Baby Steps

I’ve been leading guided meditation walks at the Denver Botanic Garden for many years. The good news is the meditations are popular monthly events at the Garden. The not-so-good news is the meditations are only for adults. This year, I’ve decided to branch out and begin developing a meditation program for littles. Research shows children as young as 3 years old can grasp the basics when presented with age-appropriate meditations.

When my gbabes were 3 and 5, I practiced meditating with them over the summer. We started with 30 seconds of silence and breathing, adding 30 seconds each week until we were at 3 minutes. That may not sound like much but getting 2 little boys to sit still and silent for 3 minutes felt quite Zen.

There is a plethora of online meditations for children of all ages. Here are some of the basics:

How do we meditate? We close our eyes and open our hearts.

Examples of breathing techniques include:
smell the flower, blow out the candle
hands on belly, deep, deep, deep breath in, forceful exhale like blowing up a balloon
feel breath going in nose, pause, feel breath going out mouth.
(The premise is always gentle inhalations and forceful exhalations.)

The Disney movie, Inside Out, does a wonderful job of illustrating various emotions: joy, anger, sadness, disgust, and fear. My plan is to choose one emotion each week and let the kiddos act out the emotion. Once they’ve exhausted their wiggles and giggles, I hope to return their attention to mindful breathing.

This project feels a bit daunting but I’m up for the challenge. The Dalai Lama is quoted as saying, “If every 8-year-old in the world is taught meditation, we will eliminate violence from the world within one generation.”

Hope springs eternal.