Schools and colleges open this month and a new in-take of excited young people. Going to school can be a stressful event both for parents and children, especially this year as many face unemployment, rising cost of school uniforms and materials all over shadowed by the fear of swine flu .
Many children find going into a new class, making new friends and finding their way around the school and classes as stressful, fortunately, this short-term stress can be both helpful in motivating the individuals and keeping them alert. However, some children may find their situation stressful over a much longer period of time and it is these children that require support and guidance during this period of vulnerability.
Meditation has be shown not only to reduce stress and destructive emotions, but just as importantly, research studies using for example, Transcendental meditation with “under achievers” categorically demonstrated that meditation significantly improved performance and mental abilities of pupils.
Our minds are distracted and bombarded with stimuli from every direction, work, home, leisure and even “relaxing” in front of mindless TV. Meditation enables our minds to settle within, helping settle our cyclic thought patterns and to experience our inner reservoir of peace, energy, creativity and intelligence, giving rise to our natural state of restful alertness, while our body experiences deep relaxation.
Stressmanagement.co.uk has developed a range of free audio guided meditation techniques including meditation for young children.
EXERCISES:
Meditation for Children (by Dav Panesar)
Symran – the authentic mantra meditation technique (by Dav Panesar)
Mindfulness (by Dav Panesar)
Victim to Creator (by Dav Panesar)
