3 Types of Meditation for Kids
Meditation can be extremely beneficial for your child’s well being. Teaching kids to meditate is easier than you might think. Here are 3 types of meditation for kids, how they might be helpful, and how you can try it today.
1. Mindfulness
Mindfulness meditation has been shown to significantly improve stress response. Mindfulness meditation can help us use stress productively and less likely to get overwhelmed by it.
Mindfulness is the ability to stay present to the moment, aware of your thoughts, feelings, physical sensations, and environment. Practicing mindfulness meditation improves awareness of your thoughts and feelings, and helps you interrupt those thoughts and feelings that aren’t serving you.
You can meditate with your kids by sitting with them, having them close their eyes and pay attention to their breaths. Notice together each inhale. Notice together each exhale. Every once in a while, ask if they’re still thinking about their breathing, and, if not, what thoughts or feelings popped up in their mind? Having your child verbalize the thoughts and feelings can help them learn to identify and express their innermost emotions. After they’ve expressed their thoughts, prompt them to let go of the thought for now, and return to focusing on the breathing.
After a brief meditation (start with just 1-2 minutes – it’s harder than you think!), talk to your child about the thoughts and emotions that popped up. Explore some possibilities for the underlying causes of their feelings. Were they feeling happy because they got to eat their favorite breakfast this morning? What about that breakfast makes it their favorite? Were they mad at their sibling for breaking a toy? Why does that make them angry? What other emotional responses might they have for that situation? Exploring both constructive and destructive emotions can help your child understand and express themselves and deepen your relationship.
Here are some videos of guided mindfulness meditation for kids:
- Balloon Belly Exercise – Fablefy (2 minutes)
- Be the Pond – Cosmic Kids Yoga (5 minutes)
- Mindful Breathing Exercise – New Horizon (12 minutes)
2. Loving-Kindness
Loving Kindness meditation has been shown to increase our capacity to understand, appreciate, and care for other people.
Practicing loving-kindness deepens our love for our friends and family and helps us forgive people who have hurt us. It helps us cultivate gratefulness for the things we have in life and makes us more likely to share our good fortune with those around us.
Loving-kindness meditation is super easy. Pick 3 categories of people your child might know – let’s say a family member, a friend, and someone who was mean to them (this one is important). Ask your child to think of the first person who comes to mind for each prompt and have them say, out loud, “I wish for [person] to be happy.” a few times. Have them close their eyes and use their heart to send love to that person as they continue to say the phrase. Do your best to make sure they really feel that love flowing through them – look for their face to be relaxed and a calm, peaceful smile.
The family & friends were probably easy, but having compassion for someone who was mean to them can be more difficult. After going through the exercise, engage in a conversation with your child about why it’s important to feel love for others, even when they treat us poorly.
Here are some videos of guided compassion/loving kindness meditation for kids:
- Just Like Me Meditation – Meditation Channel (7 minutes)
- Rainbow Meditation – Fablefy (8 minutes)
- Friendly Wishes – Cosmic Kids Yoga (9 minutes)
3. Movement
Physical activity dramatically reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety, and studies suggest that movement meditation may be equally effective.
Movement meditation can help build skills related to empathy, emotional self-control, non-verbal self-expression, and playfulness.
There are many different types of movement meditation; one of the simplest ones is called Emotion Walk. Start by having your child walk around the room; they’re not going anywhere specifically, just walking around. Every 20-30 seconds, give your child different prompts to change the way they’re walking. For example, “imagine you’re a giant and each step you take is really heavy and big,” or, “imagine today is your birthday and walk like you’re super excited.”
After the exercise is over, talk to your child about how they felt during each walk. When they were walking like they were excited, did they feel excited? How did they feel when they were the giant? Why did they feel that way? Have a discussion about how moving our bodies can influence the way we feel.
Here are some videos of movement meditation for kids:
- Be a Tree Meditation – Smiling Mind (2 minutes)
- Mood Walk – GoNoodle (5 minutes)
- Seated Stretching – Cosmic Kids Yoga (7 minutes)
