Spiritual Awakenings
are not something that we’re very open about here in the West. If someone asks use how we’re feeling we’ll just say, ‘okay’, not, ‘I’m feeling sad,’” laughs Judy. “Meditation really makes you acknowledge how you feel. It creates a genuine emotional awareness and a deepening bond that grows inside children and can easily extend to the parent.” From an educator’s point of view, however, Judy explains that “It helps kids to focus and gives them the ability to concentrate better. These kids can dive more deeply into a topic because they know how to focus on things. Medi- tation retrains brains to pause, hold still and focus on a topic.”
Meditation is an activity appropriate for kids of almost
any age; cutting-edge schools, programs and day care centers start their students on it as early as the age of five. While the effects vary with each unique child, it appears even the youngest students of meditation find the experi- ence pleasurable and rewarding. “I think what’s really nice about it, besides the fact that they gain more emotional control, is that the little kids become more aware of what they say and do moment-to-moment,” says Judy. “The young kids get just as much out of it, if not more, than the older kids. They are much calmer; which is why I like to do it during stressful times like testing weeks. I also must say that it helps their creativity a lot. With meditation, there is just the process. There’s no right or wrong way to meditate,
so there’s no fear of failure. It’s just relaxed and creative. Images come to them and they want to draw them or talk about them after. It inspires them in ways they might not have experienced before.” Since implementing her practices of reflection, Judy
has observed amazing results from kids of all ages, back- grounds and beliefs. She has found that even kids who are confused or skeptical at first eventually adapt and embrace a discipline that helps to clear their young minds. She hopes they will carry this practice with them into adult- hood. “Like anything, the more you practice, the better you get at it. The longevity of it really depends on the kid, their appreciation of it, and what their experience with it is like. I hope that their practice with me will plant a seed that allows them to have this tool available for the rest of their lives. If we can encourage them with patience and stillness at a young age, there’s no telling what they can achieve when they reach the point of full maturity.”
To learn more about children’s meditation, contact The Center for Spiritual Living Tucson (
tucsoncsl.org) at info@
TucsonCSL.org.
Jonathan D’Auria is a writer and journalist whose work is featured in many of the largest music publications in America and the UK.
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