Children's Meditation

Research has shown that when children practice meditation on a regular basis, it can change their brain. Through meditation, brain centers for emotions and executive functioning can be changed and help children in a variety of ways, such as  help children regulate their emotions (thereby having fewer meltdowns), reduce their impulsivity and improve concentration and focus. 

This week listen as Bree teaches you to lead your children through a meditation.

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Have you ever struggled to put your kids to bed because they're so hyper and they can't calm down? Or maybe you have a child who struggles with anxiety and can't shut their brain off before they go to bed. Well, this children's meditation is what I do with my daughter Olivia almost every night. And it's really helped her a lot to build her self-confidence and help her to get better sleep and also work on her anxiety. So I wanted to share this with other moms so that they can try it with their kids. Let's get started. Before I go straight into this meditation, I wanted to talk about how this has actually helped my family so much and kind of the why behind what I have you do. So just to give you a little background, my kids are crazy. Like they have a ton of energy. And I struggled for a really long time to get them to calm down at night. And so what I thought to do was maybe I'll start doing a spa night. So I would put on calming music, and my husband and I would literally get out lotion, like our lavender lotion, and we'd put um essential oil lavender in it, and we would like give them a back massage or a foot massage, and we'd have them lay out on a blanket, and it literally would take seven minutes. It's not a lot of your time, but they loved it. They thought it was the coolest thing ever because it would calm them down at night. Um, but also just like spending that one-on-one time with them and not feeling rushed before bed. It kind of, I don't know, it made them feel really important and they loved it so much. So we kept doing it. And then I started doing little affirmations with them while I was doing the spa night so that they could go to sleep with positive feelings about themselves and they loved that too. So then I thought, well, why don't I just start meditating with them and see how they do? And I will say that my seven-year-old daughter is a lot better at actually going through the exercises and she takes it really seriously. Like, I just laugh. I actually posted this on my Instagram um this week, but I was putting my baby to sleep and I went in to put her down for bed because I always go and tuck them in, and she had a little note on the on her door, and it said, meditation room, please knock before entering. And I opened her door and she had her assault lamp on. She had made herself chamomile tea, which I don't even know how she knew how to like seat the bag, but she had her little mug of tea and she had all the lights off and she had meditation music playing. And she's like, Hi, mom, welcome to my meditation room. I thought it was the cutest thing, but it's really fun to see her like take it and run with it and how much she loves it. And Jamison, he's good. Like he'll lay there and he'll listen. And I know his little spirit takes it in. He's just not quite as mature as Olivia is with it. Um, but I will say children love having one-on-one time with their parents. They love to have that undivided attention, and they also love physical touch. So it's really healing for them when we give them, you know, like these five minutes before bed. And I like to play with their hair or like tickle their face softly or tickle their arms while they meditate to calm them down. And it also helps them to feel safe and loved. Um, but if you think about it, their little spirits feel big emotions every single day. And they don't really know how to deal with those emotions. They don't know why they feel the things they feel. They don't know how to fix them, they don't know how to let those emotions go. And so it's all kind of trapped inside their body. And if we have a way to help them, it like I think that we should. And so that's why I'm really passionate about meditation. And when I posted about Liv's little meditation room, I had so many DMs, like, can you please share more? I want to try this with my daughter. I don't know where to start. So that's why I'm doing this podcast. I wanted to walk you through what I created for my family and why I ask certain questions. So, first, I have them do a body scan and focus on their breathing. And this helps children to calm their mind and focus on one thing, which is really good for their brain. If your child has ADD or ADHD, it might take them a minute, like before they actually can focus on their breath. And they might come in and out of the meditation, and that's okay. You never want to have judgment for them or for yourself. Like just simply bring them back lovingly and just try again where you left off. Because we want this to be a positive experience for your child so that they want to keep doing it with you. So when I have my kids visualize and address negative emotions that they had that day, it shows them that they can let go and replace it with good uplifting feelings. And when we acknowledge the hard feelings, we're validating them. We let them know that they're important and that we see them and we're connecting with them on such a deeper level and they feel and they feel like they're seen and that they're heard. And that's a really important thing for our kids. So after we do the body scan and we have them relax each part of their body, they focus on their breath, we release the negative emotions and address them. And uh when we release the negative emotions and replace them with good, we're helping them to see that it's a choice. They can choose what they feel, they're in control of their own emotions. And in fact, whenever I replace Olivia's emotions with positive, she's always smiling with her eyes closed. It's really cute. Like even subconsciously, she can feel the energy shift inside of her. So after we've taken out the bad emotions, we've replaced it with the good, then you don't have to do this part if you don't believe in God, but we believe in God, and this is an important part for my children because I want them to have a strong relationship with Christ. Um, so this is what I do. So I um have Olivia imagine that she's standing or sitting with Jesus and that she can feel his light and love. And she, I ask her to listen to whatever his message is for her that day. And it's really cute because it's always different for Olivia. And I want to teach her to listen to her own intuition and let her know that she can hear her own promptings. She has her own intuition, she has her own relationship with Christ. And when I validate her in whatever she's hearing from Christ, she becomes a lot more confident in that and she wants to keep trying to connect. And that's really important for me. So I love having her visualize that. Um, and then depending on the time, I will also ask her to visualize her spirit or her highest and best self. So I'll have her describe like what does your spirit look like? How does she act? What feelings does she feel? And I know this can be a little deeper, deeper for some kids. I don't usually do this with Jamison because he doesn't really get it yet, but Olivia loves it and she loves to talk to her spirit and see what message her spirit has for her as well. And I always have her visualize hugging her spirit. And the reason I do this is because it's so easy to feel disconnected from our spirit with distractions. Like, what is our true purpose? What are we doing here? Or we lose sight of what we actually want in life because of the distractions. And so we're living this life of chaos, or we feel anxious. We get this anxious feeling. And when we slow down and listen to our own spirit and what she has to say, we can live in alignment with our true purpose. So I really want to teach Olivia how to do that young and how to get in tune with her own spirit and her own body so that as she gets older, she knows to listen to that and she has intuition for it. And also it gives her confidence that she can receive her own, you know, spiritual revelation for herself and and what's it, what's gonna work for her and her her body and her journey here. And anyway, I'm getting deep, but yes, that's why I do that. Um, then I have her do one last body scan and kind of melt into the bed so that she's fully relaxed. And um, she usually will just either be passed out or she'll just roll over and say goodnight because she's like mentally she's so relaxed that she just goes right to sleep. So I know it sounds like a lot, but I hope walking you through the process will help you see what works for us and the why behind what I do. And I do have to say that I have found that this is really just what like has helped me and my kids. So I experiment with meditation with them all the time. I don't know if you know that I am a mindfulness and meditation coach. And so I love like practicing on them, and this is their favorite format. Like they always say, Mom, have me do this one, have me do, remember how you have me do this? And so I've kind of perfected it to be what has really been their favorite. So I want you to try it with your kids. Here, we're I'm gonna go into the meditation right now. So if you ever want to um do this meditation with your children, just start right here and it'll go right into the meditation. So here we go. I want you to find a comfortable spot to lay down. Maybe you're in your bed or you're on the couch, but lay down on your back, and I want you to focus on your breathing. So let's start by taking a really deep breath in and just let it go. Good. Get all our wiggles out. Sometimes it's hard to relax our bodies, but it feels really good when we can hold really still. So let's try one more time. Take a big deep breath in and breathe it out. I want you to focus on relaxing your jaw. So sometimes when we get stressed or we get up tight, we clench our jaw. I want you to relax your jaw, and I want you to relax your shoulders and pretend like you're kind of sinking into your bed. So your legs are getting a little heavier, your arms are getting a little heavier, your hands are a little more relaxed. You have nowhere to be and nothing to do but lay right here. Focus on how the breath comes in and out of your chest. Is it shallow? Are you breathing slowly or are you breathing fast? Focus on the rise and fall of your chest. And just let all the stress of the day wash away. I want you to think of all of the negative feelings that you had today. Were you angry at someone? Did you get in a fight with your little brother or a sibling? I want you to think of all of those feelings that you had today, and you're going to say, I choose to release and let go. So say I choose to re I choose to release and let go feelings of, and then just name everything that made you upset today. Maybe it was anger, frustration, not feeling good enough, feeling overwhelmed, feeling sad, feeling lonely. Whatever feelings you have, I want you to think about it now and release them. Once you've released those negative emotions that don't make you feel good, we're gonna replace them with happy feelings that are positive and uplifting and make you feel really good. So I want you to visualize this beautiful bright white light. And it's coming down through the top of your head, and it's cleaning out all of those sad feelings that you are feeling today, and it's gonna clean them out and take them out of your body, down through your legs, down through your feet, and out towards the bottom of your bed. They're no longer in your body anymore, and you're filled with this beautiful white light. We're going to replace these feelings with positive, happy feelings that make you feel really good about yourself. So you can say, I am strong, I am brave, I am calm, I am smart, I am loving, I am a good listener. I am perfect just the way I am. I am kind to my friends and my siblings. I can do anything I put my mind to. I am patient with myself and others. Now that you're filled with this beautiful white light, I want you to visualize that you are standing with Jesus, and he's standing right in front of you, and he gives you a giant hug. What message does Jesus have for you today? I want you to give one more big hug to Jesus and let him fill you up with his unconditional love and light. Now I want you to visualize your spirit. Let's focus on our breathing one more time. We're gonna take a deep breath in. Deep breath out. And look at how beautiful that bright white light is shining through our body. How happy and peaceful and content we feel.