The Mindful Child, It’s Not Just Child’s Play

My yoga and meditation, or mindfulness practice, began at the same time. This makes sense since these two practices are interwoven as part of the whole of the yoga lifestyle. My meditation practice floundered quickly as I was unable to quiet my mind. I was mistakenly under the belief that a quiet mind was required to be successful in my meditation practice. It was not until my daughter was diagnosed with ADHD that I became reacquainted with meditation. Our daughter was a child with a wandering mind, with parents who refused to medicate her. Fortunately, our doctor respected our choice and recommended mindfulness training as an alternative.

As a family we attended weekly 30 minute sessions where our Mindfulness Coach taught us various techniques to successfully engage in a mindfulness practice. I am happy to report for several years now, my daughter has learned to navigate her ADHD without ever having to take medication. As for me, I found I could also benefit from meditation and have adopted a daily practice with my new understanding of mindfulness.

Lately there is quite the buzz about the benefits of mindfulness. This is with good reason. We live in an overstimulated world of instant gratification which takes a toll on our level of stress and the ability for us to self-sooth. Self-soothing is something we are taught as babies, so why does it stop there? The issues that we have to address in everyday life certainly do not. Mindfulness teaches us how to engage our breathe and focus when we are spinning. Children today are under so much pressure from parents to teachers to peers they almost don’t have time to stop spinning. They too should be provided coping tools to deal with these pressures. I have so much gratitude for our mindfulness training and while I would encourage other parents to do the same with their families, training can be expensive, hard to schedule, or not always easily accessible in all areas. This is why I am very excited to see a new offering to this practice accessible to everyone.

In Rachel Gonzalez’s instructional guide “The Mindful Child Journal” many of the same concepts shared with our family during mindfulness training are covered. With the aid of this unique journal, any child can develop a practice with a clear understanding of mindfulness, how to practice it, and an explanation of what you can gain from each individual exercise. Rachel’s journal allows every child the opportunity, through this 4 week journey, to learn the beginning steps of the practice with visual imagery that will easily engage a child’s mind.

This book could easily be considered an instructional text used by teachers in the class room. With many journaling and mindful coloring opportunities throughout the book it is so much more. Catered toward children, I would eagerly recommend it to adults who are interested in an introduction to the mindfulness practice. When learning anything new, it is good to start with the basics. If you easily grasp the material, it is a fast progression to more complicated concepts. Remember, my road to mindfulness sprung out my daughter’s mindfulness training and has turned into a daily practices that still continues years later.

If you want to learn more or purchase Rachel’s book, you can find it here “The Mindful Child Journal”

Do you work with children or have children that could benefit from a calming and centering meditation practice? Are you new to meditation and would like to learn more? We would love to hear more about your journey. Please click comments above with anything you would like to share.