Incorporating Meditation Into your Family Routine
We live in a hectic, fast-paced world, full of information that can cause stress. These days, it’s more important than ever to take a moment, slow down, breathe and center yourself. This is important for everyone - not just adults. Contrary to what many parents tend to think, kids get stressed, too. The pressure of schoolwork, friendships, social lives and home life get to them the same way a work life and managing bills affect adults.
Implementing family meditation time can help create a calming, healthy environment for everyone. Finding time to meditate can be hard which is why making it a family activity ensures that everyone gets to hit the much-needed mental reset button they need.
Meditating as a Family
Maybe it’s after dinner; maybe it’s after your evening tv time or maybe it’s right before bedtime. Maybe you choose to do meditation on certain nights, like Mondays and Wednesdays, or Tuesdays and Thursdays and implement a no-tv rule, just for those dedicated days. Whatever time and days you choose, be sure to stick to the plan. Be consistent and don’t cancel or forget. As parents, you should set an example of what a healthy lifestyle looks like. Part of that is mental health and meditating is a part of a well-rounded, healthy mental lifestyle.
Incorporate Yoga
This all depends on everyone’s schedules, of course, but adding yoga may be a great way to keep everyone engaged. For kinetic learners that remember by doing, adding the yoga component to meditation can help them really zone in, be consistent and engaged and not get bored just sitting there in silence. Make it an exciting family activity by getting matching printed tees with a custom phrase on it or fun, vibrantly printed yoga leggings. Yoga has tons of benefits like improving circulation, benefiting the heart, flexibility and so much more. It adds another physical element to meditation for a fully mind-clearing and zen experience.
Kid Friendly Meditations
There are apps and Youtube videos that are designed for kids. They are shorter and focus on imagery kids can find interesting or that they can relate to. These are great tools to use, but you should also work on transitioning them out of using tech and not depending on it too much when taking time to unplug and meditate.
Use Light and Sound to Set the Environment
If everyone is struggling to sit still and focus, dimming the lights could help. Closing the blinds and windows and turning off all noise-making sources can help eliminate distractions. Lastly, adding white-noise of some sort could help. Kind of like how L in Stranger things used the sound of static to focus on her mind powers, playing background noise that is steady and unobtrusive can help. Be sure the sound has no lyrics or speaking in it. Sounds like crashing waves, wind, the sound of rain, crickets or whalesong can help. Youtube has plenty of meditation friendly videos that can be turned on in the background and help everyone focus. You can also learn how to use meditation instruments live, like tibetan singing bowls, Bajinns, ethereal drums or other instruments.
For Small Kids, Start with Short Meditations
Kids of certain young ages may find it extra challenging (aka nearly impossible) to sit still for long periods of time. Try starting everyone off with small, 10 -15 minute meditation sessions first. This also helps if your family is very busy and find it challenging to stop to meditate at all. It’s a great way to build up to longer sessions in the future by laying the foundation with short, doable sessions.
