The foundation plans to continue expanding various childcare and education support projects, including training and dispatching child behavior specialists, building a platform for early childhood development support, and developing programs for children's mental growth.
