Great Meditation Exercise to do with Your Children

Okay, so I found this article, Kid’s Meditation: One Path to Power, via Twitter (@Meditation_Hive) and had to share it with you.

Every night after Lila’s bedtime prayer we bless who ever she wants to bless that night, anyone from mama and papa to the stars and moon. I am definitely going to incorporate this mediation exercise in with her prayer and maybe use sending light and love instead of blessing.

To view the entire article please click here.

Loving-kindness Meditation

One way to teach kids about the power of their mind is through meditation. Meditation is no longer reserved for monks on mountaintops but can be a tool to use in everyday parenting. Some meditations are designed to calm a child’s mind, raise their sense of mindfulness and expand their heart to others.

Specifically, a loving-kindness meditation is a certain type of meditation that guides children to send their positive and healing energy to people and kids in other places. It cuts across all cultural barriers, economic statuses, educational backgrounds and geographic locations. Kelley, a mother of two girls, guides her children nightly in a loving-kindness meditation. It goes something like this:

[Read by parent to child]

“Today, we are going to do something new. It’s called a loving-kindness meditation where we send love and positive energy to parents and kids in other places.

You may leave your eyes open or closed – whatever is more comfortable for you.

First, think of something you REALLY love. It may be a puppy, playing on the swings, singing your favorite song or playing on the WEI system.  Make sure you really FEEL that feeling. It is the feeling of a happy heart. Do you feel it? [Wait for a YES] Great!

Now, let’s send that loving energy – picture it like a ball of light – to other living beings to help them feel loved and lift their spirits. Do you want to start with your friends? [Wait for a yes] Great!  Let’s name them, Kayla, Peter, Joey, Suzy, Sam and so on. Now, let’s send this feeling of love to your family members like Grandma and Cousin Charlie. Let’s name them together: Dad, Maria, Sister Sally, and so on… Great Job! Now, let’s send those feel-good feelings to people in our community like teachers, and neighbors. Would you like to start? [Wait for YES, or get the “ball rolling” with teachers]. Name them…

You are so powerful and great at doing this that we can also together send our loving energy to other parents, kids and animals all over planet earth especially to those kids and people who need it most.

Let’s send this loving and healing energy to: Kids all around the planet! Specifically, let’s send love to kids that are hungry, sad, have tummy aches, are upset and need a friend – especially the kids in Japan where there was a tidal wave or tsunami.  We can now do the same thing for parents everywhere – let’s send our love to parents in the mountains, in the desert, in the valleys and on the beach. Specially, let’s name places – like Egypt, China, Africa, Europe, United States, and especially places like Japan and Libya. These are where parents need extra love right now.

Wow, you are great at this! The last beings we will send love to tonight are the animals on planet Earth. Would you like to do this? [Wait for yes] Great! Let’s start with dolphins, whales, hawks, butterflies, ladybugs, praying mantises, turtles and what else?  Name them…

All of this loving energy you “put out” into the world through your mind is AMAZING. It has great power. You are full of light, love and power!

Good night.”