Today's children and teens are under a tremendous amount of pressure from the time they start kindergarten until they graduate from high school. They are saddled with a heavy load of homework at a young age which interferes with their social and emotional development. Children were meant to play, to use their imaginations, to exercise their bodies and to just "be".Instead, they are over scheduled and overworked. As a result, children and teens experience stress and anxiety on a regular basis.
Unfortunately, parents are powerless when it comes to changing the current educational paradigm that has taken over the lives of children across the nation, but parents can offer their children something more. Mindfulness and meditation help to relieve the stress, anxiety and fear based affects of the demands placed upon them at school.
Here are the Top 10 Reasons Why Your Child Needs to Learn Mindfulness & Meditation
1. Stress Reduction - Mindfulness has been studied since the 1970s. Those who regularly practice mindfulness are able to successfully reduce stress.
2. Regulation of Emotions - The practice of mindfulness allows kids and teens to pause, create space between an event or stimulus and response. It is in this space of mindfulness that kids and teens are able to choose a response instead of a reaction.
3. Enhances Creativity and Imagination - Meditation often includes visualizations, imagery and symbolism. These concepts speak to the creativity and imaginations of kids and allows them the freedom to go on magical journeys.
4. Cultivates Compassion and Empathy - Mindfulness teaches children how to practice heartfulness and loving kindness to all.
5. Boosts Resiliency - Children who practice Mindfulness and Meditation are better able to cope with difficult feelings and the ups and downs of life by giving them the essential tools to respond to these emotions and situations instead of reacting. Children learn that they are the boss of their emotions!
6. Alleviates Anxiety - When children practice Mindfulness and Meditation, they are able to alleviate anxiety through focused breathing, labeling their thoughts and feelings and visualizations.
7. Reduces Insomnia - Mindfulness and Meditation helps children fall asleep faster by understanding how to relax their minds and bodies.
8. Better Impulse Control - Children learn how to create space between the stimulus and response so that they can choose their response instead of an instantaneous reaction.
9. Makes Learning Easier - Mindfulness helps make learning easier, retrieval of information easier and increases mental clarity by turning of the stress response in the brain.
10. Creates a Lifelong Coping Mechanism - Children are able to grow into adolescents and adults who already know how to deal wit stress, anxiety and depression in a healthy way.