Meditation for children

May 13, 2022 article from Anahana. Global leader in mental health and wellness education. Our mission is to help the world find tranquility and balance by providing practical, creative and proactive tools, courses and skills.

Today's youth experience both anxiety and stress. Much more than they should. According to a recent statistic released by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Up to 30% of children and young adults will experience an anxiety disorder in their lifetime.

This means that it is the responsibility of parents and other caregivers to teach our children good habits to reduce stress.

One of the best ways to do this is through meditation. Coming up, we'll dive into everything you need to know about meditation for kids, including what the practice looks like, how to teach it and why it works.

In some ways, it's not surprising that children develop anxiety and stress disorders as they grow up. We live in a world full of sensations. Real threats are present, and the unknown can be scary.

While it's tempting to think that you can protect your children from all fear and stress throughout their lives, however, the best answer is to teach them how to deal with difficult times. That's what children's meditation helps them do.

Building a solid meditation practice from a young age is a good place to start.

Diagnoses of anxiety and behavioral disorders in children have increased dramatically in recent years.

Whether for children or adults, meditation is a practice that can bring great joy and comfort to your life. Although it may be difficult to define it completely in one sentence, we can essentially say that Meditation is a mind-body practice that trains your awareness and concentration.

Meditation has many benefits. For example, it can help improve attention span, calm shaky nerves, reduce stress and anxiety, and promote happiness. All of these benefits are available to both children and adults.

Yes, a child's meditation may not look exactly like an adult's, but the basics of the practice are the same. Children, for example, may benefit more from guided imagery. Their sessions may be shorter in duration. And of course, it is important to adapt the meditations to the child. Some, for example, will not be comfortable with sitting meditations lasting more than a few minutes, but they will do very well with walking meditations in the open air.

Up to 30% of youth will develop anxiety disorders.

- The American Academy of Pediatrics

Children are not immune to life's stresses. In fact, diagnoses of anxiety and behavioral disorders in children have increased dramatically in recent years. These include conditions such as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Anxiety Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This tells us several things: first, as we gain a better understanding of how anxiety and behavior disorders manifest themselves in children, diagnosis rates are increasing as children who may not have been previously identified as having such disorders are being diagnosed. In other words, children today are not necessarily more stressed than children in the past. However, it also tells us that children are also more affected by anxiety and stressors than we previously thought. This is why, as parents, we need to be vigilant in helping our children cope with life's stressors.

Yes. Fortunately, the way meditation works is to alleviate the symptoms associated with problematic disorders . Meditations for children have the same effects as meditations for adults. Even a short, easy meditation for beginners can have amazing positive effects. A recent study in the Journal of Positive Psychology found that just 15 minutes of meditation had positive effects similar to a full day of vacation.

• Guided meditation for children: a live or recorded meditation instructor recites the instructions for the meditation session.

• Sleep Meditation: These meditations are more gentle and extra soothing. Often including a meditation with music, they are designed to calm the mind and body for sleep.

• MindfulnessMeditation: Meditation and mindfulness simply go together. Mindfulness meditation means paying attention to the present moment, rather than focusing on the past or the future.