Kids Love their Unique Mantras and Meditation Beads
Children ages 5 – 10 years old met with me after school at a
local Charter School here in Asheville. After reading “The Magic Gum Tree – A
Children’s Fantasy Story about Meditation”, I helped each child choose their own
mantra to repeat during their meditation. I asked them to choose a two-syllable
word or phrase that helped them feel relaxed. Some of the possibilities we
talked about were “Feel Good”, “Relax”, and “Calming”. Some of the children
even used the word “iPod”, since I let them pick their own.
Before the meditation, the children made clay beads and
strung them on a piece of yarn. The children had at least 10 beads strung, a
mixture of handmade and store-bought. When we meditated, the children
pulled one bead across their string after each mantra they recited silently. Exactly what the character, Timber, learned how to do in “The Magic Gum Tree.”
Sarah Wood Vallely
www.sarahwood.com
sarah@sarahwood.com
Hi Sarah , I am interested in teaching meditation to children. I have a nine year old little girl that I meditate w some..I am also a massage therapist at a wellness ctr here (n danville ky) and think that could be an great venue for a children's meditation course...my father meditated and held a meditation group on our farm for 26 years I think...he fied w cancer 5 years ago...but I learned to meditate from him..he was an incredible father .and hope I can share that w my daughter and other children...I didn't start til I was ard 30 but think like everything else it would b great and better to learn it when your a child as those things seem to stay w us forever..
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