Teaching mindfulness meditation to children lessons their anxieties and fears. So, by now you are asking what is mindful meditation. Mindful meditation is sitting or lying down in a quiet place. Then you select an audio meditation and listen to someone guide you through a process that deactivates your brain. Once your brain begins to resonate with peaceful thoughts. Your body relaxes and the tension and anxieties of the day will dissipate. You are taking a journey into your subconscious where the fears and anxieties exist and planting seeds of quiet resolve. After a few weeks, the practice becomes something that you look forward to. You find you have the ability to choose more and react less. You are learning to quiet your mind, anxieties and fears. How does this work with children?
How Does Mindful Meditation Work With Children?
Actually, mindfulness meditation works the same for children. Yes, the only difference is finding the time and place with which to initiate the practice. I recommend that the mindful meditations are played at nap time or bedtime. The children are already programmed for this to happen during their day. For this reason, it provides them the ability to settle down. For the most part, their unconscious fears and anxieties resonate with the music and words instilling those seeds of quiet resolve. Continue to play the meditation everyday for a few weeks. Slowly, children process the calming feelings and use them when needed.
What About Story Time? Does Mindful Meditation Replace It?
Does mindful meditation replace story time? Absolutely not! Story time is a very important quality activity between children and their caregivers. It helps them to leave their concerns behind and respond to the actions and words of their characters. Undoubtedly, story time promotes empathy, caring, creativity, etc. It’s value is endless. By the same token, mindful mediation works with the unconscious to lessons those fears and anxieties triggered in their interaction with their peers, families and community. Therefore, the two work in conjunction with each other. Combining the two is powerful and gives children the ability to manage their own emotional well-being. Below is a mindful meditation that I created with my character CJ. It is found on my YouTube Channel and it is free!
I look forward to hearing your feedback and how your children felt after listening to it. Certainly, this is all a part of developing emotional intelligence in young malleable minds.
EQ for Children Website | Visit My YouTube Channel
Little Renegades Mindfulness for Kids/ Resource