Meditation For Kids – Importance and Benefits

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If we were able to harness mindfulness and meditation from an early age, what would the world look like? Here’s why we need to have our kids adopt a regular meditation practice.

“Mindfulness isn’t difficult, we just need to remember to do it.” ~Sharon Salzberg

Human beings by changing the inner attitudes of their minds can change the outer aspect of their lives. One of the most wonderful things about being young in the sense that we still have the whole world in front of us. We haven’t yet fixed the path One way or the other and the horizon seems to extend endlessly before us. It’s an exciting time.

We want children to be healthy and happy, not just now but for the rest of their lives. And teaching them about meditation early would help them do just that. Meditation involves mindfulness and breathing techniques to achieve a calm state of mind. It may help reduce stress, anxiety, and pain and promote well-being in teens. It may also have some positive impact on psychological, neurological, and cardiovascular health.

Benefits of Meditation for Children

The mind of the child is constantly observing, questioning, discovering, and building assumptions.

Meditation can help kids tune into this process and assist them with learning emotional regulation and achieving cognitive growth.

While meditation provides adults numerous benefits such as less stress and better decision-making skills, children get a different set of perks from this practice.

Meditation Enhance focus

In just a generation or two, things have changed so much that our attention spans can’t keep up. Between social media and technological gadgets, kids – and adults – are constantly surfing the internet, interacting via social media, and playing video games indoors instead of reading a book, taking a walk, or playing sports. Children who grow up with their noses in their devices often find it difficult to focus and remain attentive. Meditation teaches them that it’s possible to direct their attention at one thing at a time and that it feels great not to be distracted.

Meditation helps In Fostering compassion and self-esteem

Claire talked about her night visions where she is bullied by her friends for not being attractive and fat. These dreams still bother her in the night and she wakes up tiring and all panicking.

Due to pressures and circumstances beyond their control (and sometimes beyond anyone’s control), kids may sometimes feel like they’re not able to pass muster. This can be tough sometimes, especially when a child is bullied or badly teased by others. Most of the insecurities people have as adults can be traced back to their childhoods. The good news is that meditation can bolster children’s feelings of security, empathy, and inner stability, and this, in turn, builds compassion, joy, and self-esteem. Meditation teaches kids – and adults – that right now is enough.

“You must be really wondering to be able to go back in time and mediate in your childhood”.

Meditation Supports Healthy Emotional Development

In our fast-paced lifestyle, children are having to face even more “fears” than ever before. Fears of not being accepted, fears of too much change, fears of losing loved ones, or simply fears of not being enough. We want kids to be able to navigate through phases of insecurity, frustration, and impatience without too much distress. But prolonged fear-based stress on a child’s emotional development can be debilitating and have long-term repercussions.

Thankfully, meditation allows children to access their natural rhythm of self-awareness and mindfulness — two key components of self-soothing, problem-solving, patience, and facing fears.

By teaching meditation to children, you can help them become aware of this natural state and consequently help them to overcome any obstructive, negative emotions.

Meditation helps in Building empathy and happiness

It’s commonly known that meditation increases compassion — empathy and compassion directly stem from the awareness state of mind, a distinct outcome of mindfulness meditation.

But there’s now tangible, scientific evidence of how mindfulness meditation increases kindness, compassion, and connectivity among adults and children alike.

Meditation improves children’s attention span and their ability to focus on specific things in their environment. It also creates neural pathways that allow children to see the interconnectedness of human suffering regardless of their relationships. Regular loving-kindness or mindful meditation builds self-love, compassion, and human or environmental connection on multiple levels.

Teaching Kids Meditation Is Easier Than We Think

Have you ever watched a toddler eat their food? Before they take a bite of it, they thoroughly examine it — they smell it, take it apart, poke it with their fingers, bite it and spit it out.

Children naturally exercise mindfulness – they have fewer mental barriers, biases, and pre-determined beliefs that allow them to experience a pure state of mindfulness. In contrast, as adults, we believe it takes practice and effort to meditate or to achieve mindfulness because we need to consciously rid ourselves of preconceived thoughts, fears, and beliefs that inhibit our natural state of awareness.

Does this thought pitched into your mind – If I Had A Time Machine, Go Back and Meditate as A Kid.

Kids learn by watching, observing, and really soaking at the moment. All eyes are on you, so be sure to set a solid example of how to incorporate meditation into your daily life.

You can start by dedicating a special area in your home or school for a regular meditative practice, one that is comfortable and free of distractions.

Children learn well with games and fun exercises so you can start by playing a game of who can be the quietest or breathing exercises that incorporate following a fun rhythm or with playful music.

You can also show children how beautiful and interesting silence can be — how quiet time can give perspective and help us reflect on what we’re truly thinking or feeling.

Meditation Techniques for Kids

Control over thoughts

This technique is one of the best ways to reduce stress. You may ask your kid to count from 1 to 10. They should keep repeating it until they feel they are free of any unwanted thoughts. This way of meditation may help them to tackle unwanted thoughts that often come to their mind.

Thought counting

You may ask your child to sit in a relaxed position and count their thoughts using small balls, beads, seeds, etc. Each time they get a thought, they should move one ball, bead, etc., to another group. Ask them to try for a few minutes, and you may notice that the number of thoughts decreases after some time.

Deep breathing

Ask your kid to close their eyes, sit straight, and do deep breathing or abdominal breathing. They should breathe in deeply following the sound of the breath from the nose to deep down and breathe out gently after a few seconds. Next, ask them to listen to the sounds around them and not focus on their thoughts. This technique can be practiced by listening to or feeling your heartbeat as well.

Love/ kindness meditation (Especially for Teens)

This is more demanding than the other techniques in teens. It involves forgiveness, kindness, and love towards someone who had hurt you in the past.

You may ask your teen to sit comfortably, close their eyes, and remember all the good times they had. They can also repeat something like “let me enjoy happiness” as a mantra.

Next, tell your teen to forgive and feel kind towards the person who hurt them. This compassion meditation can fill your teen with positive thoughts

RELATED: Benefits of cooking with Kids 

Meditation Music For Kids

In today’s world of ongoing technology, there is a resource available for almost everything. Studies show that listening to music can benefit overall well-being, help regulate emotions, and create happiness and relaxation in everyday life. Help your kids to find inner peace and calmness through these comforting sounds and music. They can simply listen to these tunes, or use them as background music during meditation.

Deep Meditation Music For Kids click here

Time: 31 Minutes

Inspiring orchestral music enhances all types of meditation in this 31-minute meditation music track. The moving music is reminiscent of your favorite movie soundtrack and allows you to access a deeply emotional and contemplative state of mind

Pereehali by Dmitry Evgrafov click here

Time: 3-5 Minutes (Each Track)

Even a couple of minutes of peace and tranquility can bring a whole new wave of relaxation, perspective, and a positive mind-set. Gentle modern classical piano music by Russian composer, Dmitry Evgrafov, can be enjoyed as seven individual 2-3 minutes tracks or in its entirety as an album.

Around and Around click here

Time: 1.5 Minutes

This meditation song will instantly put a smile on your child’s face (and on yours). Especially good for times of stress or anxiety, it’s a quick song, but it’s a sure way to lift your spirit and your soul.

Sea Relaxation: Deep Meditation Music for Kids click here

Time: 55 Minutes

Enjoy the relaxing sounds of the sea in a stunning backdrop of a beach in Sardinia, Italy, to access deep stillness and calm. This YouTube video is excellent if your kids have a full hour to unwind and meditate.

If every 8-year-old in the world is taught meditation we will eliminate violence from the world within one generation.

 – Dalai Lama

Mindfulness and Meditation Apps for Kids

Closing Note

Habits formed early in life will inform behaviors in adulthood, and with mindfulness, we have the opportunity to give our children the habit of being peaceful, kind, and accepting. Children of all ages can benefit from mindfulness, the simple practice of bringing a gentle, accepting attitude to the present moment. It can help parents and caregivers, too, by promoting happiness and relieving stress.

References:

1. Julie Corliss; Mindfulness meditation may ease anxiety, mental stress; Harvard Medical School(2014).