One of the most practiced ways of relaxation is meditation. Meditation helps relieve stress, and helps redirect your thoughts, and regulate your emotions. For these very reasons, it is important to practice meditation with young children. As we may or may not know, or do not acknowledge regularly, children go through a lot of stress daily. Let’s put ourselves in the mind of perhaps a five-year-old. You have been on this earth for merely 5 years. You are expected to adapt to many different environments such as home, school, family, and social environments. You are expected to behave how your parents want you to behave at home, and how your teachers want you to behave at school (which in many cases are not aligned). You are expected to try new foods, and eat your veggies because they are good for you. You have to go to bed at a certain time, and wake up early with added pressure of being independent. You absolutely cannot have temper tantrum. You are expected to know how to express emotions. You are learning all new ideas and concepts. Your imagination gets put in a box because your ideas are too wild for the conditioned mind of adults.
Anyways, I can go on with many factors that can cause a child stress, and anxiety. This is why parent guided meditation with children is so important. Some of you are thinking, “I can’t even get my child to sit down, let alone meditate.” It is very possible. That’s why I call it parent guided meditation. You, as the parent will guide, and participate in meditation with your child. You are modeling the desired behavior.
Many of us have this perception of meditation as sitting in total stillness, and having this outer body experience. There are many different ways to participate in meditation. For children, I suggest:
Deep Breathing Meditation Exercises
For this exercise, I would recommend children 3 and up. Deep breathing exercises can be done in intervals of 2-5 minutes (preferably 5 minutes). It is important to do this exercise in silence, or with meditation music. You may sit in any position that brings you comfort. Parents, you will be your child’s guide by giving instructions such as
“breath in slowly for 3 seconds, now breath out slowly.”
“Okay, let’s breath in and out 2 more times.”
You can also count as your child is breathing. The deep breathing will help your child release pressure from their chest, and calm them. That in itself is regulating their body and emotions. Ways to redirect their thoughts would be to guide their thinking by saying statements such as,
“Now think of a beach, now think of an ocean.”
“Imagine beautiful colorful fish in the ocean.”
After redirecting their thoughts, go back to guiding their breathing techniques. These are just examples to give you an idea on how to use meditation for young children. Once you start, and do it more consistently, you will find what works for your child, and tailor it to fit your child’s attention span and temperament. You will even see rises in your child’s attention span over time. Your child will be just as comfortable and confident as you, the parent when meditation.
The Benefits of Meditation for Young Children
1. Self-regulation- Children who practice meditation learns how to self-regulate their own emotions. By self-regulation, I mean they are able to control their emotions without the help of an adult. They become more in tune with their emotions.
2. Relieve Stress and Anxiety- Meditation will help relieve the stress and anxiety children undergo on a daily basis. It will help us adults to be more in tune with their child’s experiences with stress and anxiety due to the meditation being parent guided. It builds a connection.
3. Proper Breathing- Your child will learn how to breath properly. Your breathing is tied in to your emotional regulation. If you practice deep breathing throughout your day, you are actually relieving stress as it comes. You are releasing stress. Stress is your body’s response to your environment. Your child can learn and practice deep breathing throughout the day, and especially when they are feeling stressed (sad, angry, etc)
4. Increased Focus- Mediation increases focus and cognition in young children. This is one of the most impressive benefits of meditation for young children. It helps them to be more present and aware.
Of course, you will not see a sudden shift like something magical just changed your child’s behaviors after one day and five minutes of meditation. I mean, you may see some immediate behavioral changes such as increased focus and regulation, but meditation is a practice, and I suggest taking 3-5 minutes every day doing this meditation exercise for best results in your child’s behaviors and well-being.