MEDITATIONS FOR CHILDREN
Children can meditate too, in fact they are quite good at it - once you get past their giggles and fidgetiness. As a teacher, I know that kids love visualizing - they do it all the time, even when they are reading - and that is a technique used in many guided meditations.
Why Should Children Meditate?
Meditation is great for helping all aspects of children's wellbeing. It helps them to relax, get centred, feel peaceful, and be more in tune with themselves, their bodies, their imagination, their creativity and their intuitiveness. It helps calm them down. It is also beneficial for their sleep. You can use meditation as a way to help children feel safe, secure and ready for bed. It can also help them if they are having any fears or bad dreams.
Tips for Children Meditations:
Try the children's meditations below (you can even try them for yourself!):
Tips for Children Meditations:
- Meditation can be done at any time - it can be more difficult when they are hypo or over-stimulated.
- Try incorporating it as part of your night time routine.
- To set the scene, be in a safe, comfortable setting where you are unlikely to be disturbed. You can also play some soft instrumental background music (have a look on You Tube if you don't have any).
- Do it together and make it fun.
Try the children's meditations below (you can even try them for yourself!):
THE RAINBOW BREATH
The meditation below is from:
http://www.rainbowcrystalconnection.com
This breath is good for general WELLNESS, feeling
HAPPY and BALANCED!
Children love this breath,
you can do it as quickly or slowly as you like.
http://www.rainbowcrystalconnection.com
This breath is good for general WELLNESS, feeling
HAPPY and BALANCED!
Children love this breath,
you can do it as quickly or slowly as you like.
|
1. Imagine you are standing in front of a giant rainbow.
2. Breathe in the colour red. Feel it grounding and energising you. 3. Breathe in the colour orange. Feel it centering and calming you. 4. Breathe in the colour yellow. Feel it filling you with joy. 5. Breathe in the colour green. Feel it opening your heart with love and delight. 6. Breathe in the colour blue. Feel it strengthening your immune system. 7. Breathe in the colour indigo. Feel it clearing your mind. 8. Breathe in the colour violet. Feel it filling you full of creativity. 9. Wash all of the rainbow colours over you like a beautiful fountain of coloured light. 
Meaning of the Rainbow Colours
Each colour is also associated with our main 7 chakras. RED - Assists children to be connected to the Earth. ORANGE - For warming and inspiring. YELLOW - For being happy and sunny. GREEN - Helps with matters of the heart. BLUE - For cooling, calming and communication. INDIGO - For accessing inner wisdom and visualising. VIOLET/LAVENDER - For enhancing spirituality. |
|
Child's Bedtime Meditation by Sue Dribben-Dickson
You can keep your eyes open for a minute and sort of look upward, but you don't have to look at anything special. I will count downward from ten to one and you can just blink your eyes slowly---like in slow motion---with every number.
Ten...nine...eight...seven...six...five...four...three...two...and one. Now you can close your eyes and keep them closed and I will tell you why we did that.
That was just to relax your eyelids. And right now, in your eyelids, you might notice a tired feeling, a pleasant feeling or a sort of comfortable, heavy feeling. You can pretend that this heavy or tired feeling is spreading out and going to other parts of your body. See if you can imagine the feeling going to your face and your head...to your arms and hands...to your chest and your back...then down to your legs and feet...even all the way out to the tips of your toes.
And soon you may begin to feel heavy or light, but heavy or light in a nice way. This is what being relaxed means. You don't have to do anything. You can hear my voice, but you don't really have to listen to it. You can hear my voice, but at the same time you could be doing other things, like listening to music or looking at colors or quietly playing in your mind. It really doesn't matter.
You might find yourself drifting or you might hear all that I say. You can imagine yourself going to play safely near the ocean or a lake or even a pool.
Perhaps it is a nice warm day, but not too hot because there are a few clouds in the sky. If you are playing in the sand, you may notice that it gets cooler as you dig down, and the more you dig down, the cooler it all gets.
If there are friends around, you may wish to splash in the water. You can have fun splashing and playing. The air smells nice and fresh. Maybe you feel so good that you want to tell your friends just how good you feel.
It is good just to be alive, just to be you.
As you play in the water or run on the sand, you can meet other friends and talk with them also. Maybe they will walk with you and talk with you at the same time. The warm sand feels good on your feet. And even though you are having a great time, you may want to lie down on the beach and rest a while.
If you take a deep breath, you can feel very quiet. Maybe you can begin to go exploring with a flashlight. A special flashlight that shines anywhere and you can imagine that light in your head and let it shine inside of you.
This light shows the place of your dreams and it gives you spiritual strength.
Right near this place you can shine your special white light flashlight to another place in your head also, but this new place is your intuition. That means that this is the place where you can know things without anybody telling you. You can keep your nice special secrets here also; this is a comfortable and warm place.
Now you can picture more light---a beautiful clear white light, and you can put it in your neck and throat area. This is a special place for rest and tranquility. You may get good ideas or inspiration from this place also.
Now you can bring your special flashlight and shine it in your heart area.
Make your light shine real bright, for this is a special place of harmony and balance and love.
Now bring your light---your clear white light---into your stomach area. This is the place of wisdom and creativity; here is energy and zest for life.
Continue down, bringing your special light to below your stomach. And let your light shine bright, for this is the seat of your soul. Here is a place of spiritual awakening.
And now, where your legs meet your body, you can shine your light. This is the place of new life, and a special place of physical strength and stamina.
And now, shine your white light all around your entire body, splash your body with wonderful light. And you shine with the light that is within you. This special light can help you and heal you and encourage you to grow happy and joyful.
There are many blessings surrounding you. You can say to yourself, "I am so very thankful." And being thankful helps you to feel good. And feeling good can help you have nice dreams. And in a little while, when you gently drift into your night's sleep, you can have good dreams, happy dreams. And tomorrow bring back something good, something special from your dreams.
And tomorrow, when you awaken, you can feel good and say, "I had a wonderful sleep." You are resting your body, your mind, and your spirit. You may already be drifting into quiet, gentle sleep. You can go at your own pace. You are growing each day and you are safe and we love you very much.
(If you are playing background music, allow the music to continue playing softly for a few minutes.)
|
|
|
