Meditation for kids means healthier, smarter, more calm and compassionate human beings for our future.
“In an image-obessed culture, we are training our kids to spend more time and mental effort on their appearance at the expense of all the other aspects of their identitites.” —Meaghan Ramsey, Global Director of the Dove Self-Esteem Project
“If every 8 year-old in the world is taught meditation, we will eliminate violence from the world within one generation.” —The Dalai Lama
I know the profound impact this practice has had on my life, especially in terms of emotional durability, maturation, and the ability to channel my awareness to create powerful outcomes.
I can’t even imagine the man I would be today if I had started to meditate by the age of eight, or eighteen for that matter.
Actually, I can . . . and that’s why I created Meditate by Eight.
Benefits of meditating over time (1+ years) include:
- Accelerated stages of psychological development (you get wiser, faster)
- Notable improvements in brain functioning
- Accelerated development of emotional intelligence
- Intuitive capacities grow and become more pronounced
Over the past 10 years, over 2,000 studies have been done working with meditation. It is recommended by virtually every domain of health professional throughout the world.
Meditation is the only technique that has been scientifically validated to accelerate this kind of vertical growth.
“The Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry” (JAACAP) and CDC (Centers for Disease Control) published research that showed an estimated two million more children in the U.S. were diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) between 2003 and 2012 and one million more children were taking medication for it.
What’s more concerning is—most of the diagnoses started before the age of six.
A study done at the National Therapies Research Unit at the Royal Hospital for Women in Sydney Australia, showed significant improvements in ADHD symptoms with children who were taught to meditate. The children reported improved attention spans and less hyperactivity.
Other encouraging side effects listed were:
- Improved relationships with their parents
- Better sense of self-esteem
- 50 percent of the children that were on medication either reduced or stopped their medication completely, and still continued to improve their symptoms through continued meditation
Exposing our children to these ancient, yet practical, techniques could help them to cope better with stress and grow into living healthier lives.
Meditating Kids Could Be Our Future
This is a game changer.
And meditating with our kids is effectively meditating with a living creature that doesn’t have their intuitive faculties conditioned out of them yet.
We too, can get back in touch with this part of us.
Notice how children have access to an awareness of life that exists “behind the veil.”
These young souls have the capacity to “see” and “feel” things we have long lost and forgotten.
Because of this, we have an opportunity to expand in ways you normally wouldn’t when meditating by ourselves or with other adults.
This experience is truly something unique on many levels.
Benefits of Meditation for Kids
Children stand to gain a lot from meditation. If started early, the kids will have more to gain as they grow and later in their adult life. The benefits of meditation come in many forms; they vary from psychological, spiritual, and physical to emotional. Below is a list and brief explanation of each.
Psychological Benefits
Meditation helps a child remember things more clearly. If started early, this will help them improve their grades in school.
- Greater creativity
- Improved memory
Due to focused attention, the children are able to explore their minds and formulate ideas. At childhood, that is when one’s creativity is at peak. What kids lack is focused attention which meditation helps to solve. With meditation, the child is now able to focus on his ideas which you can help him or her materialize. This course specifically helps you learn how to focus during meditation, something you can teach your kid how to do so.
- Reduced anxiety
- Prevents Addictions
Emotional Benefits
Meditation helps children appreciate their surroundings; they are able to show more affectionate feelings towards others. People tend to respond in kind, something that will help your child develop a healthy self-esteem. Generally, meditation helps the child project a positive outlook towards life.
- Greater ability to love and be loved
- More confidence
- Positive attitude
- Happiness
Physical benefits
Children will grow up healthier and stronger. The relaxing effect of meditation will help your kids sleep more soundly and luxuriously. Good sleep will further enhance their concentration.
- Better immune system
- Better sleep
Another reason why meditation for kids is a good idea…
Here are two guided meditations for kids. We also have included the scripts.
Copyright Notice: We own the commercial rights for these meditations and scripts. You may not make recordings or reproduce these meditations, except for your personal, private use.
Guided Meditation for Kids: 10 Minutes
Meditation Script for Kids
Begin by sitting criss-cross-applesauce and letting your hands rest in your lap, however, feels comfortable for you. When you’re ready, close your eyes and make your mouth into the shape of an O. breathe in through your mouth and exhale through your mouth as if you’re blowing bubbles.
In fact, on every exhale, imagine that you are blowing the biggest, most shimmery bubble and watch as that bubble begins to grow all around you. Let yourself see this bubble in your favorite color surrounding you. Now, when you’re ready, close your mouth and just breathe as you normally do, in and out through your nose.
Continue to see yourself in this bubble. What color is it? See it all around you and allow whatever color it is to bring you feelings of happiness.
Take a big deep breath in, feeling your stomach push out and exhale through your mouth, blowing the air out.
Just breathe at a pace that feels good to you. Seeing yourself floating in this color of light that surrounds you as if it is a vehicle, a magical crystal ball that can take you anywhere you want. You feel it lifting you up and taking you up into the sky. Up through the clouds and into a magical kingdom floating in the sky.
Up here you enter into the castle, floating through the doorway, still in your magical crystal ball. And as you enter, you begin to feel very calm inside. This castle is full of clouds – big, fluffy white clouds. And you allow yourself to just feel relaxed by these clouds.
And the more relaxed you feel, the more the clouds begin to fade. And you start to see more of the room around you. This room is a deep purple. It is very relaxing in here and there is a special seat in the corner that has your name on it.
You float over to the seat and you exit your beautiful sphere of your favorite color of light, and you take a seat in the corner.
This chair is magical.
It has the power to bring you feelings of deep peace and calm.
In this moment, you begin to feel yourself as a very similar to a wise old tree. You feel calm, everything feels easy and it feels like you have nowhere to go. All you have to do is simply sit and relax. Allow a smile to come across your face as you feel that happiness this magical chair in this and enchanted kingdom brings you. You feel calm and happy.
And up above you, you notice of beautiful unicorn with wings. She has a shimmery purple horn and gray sparkly wings. She flies down so that you can see her more clearly. And you notice her kind eyes.
The slow way she is breathing makes you slow your breath down too. And she lowers her head so that you can reach out and touch her magical horn. And as you do, you feel even more relaxed as she sends you feelings of peace in your heart. You feel thankful to this magical place for bringing you a sense of calm and ease.
This is a safe, calm place for you to go to whenever you need to, but for now, it’s time to return back. You get back into your sphere of light in your favorite color, exit the magical kingdom, and you begin to float back down, lowering down past the clouds, all the way down into where you are right now.
Feel your body in this moment by wiggling and stretching and very, very slowly open your eyes back to the room around you. Great job today.
Guided Meditation for Kids: 20 Minutes
Kids Meditation Script
Hello, today I will teach you how to meditate.
Find your favorite spot you like to lay down, where you can rest your head on a soft pillow. Get nice and cozy while you listen to my sweet voice…
Take a big breath in and let it go… good… breathe in again, breathe in as much as you can… and let the breath go… breathing in, see how big you can breathe… and blow the air out…
Now, imagine that your eyelids are very heavy that you want to just close your eyes…
Using your imagination, pretend you are at the beach… a beautiful long beach with calm water and white soft sand….
Breathe in and out, imagining you are hearing the sounds: birds, waves… it sounds so clear when you imagine it!
Breathe deeply and smell the salty air, it smells so nice!
Feel the sun warming your skin… it feels so good too…
Imagine you’re walking on the sand along the shore, barefooted. Feel the sand touching your feet. The sand is warm and soft, your feet are so happy, your whole body is so happy, you are so happy!
Look down into the sand and you find several beautiful small stones and shells as you walk, so many different sizes and colors. You start collecting some of them and putting them in your pocket.
Your pocket is filled with beautiful gifts from the ocean.
Then, you look at the blue water… see the small waves bubbling on the shore… hear the whisper of the waves coming in and going out…
it looks so inviting that you decide to run towards the tiny waves that come and go. The sand becomes wet under your feet as you get closer to the ocean… then the water touches your feet… it is the perfect temperature…
The water is clear and so refreshing! It shines with the sunlight, like glitter! And you can see straight to the bottom, the calm white sand below the water… and your feet under the waves…
You feel like playing and splashing, how about some jumping or bathing? You can do whatever you want!
It is so nice being in the ocean… it is almost as if the water is hugging every part of you… you love hugs and the ocean loves you…
Look at the sky, it is deep blue…. The prettiest blue you have ever seen… there are a few beautiful white clouds that form into fun shapes…. What shapes do you see the clouds making ?
The sun is shining bright and warm on your face as you enjoy looking at the clouds in the sky…
The sun heat feels just perfect!
You look around you and you see your favorite person next to you, smiling.
Smile back and breathe in, filling your tummy with air. Push the air out slowly.
You really love being beside your favorite person on this amazing beach…
What are you guys doing together? They are looking at you with love and care…
Who else would you like to have by your side? Who would you like to play with today? Invite them to join you and observe how they start showing up right there at the beach with you, like magic.
Everybody is happy and thankful to be spending this wonderful time with you at this beautiful beach on a sunny day.
You see a couple of different types of birds flying and diving into the water, they are keeping themselves busy on this beautiful day. Observe what they do…they seem to be having a good time.
Breathe in deeply and slowly, imagine that the air you are breathing in is filled with happiness about this special moment. Breathe out slowly and imagine that the air you are breathing out sends happiness to the rest of the people there with you.
Breathe in happiness and breath out, sending others happiness.
As you and your friends look out on the water, you see a beautiful ship sailing on the ocean… it is filled with happy people who are enjoying riding on the big boat… see the boat coming towards the beach…
The ship is so big and tall… the sails are flapping in the wind…
It puts down its anchor and a door opens on the side, there you see many sweet animals coming off the ship to join you on this beautiful beach….
There are all kinds of animals… dogs… cats… monkeys and giraffes… even lions and donkeys… all the animals are playing together in the sand and love each other…
You can see small animals riding on the backs of large animals like elephants and hippos…
This is the most fun you’ve ever had on the beach…
You walk toward some beautiful palm trees… and see coconuts… it is so easy for you to climb up the palm tree and grab a fresh coconut…
A monkey comes along and helps you open the coconut by bashing it on a rock…
There is delicious coconut inside that you are eating and sharing with the animals…
Take a big breath in and breathe out…
Breathe in again and imagine that you can taste the coconut…
Now just let your imagination fade away the beach and all the animals and become aware of the pillow resting under your head…
This pillow is so soft… it relaxes you so much…
Can you feel how relaxed you are as you lay down and listen to my voice…
Breathing in and out
Open your eyes and look around the room… you will never forget the fun you had on the beautiful beach with all the loving animals…
That is the end of this meditation… good job today.
