Meditation is so simple, it can be practised by children from a very young age. Knowing how many valuable benefits meditation brings, it’s highly recommended for parents to introduce their children to meditation early.
Imagine, meditation for kids could help them to sustain attention better, it helps with their learning efforts. They, in general, become more compassionate and caring. Wouldn’t be awesome to cultivate their minds in this way?
You can also consider meditating together. Working with children is a difficult job and mindfulness can play a valuable role in parent guidance. Parents and caregivers become more compassionate and loving with their children. They also develop their awareness skills, so they see their own behaviour more objectively. Parents can learn how to set restrictions and various limits more skilfully.
Start with Concentration Meditation on Breathing
There is no reason why your child could not master and practice our concentration meditation on breathing. You can help them with guidance and reassurance that it is OK to be distracted. But they can learn to focus better with time. Their life will become richer and more emotionally stable.
Kids could be fidgety and demand variety in order for them to be engaged. That is why there are several books around on how to make their meditation practice less monotonous and more varied.
Here are some of the meditation exercises you can try with your kids:
Mindful Magician
Ask kids to move attention from different pictures or objects that they visualise. Use imagery that makes them feel safe, happy and peaceful.
When your kids are safe and happy, they want the whole world including animals to live peacefully and happy.
Magic Body Scan
Our typical body scan can be magical if you ask kids to do it with curiosity and almost as they touch their body parts with a magic wand, almost like they want to feel this magic energy.
Body scan could also be fun if you ask kids to imagine they are slowly smothering their bodies with chocolate. They start with their faces and continue all the way down to the toes. It is fun, they will stop and concentrate on the very small body parts of theirs. This particular body scan method is coming from Zen tradition and it is being used for hundreds of years.
Kids are able to forget their worries and get out of their own selves – this gives their egos a well-deserved rest.
Mindful Carpet
First of all, ask kids to imagine a magical carpet that floats in a blue sky, they can simply relax and feel the air, observe a big lake and a tree from above, land next to it and feel warm. They can imagine playing with their pets and toys on that carpet. Ask them to visualise the journey and feel playful with this exercise.
Happiness ‘Right Here, Right Now’
Ask kids to make a collage of things that make them happy. They can also draw. In case they need prompts, you can suggest sweets, the things that make them happy short term. Or their friends or parents, something more long term. Kids should feel energised and full of warmth.
Group Meditation ‘Wishes’
If you are meditating with your kids, you can form a small group. Suggest visualizing a ball and prompt to fill it with loving and kind wishes for anything or anyone in the world. Ask what would they wish for their pets or friends or teachers. You can connect not only with their creativity but develop kindness as well.
We invite you to try a very simple meditation for kids today and should you have any questions, please shoot us a message.
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