Meditating WITH Your Children
Practicing meditation with your children is a powerful way to connect and support healing. With extended time at home, we need this more than ever! The key is to be creative and flexible. Depending on the energy of the moment, you can call upon different techniques.
Free Flow
When you stay tuned in, you will become aware of when you need to bring a meditative practice to support the energy of the house. The key to doing this is to maintain your own daily self-care practice! Otherwise, you will be too distracted to tune into the subtle shifts that might lead to breakdown/smackdown. Remember parents, our energy is reflected through the energy of our children! Our energy DIRECTLY impacts our children in every moment. You can learn such self-care practices here!
In addition, many of us have become used to going OUT to classes at yoga studios and centers for meditation. Practicing your meditation and healing exercises in the presence of your children is a powerful way to teach them by your example! In addition, it elevates your practice because you must learn to center yourself even if there is a bit of chaos around you!
The Vibe is: TENSE
If you sense that the energy is tense you can consider bringing in a moving meditation to shake things up. In some instances, the right music and a dance party may be perfect but in others this may create more chaos. In those tense/chaotic moments, a more channeled moving meditation is needed.
My fave is “Shaking the Tree!” In the Five-Element Theory, Wood is the essence of the system that helps us process stress, tension, and frustration. When Wind comes through, the trees respond by staying rooted in Earth but shaking their branches in all directions, sometimes even subtly bending at the trunk! Also, the Wind creates all sorts of sounds!
Start by squatting down to the floor. As you rise up shake everything, up, up, up, flinging the arms into the sky. As you do this movement also allow the voice to rise up making a yelp, scream, any sound that wants to come out!
Enjoy this Video tutorial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OakgNXU7QSA
The Vibe is: Fear, Worry, Anxiety
If fear, worry, and anxiety are the vibe of the moment, breathing exercises, the Second Energy Gate, and hands at prayer pose are soothing and calming.
There are many meditative breathing practices; however, I prefer Spirit Gate breathing. In this practice, focus is placed upon the navel. When you breathe in, draw the belly in. When you breathe out, push your belly out. The navel is a Spirit Gate. This magical button connects you to your genetic line as well as to a time when you were in perfect alignement, in utero, with all of Nature.
For our children, it is a beautiful way to remind them that through navel we are always connected to one another! This breath will help calm and center everyone. It can be helpful to practice by having your children place their hands over their navel, or if they are lying down place a stuffy on their belly.
Click the link below to hear more on this powerful Spirit Gate from Grand Master Nan Lu of The Tao of Healing.
The Four Energy Gates
You can learn the Second Energy Gate through the link below. Place the palm of the right hand on the center of the chest at the level of the nipples, place the left hand over the top of the right hand. Make a connection with the chest and begin to circle. After several minutes, switch the direction of your circle. This Gate connects us directly to our Heart and is relaxing and calming. This is a great practice to do together at bedtime or if a child awakens in the middle of the night.
The Four Energy Gates
The first energy gate is impactful for children of all ages.
Creating a Daily Practice
Beyond bringing meditation to meet the moment, it is also important to establish a daily meditative practice with your children. Again, creativity and flexibility are the key!
Create a sacred space, or as my daughter calls it a chill zone, for your meditation. Allow the kids to help you bring in images, objects, and colors. You can even encourage them to create their own personal chill zone!
Create a time each day. Without a schedule, a wait-till-later mentality can show up and you will lose the opportunity. I recommend you start with 10 minutes MAX! For us with our new at-home life, we have chosen 11:55-12:05. Feel into whatever time of day is best for your family.
In general, I find I can connect the kids to the movements with greater ease if I integrate music and allow them to walk around our sacred space while practicing.
After the movements, you can consider closing with a few moments of holding the hands in prayer pose.
I also encourage you to integrate a brief practice at bedtime to connect and support a restful night sleep. Energy Gate Two and Spirit Gate Breathing are a perfect bedtime practice.
DON’T FORGET TO BE FLEXIBLE AND HAVE FUN!
No one will want to join you in a practice if you become a meditative drill sergeant! Be flexible with the structure, location, and encourage your children to suggest what they would like to integrate into the practice. Intuitively each and every one of us, including our children, know exactly what we need to do to support our energy moment to moment. At some point, we disconnect from this intuition. Now is the time to connect back in!
Your intuition may reveal that meditation is: screaming, singing, running outside, hugging a tree, banging our head on the floor ( gently : ), eating a special treat, watching a movie, listening to music, creating art, writing, breaking objects or throwing eggs at trees (if they have expired!), throwing water balloons….I could go on and on. The wisdom is within each of us. We just have to be crazy enough to listen and honor it!
Children are naturally imaginative. The pandemic is calling us all to tap back into this powerful gift. With our intuitive Heart “we can create heaven or we can create hell” Grandmaster Nan Lu. Create time to tell stories of your past adventures and experiences as a family. Begin by sharing yourself: the time, the space, the sights, the smells, the feeling and then invite your children to do the same. Close your eyes and be there! This recollection can bring peace and reawaken flow to the present moment. Even in the midst of a pandemic!
Resources
The Four Energy Gates : Please note that Gate 1 is the most impactful for all ages. This is due to the state of meridian development. Above age 7, the other gates can be impacted more by this practice.
Taoist Emotional Cleansing
All of us were born with a natural ability to allow emotional energy to flow; however, at some point we disconnect from this inherited power.
Click here to learn about my approach to pediatric wellness
Click here for the TCM perspective on adolescence
Family Friendly Version of Qigong for Coronavirus Prevention :
Even if your child cannot or will not participate you can massage them at the acupressure locations in the video.