When you hear the words mindful meditation, what do you imagine? Does your mind conjure up the image of a Tibetan monk deep in prayer on a mountain top, or do the words simply make you think of the super bendy, patchouli-wearing gals at your local yoga studio? Before I took up mindful meditation, I have to admit those were the stereotypes that popped into my mind. These days, the words “Mindfulness Meditation” remind me to make time in my day to sit still and be in the moment, listen to a guided meditation on my favorite app or to do some mindful journaling.
Either way, I’m willing to bet, your kids or other people’s children don’t exactly come to mind when the words mindful and meditation come up in conversation. And yet, mindful meditation is a great way to help children of all ages relax and cope with the challenges of everyday life.
Physical Benefits
First off, mindful meditation can help children stay healthy by boosting their immune system, reducing stress, and even lowering their blood pressure. By teaching children how to focus on their breath and become aware of their body, they can learn how to relax their muscles and reduce physical tension. Plus, according to a 2021 Stanford Medicine Study, it can help them sleep better at night, which is always a plus in my book.
“The children who received the (mindfulness techniques) curriculum slept, on average, 74 minutes more per night than they had before the intervention,” said the study’s senior author, Ruth O’Hara, PhD, a sleep expert and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford. “That’s a huge change.”
But the benefits don’t stop there!
Emotional Benefits
Mindful meditation also helps children deal with their emotions in a healthy way. It reduces anxiety and stress, helps them understand and accept their feelings without judgment, and it even increase their empathy towards others. Pretty incredible, isn’t it?
Here’s how it works. In Loving Kindness Meditation, for instance, children are taught to open their hearts through the repetition of four heartfelt wishes that they first send inward to themselves and then outward to their family, friends, community, city, country and so on until they’re able to hold the entire world in the loving-kindness of their attention.
Those four swishes are :
- May you be safe
- May you be healthy
- May you be happy
- May you be peaceful and filled with love
Cognitive Benefits
By improving their concentration and memory retention, children are able to focus better in school and make better decisions. Mindfulness also increases creativity, enhances memory retention, and it improves decision-making skills. According to Bobby Azarian, author of The Mindful Child, “Fundamental principles of neuroscience suggest that meditation can have its greatest impact on cognition when the brain is in its earliest stages of development.”
Social Benefits
Mindful meditation also improves communication skills, increases social awareness, enhances interpersonal relationships thereby reducing bullying. By teaching children how to become more aware of their thoughts, emotions, and actions, they learn to develop greater empathy and understanding for others.
How to Get Your Kids Started with Mindful Meditation
It may seem daunting to try to get your constantly-in-motion child to sit quietly and meditation. But it’s actually fairly simple.
- Find a quiet, comfortable spot, ask them to close their eyes and focus on their breathing. For little children lying down and paying attention to the way their chest rises and falls when they breathe is a good way to help them focus.
- Encourage them to try to clear their mind and just be in the moment. Ask them to listen and focus on the sounds around them. The barking dog across the street, the swishing sound of passing cars, wind in the trees, the comforting snuffling of the dog, etc…
- Their mind will wander and that’s okay! That’s totally normal. Just gently guide them to notice where their mind went, then bring their focus back to their breath and keep trying.
- Practice caring and compassion for themselves and others by offering the four loving kindness wishes: “May we be happy, may we be safe, may we be healthy and may we be peaceful and filled with love.”
The Best Time to Meditate
It’s always a good time to take a few minutes to do some mindful breathing. Do it before bed, after school, or anytime they need to take a break and chill out. Start with just a few minutes a day and work your way up as they get more comfortable with it.
One of the easiest and best times to get a child started with mindful meditation is before bed. Once you’ve gone through your usual bedtime routine, you may find that your little human’s overactive imagination is not ready to wind down. I have a very active daughter whose mind never stops churning. Sound familiar? A slow and meditative body scan meditation (I wrote this one for her when she was little) before bed helps her unwind, relax her body and drift off to sleep more quickly.
The key to successful mindful meditation is not about the length of time spent practicing but simply to make it a regular practice.
Related: Meditation: Common Myths and The Truth About Its Benefits
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