Guided Meditation

Meditation with your Children- Do you set a time to relax and meditate with your children?

Independently of any culture, religion or belief, I think practising the art of Meditation is a lovely and useful skill that I want to foster at home. When I introduced meditation to Chanel I thought it would be difficult for her to stay still and relax as toddlers usually have a short spam attention. However, if you invite them when they are calm and rested it can be achieved, and it can be taught. I have been looking for resources and found these great Guided relaxation scripts issued by the Green child Magazine which we have been enjoying for some time. You can download them free and read them to your child during the day or at bed time.

Two other great resources for introducing meditation to toddlers and older children are Bedtime Meditations for Kids and Sitting Still Like a Frog.

When trying to incorporate meditation activities at home these are some useful tips you can try:

Invite your child when they are feeling calm, and well rested.
Explain and model the mindful position
Invite him to lie down and to focus on the moment noticing his breath, how their chest rises and falls with the breath, or if they are younger, ask him to to touch with their chest/tummy to notice the breath. If you do the same, then you are both anchored in that moment together. Breathe deeply a few times and close their eyes or give them something to look on.
Use your imagination or a guided meditation here
Model it, practise it and enjoy this time together. Even if your child does it for a minute or two, it is enough and he can still appreciate the principles of meditation.
With time and practise your child will be practising meditation on his own.