To be in harmony with oneself, to be calm and balanced is the natural desire of everyone. Children, like adults, can experience contradictions of various kinds, and often meditation helps to cope with them and cope with themselves. To teach a child to meditate and show him the various options for this process, it is necessary to master the basic principles of meditation and teaching methods.
Features:
Meditation for children is a means of helping and supporting a child in various situations, makes it possible to calm oneself, helps to cope with fears and emotions, because it is important to teach your child to use such techniques. Children's psyche is very susceptible to outside influence, especially in the modern world, where the role of media and modern technology is very significant. Parents should monitor the child's condition and progress on a daily basis in order to notice any deviations in time. The most common difficulties children face are:
- excess energy;
- problems in relationships with peers;
- pressure from teachers;
- difficulty concentrating at school;
- problems with relationships with friends;
- self-esteem problems;
- poor control over your emotions: fear, anger, anxiety, sadness.
Meditations can be carried out at any time of the day, using various techniques.... For the little ones, the most convenient and acceptable way will be a session before bedtime, allowing you to relieve stress, relax and remove all fears and worries.
The essence of working with children is to help them understand themselves, learn to control their feelings and emotions.
Parents should not force the child to meditate, this activity should be voluntary and bring extremely positive emotions. To keep the baby interested, parents should serve as an example and meditate from time to time, showing with their whole appearance how well they are. Young children are prone to copying, they will gladly repeat the actions of mom or dad, joining a new, useful activity without realizing it.
Preschoolers and children of primary school age begin to receive an excessive load on the psycho-emotional sphere, and not everyone is able to cope with this. If parents see any problems with socialization or self-control, it is worth trying to teach the baby the technique of meditation. For children from 3 to 8 years old, there is a variety of exercises that, in a playful way, will allow you to relax and know yourself.
Parents who prepare to meditate with their children, read the right literature and find creative approaches to work with their children, get amazing results than those who take their children to the specialists and force them to meditate. The essence of meditation with younger children is a game, for the older ones it is meditation with elements of yoga and mantra, and teenagers can master any method, the main thing is not to interfere with it.
To help the child, it is important to clearly understand his desires and requirements, to help and promote self-knowledge in every possible way, without pushing or forcing, participating in the process if the child wants it, or giving him personal space for this.
How to teach meditation?
The process of meditation will be different for everyone, especially when it comes to children, but if parents want to help their child, they must make his activities interesting and lively, why it is worth adhering to the following principles.
- Make meditation fun and exciting - children by their nature are active, inquisitive, it is difficult for them to sit still, therefore monotonous sitting on the floor will not arouse any interest in them. Parents should choose the most interesting meditation options that will interest the child. In this case, games are universal that involve the feelings of the baby and allow his imagination to play out. Each exercise should be presented in such a way as to intrigue the little one and make him want to continue working. The choice of methods of influencing babies should be selected based on age and personal characteristics, otherwise it will be difficult to achieve the desired result.
- Use imagination - many physiological processes are not recognized by the child and are taken for granted. Through meditation, one can pay attention to the breath, which is fundamental to meditation. Through imagination, you can come up with games in which the breathing process will play a key role, and the child, without realizing it, will learn to control it. In addition to the parent's attitudes, you can help to escape from reality and be transported into a fictional space thanks to a specially designated area for classes, in which there will be a fabulous or fantastic atmosphere.
- Adjust the time of the sessions - It is difficult for children to sit in place for a long time, so you should not hold them forcibly, forcing them to sit for 20-30 minutes, the optimal duration of the lesson will be 5-15 minutes. In order not to be mistaken with the choice of time for meditation, you can use the formula: child's age + 1, where children at 5 years old should practice 6 minutes, at 9 years old - 10 minutes. This rule is perfect for children under 10 years old who still have difficulty controlling their activity. If you do not overload your son or daughter with classes, then they will gladly carry them out, enjoying the process.
- Be an example for your child - in order to interest the kid and stimulate him to come to the practice of meditation on his own, you should start meditating yourself. Striving to imitate Mom and Dad will help your little one become familiar with meditation. If the parents meditate on their own, without forcing the child and not telling what they are doing, then sooner or later the baby will become interested and ask. With the right approach, you can make your crumbs a strong desire to do something new with their parents, to be an adult and do something extraordinary.
- Support your child during and after meditation - in order to develop awareness of the procedure and learn to better understand your child, it is important to communicate with him after the procedure, ask about his feelings, share your feelings. A dialogue between a parent and a child will allow you to get closer, get to know each other better and master the technique of meditation correctly.
- Soberly evaluate the results - the benefits and benefits of meditation can come at different times. Parents should not expect changes in the behavior of their child after a week or a month of classes, for everyone this process goes differently, it is important not to demand results, but to support in the process of work, no matter how long it takes.
The correct approach to meditation, support and parents' own example allow the child to change, improve and become better.
Methods
To quickly master the technique of meditation, there are a variety of methods and exercises that are selected taking into account the age and any other characteristics of the child. The most popular and effective are these.
- "Third Eye" - you need to take a small pebble and put it on the child's forehead, asking him to imagine its color, size, weight, warmth or cold, feel it, at the same time relax and breathe calmly. If children get tired of lying, you can offer them to take different positions, holding a pebble on their forehead.
- Breath of the Ocean - having laid the baby on the floor, you need to give him the task to listen to his breathing, which will allow him to hear the sea, the sound of waves. Thanks to this attitude, the child relaxes and controls his breathing.
- "Balloon" - it is necessary to ask the child to take in air so as to inflate the stomach as much as possible, like a balloon, and then slowly deflate it, quietly emitting a hiss. This will allow you to control your breathing and relax.
- "Sound Meditation" - give the task to listen to all sounds in the room, then listen to the quietest. This will calm the child, give him the opportunity to find harmony and self-control.
- "Meditation with the mantra Om" - give the task to the child to close his eyes and pronounce "Om" on the exhale, each repetition should be made more prolonged and quiet. This kind of meditation helps you calm down, relax, unload your head, and even improve sleep.
There are a huge number of different meditation techniques that are used for children and adults, so it is worth trying different options and leaving those that work best and bring pleasure, allow you to relax and know yourself.
