The Holiday Season is filled with music, parties, social events, family get-togethers and a joyful disruption of our usual routines. It’s a wondrous time of year.
Still, many people are stricken with gradually increasing anxiety as we move toward the year-end holidays. This can be especially true for children.
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Why are children stressed during the Holiday Season?
These can be exceedingly stressful weeks for your children.
Fear, tension, and insecurity are often lurking just below the surface of their outward excitement because they are drawn into emotional family gatherings and other situations that can be intimidating.
They may also be wrapping up a segment of their school year and navigating social events with their friends – each with its own basketful of stressors.
Children of all ages are just beginning to learn how to deal with the pressure and stress of this hectic increase in social activity and exposure. It’s hard on adults, so you can easily imagine how it can affect your kids.
No matter their age, you can help you children through these times by introducing them to meditation.
What is meditation?
Meditation is a means of helping your kids free themselves from harmful thoughts, unsettling ideas, and negative influences.
You don’t need any special skill or training. I’m not talking about having to sit on the floor in the Lotus position while humming or chanting. You can be yourself and act naturally. The goal is to relax, take in positive energy, and shed negative energy.
It’s easy to meditate with your children. As a bonus, you will reap the benefits as much as they do.
What are the benefits of meditation?
When you meditate, you give yourself and your children an invaluable gift because:
Your minds becomes calm. You each slowly release troubling thoughts and worries and allow your minds to relax. You and your children will feel tension seep from your muscles.
Your bodies heal. Your doctor will tell you that stress and anxiety have a negative impact on the organs in your body and hamper your body’s ability to mend itself. Your calm minds and relaxed bodies will be healthier because of meditating.
You enhance your clarity. Once you and your children shed anxieties and stresses, your minds will be free to think positive, uncluttered thoughts.
You balance your energy. All humans have energy. You’ve experienced it when you’ve seen a someone having a difficult day – you sense it by observing their posture and feeling their negative energy. The same is true with positive energy. When you and your children meditate, you can balance the positive energy in your bodies while expelling negative energy.
You will grow closer. Meditating together can strengthen the bond between you and your children because you help empower each other to become more relaxed, more focused, and better able to deal with the stressors of daily life.
How can you get your kids to meditate?
This may seem a daunting challenge. It’s easier than you might imagine.
Here are simple guidelines. You know your kids better than anyone else knows them, so you may want to adjust your approach when applying them with your kids.
Respect children of any age by explaining what meditation is, and its benefits. It’s best if you relate the benefits to your kids’ current situation. For instance, if they’re struggling at school or having a problem with a friend, you can present meditation as a means of dealing with the stress related to that specific problem.
Fit meditation into their lives. Don’t dictate when or how you’ll meditate together – let your children have a say so they feel in control and don’t feel bullied.
Invite your children to meditate with you. Your invitation is a hundred times more effective than an order or nagging.
Set an example by meditating on your own. When they see you meditate and witness the benefits, they will be inclined to explore with you.
How do you meditate with your kids?
The wonderful thing about meditation is that everyone can figure out the technique that works best for them.
A basic starting technique can be to gently remind your children why you are meditating and then do the following while facing them and calmly instruct them to mimic you as you:
Stand up with your feet flat on floor and even with your shoulders
Push your weight into the floor so that you feel connected
Spread your fingers five times
Spread your toes five times
Reach up, put your palms together, and then slowly bring your arms to your side five times
Breath deeply with each motion. Inhale slowly through your nose and exhale slowly through your mouth.
For more detailed information about meditation techniques, click on thepeacefulsage.com.
How long do you have to meditate?
You can enjoy the benefits of meditating with your children in as little as 1 or 2 minutes each day.
Once you are more experienced with meditating and have grown to appreciate the benefits, you may wish to spend more time, but it isn’t necessary.
When is the best time to meditate with my children?
Everyone is different, but most people discover that it is most effective to meditate with your children right before they hop into bed at night.
Your kids can get ready for bed and then then join you in a brief meditation before slipping between their covers. It’s okay to read them a bedtime story after they’ve meditated and are lying in bed.
They’ll get a better night’s sleep because their minds and bodies are cleansed of negative thoughts and their bodies have reduced anxiety, which will allow their bodies to perform their natural restorative functions more efficiently during the night.
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How old do children have to be to benefit from meditation?
Meditation is natural, so there is no age limitation.
Your infant children can benefit by sitting on your lap while you meditate because they’ll enjoy your peacefulness and observe your example. They will be more prone to meditating when they’re older.
Younger children will enjoy meditating with you. You can guide them through individualized breathing and stretching techniques while demonstrating and offering gentle encouragement.
Every child is different, but your children should be eager to meditate on their own by the time that they reach their teenage years. You can still meditate together, but they will have mastered their own technique and developed the habit so that they will meditate privately to relieve anxiety or just balance their energy.
Parting Thoughts
You can help you children manage the pressure and stress related to major social events like holidays by introducing them to meditation.
Meditation can be a positive family practice that will bring calmness, healing, and balance to each member of the family while strengthening the family bond.
You can your children can enjoy the benefits of meditation by investing as little as 1 or 2 minutes each day. Age doesn’t matter – family members of all ages can share in the meditation experience.
If you want to learn more about meditation or other paths that lead to a more fulfilling and peaceful life, go to thepeacefulsage.com.