Science shows that meditation has a powerful impact on adult wellbeing, but is meditation for children too?
Our children are growing up in a world completely unlike the one that raised our generations. The effects of that world are becoming more and more apparent in the sometimes unmanageable behavior that is starting to take over among young children.
Stress, anxiety, depression, and lack of focus are just a few of the issues more and more children are coping with.
Many kids suffer from these kinds of “problems” because they don’t learn how to cope with them while they’re young and have to figure it out the hard way.
Meditation is a technique used by many for all kinds of reasons and can be very effective for kids as young as two or three.
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Here are the 4 Steps to teach children to meditate
1. Start with just a few minutes a day
You can integrate this time into the morning or nightly rituals, (or both!) and do a guided meditation with them.
2. Practice in a quiet environment
Start by creating a tranquil, quiet place away from distractions like the TV, games or other family members.
3. Begin with humming and breathing exercises
Sit together on the ground and begin by humming together to establish your inner connection and your kid’s connection to the tone of your voice.
Slowly turn the humming rhythms into breathing exercises. Fill your chest with air all the way up to the chin and then slowly empty the breath all the way through the tummy.
4. Lead them in a guided meditation
Help them to focus inward. The best way is to get them to learn to be more conscious of the feeling of their own bodies.
Talk calmly and quietly about a happy, serene scene that relaxes them. Help them visualize a scene that represents peace and calm in their minds. Ask them to describe it to you to help develop the visual in their heads further.
Use musical ambiance if the sounds seem to help keep their attention better.
Then, after the guided meditation, let them sit in complete silence, with their own mental images and feelings.
Meditation for Children: More Tips and Benefits
Meditation, like anything, takes time and practice. Consistent attempts at meditation with your kids can make a world of difference for them at school, in sports, social situations, and can help you get them to bed quicker and easier.
Having something like this in your daily routine will help each person in your family reconnect with each other as well as the energy inside of them.
It is important to have exercises like this to balance out the intense instant gratification of technology and convenience that our society offers.
We can all benefit from learning to take a moment to collect ourselves, focus on our breath and decide on an intention so that we can better accomplish both short-term, and long-term goals.
