Meditation for Kids

Meditation is many things for many people but the purpose of meditation is like the purpose of life. What is the purpose of life? Why do we do everything that we do? Why did you all come here today? We want to be happy thats why we do everything that we do. If anyone would have told you that by coming here today you will suffer, you wouldnt have come, right? Every step, every action, every word, every breath is toward happiness. Sometimes we are willing to suffer on the way for some final goal but that goal will always be something we think will make us happy. Any one here wants to suffer? You can raise your hand and I can help you with that we all want to be happy. So the purpose of meditation is like the purpose of life simply to be happy. Here is a story that explains how meditation works: A student approached his teacher and asked: oh, my teacher, my master, please tell me what is your secret? How is it that you are always so happy, peaceful, relaxed, energetic, healthy How do you do it? The teacher answered: its very simple; when I walk I walk, when I eat I eat, when I talk to someone I talk to them, when I work I work, when I do yoga I do yoga thats all. The student said: but Im doing the same; when I walk I walk, when I eat I eat The teacher replied: thats not accurate when you walk, you think about your work. When you work, you think about your vacation. When you are on your vacation, you think about your home. When you are at home, you think about yoga. When you do yoga, you think of course about food. Whatever you do you are not really there, your mind is somewhere else and thats why you are missing out on life, thats why this happiness slips away from you. Happiness is right here and now inside of you and outside of you and all over you are just not here to experience it. Then the student understood the secret of being happy, which is nothing but being here and now. And if well look at our own experiences of happiness well see the same thing think about the happiest moments of your life, or any happy moment what was the state of your mind at that time? At that time you were totally there. You didnt think about other things, you didnt want other things you were totally there. You were happy. But at other times, when our mind is all over, this happiness slips away so the secret of happiness is simple just be here and now. Meditation is many things, but first and foremost it is to simply being present. Thinking about what happened or what will happen is usually exhausting, but being in the present is not just energizing, it is also the essence of having fun! Real fun can happen in the present only.

Meditation is training the mind to be focused on the here and now. In order to have strong muscles, we have to use them again and again, and in the same way, to train the mind to be onepointed we need to focus it again and again. This kind of concentration training is not taught in schools, although it is the basis of successful studying and successful living. Whatever work you do with a focused mind you do twice as fast and ten times better than if you would do it with a distracted mind. The following are fun ways to quiet the mind and become present. Dont take any exercise too seriously--take a deep breath, do your best, and have fun! Are you ready to meditate?

1. Chocolate meditation:
Whatever you do in this meditation DONT SAY CHOCOLATE then theyll have expectations . . . Close your eyes and dont open them whatever happens Open your mouth just a bit We are going to put something in your mouth; dont chew it just let it melt Try to experience all the things about it that you might have missed before because your mind was somewhere else Feel the many tastes of it, the texture, the temperature, the softness and the hardness smell it feel it Dont chew breath let it melt as it melts, let your mind melt into it After a few minutes you can start to chew and let the flavors and the sensations penetrate even deeper swirl it around your mouth using your tongue and feel how different or the same it is all over your mouth Now you can swallow and stay in silence foe another moment enjoying the bliss from within

Is it hard to meditate? Meditation should not be hard its easy if you find YOUR meditation. You can also start this meditation with corn flaxes or something else that have a lot of texture and makes a lot of noise. Then you can meditate with honey and of course chocolate GOOD chocolate! So, one of the easiest ways to meditate is using your senses:

2. Meditation with the five senses. Sit with your eyes closed and
Smell: focus on the smell of a flower, burning incense, chocolate Taste: here its crucial that you close your eyes. Place a piece of chocolate in your mouth and let it slowly melt and dissolve. Feel all the flavors, making sure you are not thinking of anything else now (its not that hard). Feel the warmth and the soft texture of the chocolate. You can try the same with honey, crackers (they make interesting sounds too) etc. Sight: with eyes open, focus on a flower, a picture, scenery, the room, your friends face or eyes, a candle flame etc., and notice all the little details you never saw before. After a minute or two, close your eyes and visualize what you saw as clearly as you can in your mind.

Touch: in pairs, one partner sits with eyes shut while the other touches him in different ways (poking, scratching, caressing, brushing, massaging, hugging). After a couple of minutes, change roles and at the end share your experiences. You can also massage yourself while sitting with eyes closed as a meditation. Sound: concentrate your full attention on the ticking of a clock, flowing water, songs of birds, music etc. Let yourself become totally absorbed in that sound. You can also chant Om loudly for about a minute and then keep repeating the sound mentally for another minute.

3. Candle Gazing (Tratak). This exercise is best practiced in a dark room. Place a lit candle
at the center of the circle and ask everyone to gaze at the brightest part of the flame without blinking. Guide them to keep gazing at the flame until their eyes tear up a bit or until they feel a slight burning sensation, then they should close their eyes and keep seeing the flame in their mind, imagining it to be between their eyebrows. When the image fades, they should reopen their eyes and do the exercise again. Try not to think of other things while doing this practice, focus on the candle only. This exercise is also said to help improve the eyesight.

4.

Gazing Circle. If the group in not homogeneous and you feel that the students are clustered in little groups and do not mix enough with others you can do the following exercise: divide the group in the middle and have half the group hold hands and form an inner circle facing the outside, and the other half of the group hold hands and form an outer circle facing inside. Ask the participants in each circle to look into the eyes of the people in the circle in front of them; then have both circles rotate very slowly in opposite directions (so either both circles move to their right or both circles move to the left) still looking straight into the eyes of the different people in front of them as they move. Gradually have the circles turn faster and faster and after a minute or two come to a halt. Now have the participants in the inner circle come to stand in between the people of the external circle that are in front of them. You have the group completely rearranged now and ready for new adventures!
Fun in this game: If you cant make the room dark, its great to do this exercise gazing at a flower or a picture

5. Eyes Around the Clock. Imagine that you have a clock right in front of you. Starting from
12 oclock, move your eyes clockwise around the clock slowly and smoothly until you get back to 12 oclock. Then bring your eyes to center and close them for a breath to rest. Open your eyes again, and again starting from 12 oclock, move around the clock counter-clockwise. Since the eyes are connected so directly to the brain, exercising them in this way not only strengthens the eye muscles and improves the eyesight, it also helps to release mental tension. Fun in this game: Look up (12 oclock) and down (6 oclock) a few times Look to the sides (3 oclock and 6 oclock) Look diagonally (1:30 and 7:30, and 10:30 and 4:30) Straighten your arm in front of you and look at your thumb and then look at the tip of the nose alternate looking far and looking close

You can also have the kids hold their head still with their hands and use a laser pointer on the wall for them to look at and move their eyes according to its movements.

6. Dry Shower. Rub your hands until some heat is generated. Place your hands on yourself
and rub your scalp, your face, your shoulders, your arms, legs, feet Gently pound now on your

ribs and then on your chest and even create a tone with your voice and see how the pounding affects it (pounding on the chest really helps improve self confidence). Now close your eyes for a moment and notice the sensations in your body. For most young kids, under the age of 9 or 10, meditation is not very practical or meaningful (meditating on chocolate will just be eating chocolate) but you can still do a few practices that will help them be present and focused:

7. 3rd Eye Yoga Diamond. Put a small stone (I use glass pebbles, but you can even use
crystals if you want) on the foreheads of the kids when they lie down with their eyes closed. Tell them to focus on it, imagining its color or many colors, feeling its warmth or coolness, its weight, etc. After a few minutes, very gently and slowly, collect the stones the kids will usually keep feeling that the stone is on their forehead. After another minute, tell them to sit up (or come up into Shoulderstand) without dropping the stone if they were focused, they will think that the stone is still on their forehead and will come up tilting their heads back so that the stone wont fall.

8. Silent Bell. Sit knee to knee in a circle, and pass a bell (or a few bells if you have) around
the circle. Give each kid the opportunity to ring the bell and listen to its sound. Then show the kids how to pass the bell from one to the other around the circle very gently and slowly without ringing the bell. It requires enormous concentration to pass the bell without having it make any sound and it works like magic to quiet the kids and prepare them for relaxation. With little kids you will need to repeat the game a few times before all of them understand that they should not ring the bell. Fun in this game: If the game becomes too easy, try to pass the bell with your feet! Pass the bell to someone not sitting next to you by standing up and walking toward her still maintaining complete silence!

9. Bell Circle. Sit in a circle and close your eyes. Have one kid hold a bell and walk around the
outside of the circle very slowly and softly without ringing it. Then reaching a person of his choice, he gently rings the bell by that persons ear and sits in his place as he hands him the bell. The game continues in this manner for a few minutes, until you guide everyone to open their eyes and discover that everyone has switched places but the circle remained whole.

10. Stop and Listen. You will need a Tibetan bowl or a bell that makes a very long sound for
this game. Have the kids walk randomly around the room, and once you ring the bell, everyone stands absolutely still and closes their eyes. They listen very carefully to the sound, and only once the sound has completely disappeared and they cannot hear it at all can they start walking again. Repeat for as many times as you want. Fun in this game: You can play the same game with everyone sitting in a circle, eyes closed. You ring the Tibetan bowl, and each kid, when she cant hear the sound anymore, raises his hand. When all hands are up, you can play the bowl again

11. Animal Paradise. This game is a good way for children to practice and remember animal
poses. It encourages stillness, quiet time and self control. You need your Tibetan bowl for this game too. Choose an animal, or let the children take turns picking an animal, and get them to freely move about the classroom moving and making sounds as this animal would.

When the children hear the bell, they must freeze in that animal pose and stay there quietly until they hear that the bowl stopped singing.

12. Oh So Quiet. This game can get children to lay still for an extraordinary length of time.
This is very good for developing their listening and concentration skills, it is also a wonderful way of quieting things down for relaxation. You will need a your singing bowl and eye pillows would be useful too. Ask the children to lay down with their hands by their sides, eye pillows on or lights off. Tell the children that you are going to ring the singing bowl and that theyll need to listen very carefully. When the singing bowl has stopped theyll need to gently place their hands on their bellies. When everyone has their hands on their bellies, ring the bowl again. When the children cant hear the singing anymore get them to gently place their hands by their sides again. Repeat these steps for an oh so quiet and tranquil classroom, or for as long as the children will stay there!

13. Sleeping Elves and Faeries. Put on some relaxing music and arm yourself with some
fairy dust Get all the children to rest in childs pose as a fairy or an elf, walk around and gently tap their backs with your fingertips covering them in magical fairy dust. This will give them magical powers to stay as still as possible, who can lay still for the longest.

14. Dreams do come true. Writing down your goals and dreams is a great way to start
making them come true! It helps you to be mindful with your ideas and intentions and start focusing on them. Give the children a piece of paper with a large circle in the middle and ask the children to draw or write about things they want to happen in the middle of the circle. Then ask them to draw or write about the thing that they dont want in the outer circle. Allow the children plenty of time for this exercise, it can really ignite their imagination and theyll need time for thought and time for completion. When their circle of dreams is complete they can be put in a special place and taken out later to reflect on and see what has come true.

15. Energy. Sitting in a circle, close your eyes and rub your hands fast one against the other.
After a few moments, when you feel some heat generated between your hands, stop and place them one in front of the other without touching. Feel the heat or coolness, the electric sensation, the energy that was created between your hands. Now, still with your eyes closed, imagine a ball of light between your hands. Move your hands a bit to feel the ball. Pass the ball from one hand to the other, make it smaller or stretch it bigger, bounce it between your hands Is the ball light or is it heavy? If you cant feel it, thats fine, just use your imagination. Every time you pass the ball from hand to hand now, it keeps growing, and the distance between your hands grows accordingly to hold this bigger ball of light. Make the ball so big so that your hands really stretch far out. The bigger the ball grows, the greater the pleasant sensation its light gives you. Stay with this feeling for a moment before you gradually make the ball smaller until it fits again between your palms. Bring the ball of light now close to your heart and let it come into your body, feeling its warmth over your whole body. Take a few deep breaths and slowly stretch your hands and legs and maybe even roll your head a bit before you open your eyes.

Remember this light and this pleasant sensation. It is always with you even if you are distracted by other things. Fun in this game: The same game can be played in pairs, sitting one in front of the other. One partner keeps his hands low and facing up, while the other partner starts just above his palms with his hands facing down and slowly moves his hands up as the ball of light grows

16. Healing Hands. In pairs, one partner sits with her eyes closed while the other partner, the
healer, sits behind her. The healer now rubs her hands quickly until some heat is generated, and then puts her hands on her partners shoulders. After a few moments, when you guide all the healers to do so, she moves her hands to her partners shoulder blades, middle back, lower back, and returning to the shoulder blades. In the next step of this game, the healer brings her hands a bit away from her partner and keeps them over the shoulder blades for a few moments before moving again to the lower back etc. After a few more moments the healer can remove her hands and rest for a few more breaths before asking her partner if she still feels her hands on her back (which will usually be yes, even though the hands arent there anymore). Of course switch roles when ready.

17. Silent Walk. This is walking meditation. Well put all the thoughts about what happened or
what will happen aside and well try to be present. We wont let our body be in one place and our mind in another place well try to connect them and be here and now. As we start walking around the room (or outside is even better), well pay attention to each and every step, well feel the connection between our feet and the earth, well take deep breaths and smell the nature around us, well feel the wind caressing our skin, well listen to the songs of the birds or to the sound of our breath, well look around and really notice all the little details of the beautiful world we live in. All other thoughts will wait well be totally present here and now.

18. Intuition. Have a volunteer leave the room, and hide something flat (maybe a yoga card or
a coin) under one of the remaining kids mats. Call the volunteer back into the room and have her go around to each person in the circle and look in their eyes. Ask her to use her intuition or gut feeling and guess under whose mat the object is hidden.

19. Electric Current. Sit in a circle holding hands and eyes closed. Start by passing a current
in the form of a gentle hand squeeze. Gradually you can insert more currents into the circle and in both directions. Fun in this game: Combine positive affirmations with the currents like words that describe how you feel (happy, peaceful, relaxed, special) or things you wish to share with everyone (peace, fun, joy, adventure, courage)

20. Buddha Board. This is a special board where you can write or draw using water (you can
get it at www.buddhaboard.com). The water evaporates from the board after about a minute and the picture or words disappear. The Buddha thought about impermanence and the board illustrates this lesson. Each kid can come and draw something on the board, but not before the previous creation has evaporated and made space for his.

21. Still Water. Everyone lies on the floor completely still. If someone moves, he has to step
over to the side. In this game we invite the action of stillness rather than saying dont move which makes it more fun and more affective.

Above the age of 9 kids start to have more awareness of their thoughts and thats when more serious kinds of meditations can be practiced:

22. Thought Hunter. Sit still with your eyes closed, and count slowly from 1 to 10. If any
thought comes into your mind, immediately go back to 1. Watch even for the smallest thoughts. This exercise helps us be aware of our thoughts. The thoughts we are not aware of are the ones that make us feel what we feel and want what we want and push us into actions we might not have done with more conscious thought. The first step in being able to direct the thoughts is to be aware of them. One to two minutes of this exercise is more than enough.

23. Counting Meditation. Sit or lie on your back and count slowly in your mind from 100 to 1
(it is also possible to count from 1 to a 100, but doing it in reverse requires more concentration). Try not to think about other things and just stay with the numbers. If you lost your count, start again from 100. If you reached 1, stay in silence for a few more moments. This is a great exercise for developing concentration.

24. Closing the Senses (Yoni Mudra). Sit up tall and cover your sense organs with your
fingers in the following way: place your thumbs in your ears so that you wont be able to hear anything, place your index fingers gently on your eyelids, place the middle fingers on your nose, the next set of fingers above your lips, and your little fingers under your lips. Keep your elbows down and shoulders relaxed. Start breathing deeply, deep enough so that youll hear your breath very loudly inside your head. After about ten deep breaths, gradually make your breath so quiet and unnoticeable so that you wont hear it any more. Now start listening to sounds by your right ear, and as you listen, bring your attention to subtler and subtler sounds. Stay here for another minute before releasing your hands. When done, keep your eyes closed and enjoy the effect of this wonderful exercise for a few more gentle breaths.

25. Breath Meditation. Sit up tall and close your eyes. Start breathing deeply, deep enough
so that youll be able to hear your breath. Feel how the breath moves your body and start noticing the flow of the breath through your nostrils, in and out of your body feel the contact of the air with the inside your nose. Now gradually make the breath much gentler and let in flow naturally but keep listening to its sound. Try not to listen to your thoughts listen only to your breath. Whenever you find yourself thinking of other things, come back to your breath. Fun in this game: You can practice the same meditation listening to your heart beat, to the ticking of a clock, to the songs of birds, to music, to flowing water

26. Sitting Still Together. Sit back to back with a friend, backs and heads touching too. Feel
each other breathing through your backs. Breathe in and out slowly and deeply coordinating the rhythm of your breath. Sit as still as you can, just for a few moments, as you listen to the sound of the breath or to silence.

Fun in this game: You can also feel how with your breath you connect to your friend and to the whole universe. We constantly breathe each others air and we nourish each other in this way. We inhale oxygen and exhale more carbon dioxide - the flowers, grass and trees breathe in carbon dioxide and in return exhale more oxygen. We all support each other and we are all interconnected

27. Finding Our Center. Sitting or standing, lean a bit to the right, to the left, forward and
back, until you find your center the point where you feel most balanced. Now close your eyes and try to feel this center running all the way from the bottom to the top of your head. Breathe into this center and see how it feels. You can also use visualization to meditate here is my very favorite to do with the kids:

28. Compassion Meditation. Sit comfortably or lie on your back with eyes closed. Breathe
deeply and bring your attention to your heart, directing your breath there. Now inside your heart see an image of yourself. See yourself happy, healthy, rich see yourself realizing all your dreams and having everything you ever wanted for yourself. Start repeating the mantra May I enjoy happiness and the source of happiness keep repeating it in your mind for a one minute. Repeat the same process with someone you love the most, a good friend, a parent, a stranger, an annoying person, all beings and keep repeating this mantra May my beloved/friend/parent/stranger/annoying person/all beings [use their names] enjoy happiness and the source of happiness. Let your heart open and reach out to them include them within yourself. There is nothing stronger then love. All fears and worries disappear in the presence of love.

29. Meditation on the Sky. Close your eyes and visualize the inner silence, inner joy and
peace, as the clear blue sky. In this clear blue sky, sometimes clouds of thoughts pass by. But whether there are clouds or not, the sky is always there. Clouds come and clouds go, but the clear blue sky remains unchanged. In the same way, clouds of thoughts pass through the sky of our mind. Whether there are thoughts or not, this inner peace and joy is always here. Thoughts, worries, and emotions come and go, but something always stays. Something exists inside us that is there before the thoughts come, when they are there, and after they disappear. So when you look within now, dont look at the clouds, look much deeper look at the clear blue sky. When you listen within for the next moment or two, dont listen to the passing thoughts, listen much more deeply listen beyond the thoughts, to this inner silence. Every time that you find yourself following the thoughts again, turn your attention within and dive deeper into silence.

Meditation is not good for everyone nothing is good for everyone kids who have been through severe traumas or have deep psychological issues should not close their eyes and go within within might not be a nice place for them.

This article was written by Amir Gopala Yaffa. www.rainbowkidsyoga.net