Meditation is about focusing your mind to help you relax your mind and body and achieve an emotionally calm state. It helps to train your mind to live in the present moment rather than dwelling on past or future events. It’s not about turning off your thoughts or stopping your feelings – it’s about observing them without judgement, from a wider perspective.
Benefits of meditation
By teaching children to be aware of what is going on with their thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations, you are laying the groundwork for them to be able to navigate a wide range of challenging or uncomfortable situations that they may experience in life. That’s why it’s so beneficial to teach meditation to kids.
Studies have shown that meditation can offer the following benefits
- Meditation can reduce stress and anxiety
- Meditation can increase self-awareness
- Meditation can support us regulating negative emotions
- Meditation can improve focus and concentration
- Meditation can increase patience and tolerance
- Meditation can increase creativity and imagination
- Meditation can improve sleep quality
- Meditation can lower blood pressure and increase heart health
- Meditation can boost our immune system.
Learning to meditate is the same as learning any other skill, it can take some time and practice to get better at it, but it is a skill worth mastering. It is a great way to be kind to ourselves, and can also help us be kind to others.
Remember to begin teaching mindfulness techniques such as meditation to your child when they are calm. As with all new information, children learn best when they are in a calm state of mind. The more you practice mindfulness techniques, the more your child will then be able to use them when things do get stressful. For more tips on getting started see separate blog post here.
Meditation Exercises for Children
Contrary to popular belief meditation is not limited to conscious meditation where you sit with your legs crossed and eyes closed. It can be said that you are meditating or mindful whenever you are performing any activity that means you are fully focused on the present moment. This could include drawing, painting, dancing, singing or listening to music. Have fun trying different methods with your child and find what work best.
Here are some other simple ways you can start encouraging your child to be mindful and practicing meditation.
Ask your children to notice and name their body sensations, thoughts, and emotions. The more insight our kids have into their inner experience, the better. Here’s an example of a two-minute body scan meditation you could try. Ask your child to sit or lie down with their eyes closed, then go through the below with a 5 second pause between each:
- Notice your head. Do you feel anything there? Does your mind feel busy or calm?
- Now notice the muscles around your eyes. Relax those muscles. Do you feel tired or awake?
- Notice your breath coming in and out of your nose.
- Relax your shoulders and neck.
- Now notice your belly. Is it relaxed? Do you feel hungry or not?
- Be aware of your legs and your feet. What sensations do you feel there?
A simple body scan like this can help kids tune into their own bodies and also realise that some of their emotions might stem from a lack of awareness about how their bodies feel.
Have a deep breath hug together. Hug your child and take three deliberate, deep breaths together. Use it as you say good morning or goodnight, or when you feel that they could use a calming hug.
Practice Mindful Eating. Ask them to observe the food they are eating, paying attention to appearance, scent, feel, and taste.
Ask them to count their breaths. Either lying down or sitting up with a hand resting on their belly, ask them to notice the inhale and exhale, the rising and falling of their belly. Count the inhales and the exhales, at first out loud, then silently on their own. You can find lots of other breathing exercises for children in a separate post here.
Describe your own process of noticing and using the breath to calm yourself. Tell them when you are feeling stressed for example, “oh, I am feeling overwhelmed right now. I need to take a few deep breaths. Right, now I feel calmer.”
Take a mindful walk. Go out in nature and ask your child to tell you what they see, hear, smell, feel. You can even turn it into a fun nature hunt.
Give them time and space to be mindful. Whenever possible, allow them to explore at their own pace. Create time for this to occur naturally.
You could also try meditation games. For example:
- Simon Says – see who can listen closely and follow directions like an expert
- Balancing Games – determine who can hold tree pose the longest or balance a ball on a wobbly surface.
Repeat simple meditation mantras. I am calm, let it go, I am thankful, etc.
By gradually introducing some of these techniques to children over time, your kids will start to intuitively sense the basics of meditation. You can then move on to more advanced forms of meditation. Only when kids are ready should you encourage them to practice conscious sitting meditation.
When they are ready you also could download a meditation app with child friendly meditations. Sleep meditations could be a good one to start with. Take your time, have fun with it and enjoy!