Meditation Exercises For Children
Today, children are bombarded with excessive activities, screens, a lot of information … Their lives are busy and, believe it or not, little ones can experience stress, so meditation exercises for children can help relieve symptoms.
One of the most typical ways for parents to notice signs of stress, depression, or anxiety is by observing whether their child is having difficulty falling asleep. Other signs of stress in children include headaches, stomachaches, and hyperactivity. Thus, meditation may be the solution.
A very effective way to help youngsters cope with and process stress is to meditate. Meditation can prevent stress in children and help heal those who face it.
It’s also a wonderful way to help little ones unwind and unwind after a long day, preparing them for a good night’s sleep.
You don’t need to have experiences with meditation yourself to help your child get started. So here are some ways to get started.
Meditation exercises for children
Yoga classes for kids
If your child likes to move, yoga could be a good way to learn the basics of meditation. In the western world, our perception is that yoga is primarily a source of exercise.
However, its origin (thousands of years ago) was for meditation purposes. And now, most yoga classes for kids also include time to relax and meditate.
Teach mindfulness in school
Mindfulness practices offer little tools to calm their bodies, relax their minds, and help them deal with their thoughts.
Mindfulness meditations often focus primarily on the breath – children learn to turn their attention to the breath when their thoughts start to wander. This not only helps kids relax, it also helps them focus better at school.
Deep breathing
Deep breathing is a great technique to teach your child. Breathing is natural for us and helps us regulate ourselves in many ways. When a child becomes nervous, anxious, or stressed, deep breathing can help regain balance.
By teaching deep breathing at home, you can help him remember to use this technique during difficult times of the day.
To start with, you have to focus on your breathing. Talk about the parts of the body where you can feel it. In the nose? Throat? The chest? In the tummy? Ask him to tell you while he breathes.
Inhale for three seconds, hold your breath for three more seconds, exhale for another three seconds, and pause for three more seconds, until you start again.
When you’ve practiced this technique for a while, you can make the sequences longer and longer and the breathing deeper and deeper. This technique is very good for both adults and children who cannot fall asleep. Every time the mind wanders (which it will) it can refocus on counting and breathing.
Mantras in meditation
You can rehearse saying mantras with your child. In this sense, by repeating the same prayer that both you and your child consider important, it can also help them to meditate. Rehearse the sentence and adjust it so that it is easy to say; have your child repeat it with their eyes closed.
Some examples of mantras that work are
- I love my life and life corresponds to me.
- I am always loved and love comes easily to me.
- My heart is full of love and I love myself more than anything.
- What does not suit me I let go.
- I am thankful for…
- The world is a safe place and my home, more.
- I have everything I need and I learn to take good care of myself.
- My body is healthy and my mind is strong.
Meditation exercises for children at bedtime
Meditation exercises at bedtime are very useful to calm the nervous system and reduce the level of stress hormones of the little one. In general, a child can meditate for as many minutes as his age. However, if meditation makes your child relax, it can last longer and will ease the transition to sleep.
To achieve this, you will have to provide a calm and peaceful environment in your child’s bedroom, with soft lighting, soft music and even aromatherapy. Your little one will learn to relax his mind and body, and it will be much easier for him to fall asleep and rest.
As you can see, there are different ways of meditation and you can choose the one that best suits the needs and capacities of your children. What are you waiting for to put them into practice?
