Creating balance in your kids by meditation and visualization techniques will not only increase your sanity, but will give them tools to better handle future experiences with ease.
Through this, parents and kids connect through guided visualization and will learn to connect with their awareness, shielding and control, separating themselves from others so they don’t take others stuff on, and to be able to connect with what is already supporting them.
In a child’s experience, especially for a sensitive child, they are not only learning how to interact with their body and objects, but those people and energies around them. And while they are assimilating all this, it can be overwhelming because they may be receiving more input than you know. It is all coming at them like a freight train and they don’t know how to get off the tracks and watch it go by. To a sensitive child, they may hear, see or sense things that we don’t experience, or even take for granted. And while we may not understand what they experience we can certainly support their experience. When I was little my dad knew I could sense things he could not and he assured me that it was ok and to keep on feeling positive about it. He gave me space and support to explore and feel safe having that experience. It was SO important and shaped how I am today.
So, we want to guide them into becoming masters of their universe, with all the skills and senses they have. We may not understand it, but it doesn’t ultimately matter. Your kids will eventually know what to do with it when the timing is right. But they need our support in order to feel safe to explore and learn their gifts and talents.
There are four parts that I want to discuss on how to support our precious children, who we are fostering into adulthood.
1. Connect into Awareness/boundaries2. Separating self from other influences around them. 3. Find their center/grounding4. Connect with what is already supporting them
Awareness/boundaries
First step in mastering their universe is to help them notice where they start and the rest of the world stops. There is some overlap but for all intents and purposes we are more than our bodies. Our sight extends far beyond and so does our hearing. Our energetic bodies expand and contract, change shape and color during the day when we are happy, sad, scared, frustrated. When we can notice space around us before someone else begins, we can have time and space to take in an experience before we have to react to it. We can plan ahead and ACT instead of reacting.
It’s like driving a car. We are in our vehicles and see a car or a semi coming towards us. We analyze how far they are, if they are coming right at us, if they are aware of their shape and size and location, or if they are not. We plan accordingly. And so should we teach our kids to be able to become more aware of the space between and tend to it like a garden. When we do, we become more balanced and less reactive.
Now we can begin to let them know that they are separate from those experiences that may initially overwhelm them. You can have them practice turning a visualized dial up or down on a noise, or feeling that is their own or that is coming in. First, have them imagine a dial and have them share with you in great detail what it looks and feels like, and even the sounds it makes when you move it. Then have them dial up or dial down things, such as their specific feelings, emotions, sounds they hear, etc. You can put a dial to anything, and do so, as long as it is useful and appropriate.
Grounding and finding their center is crucial, as well. Any martial artist or gymnast will tell you how stance is important. Not just your body parts, but emotionally and mentally. A gymnast on a balance beam has to focus not above her head, but into her feet and even below to keep on the beam. A martial artist (Aikido or Ninjitsu) will keep his arms out and movements circular so there are no harsh falls. Circular movements are fluid and gently redirect the energy intended for them. The center of the body is protected and the circular movements move the other person around you, not into you.
When we are aware of and tend to our sphere of influence, (about 18” outside our bodies) we can better be able to pick up what is us, not us, and then decide what to do with it. When we recognize it’s not us, we can see that it is now and already our choice to do something with it, or not. When we have choice we can do amazing things and be quite calm and masterful about it how we want to experience all parts of the world as we move through it.
“When we are in balance, energies that are coming at us are less overwhelming or even just a something that is there to notice. ”
Example: If there is a person coming into your space with INVASIVE BEHAVIOR, or you feel their “bad” energy coming towards you, dial up your strength or humor, or calmness, whatever you feel is useful to you. Choose what is needed to still handle the situation and still stay calm and grounded and balanced. If someone is feeling small and sad, you can choose to dial up compassion. You can use the dial for any sort of situation. If your child feels or senses beings or feelings, having them be able to master their own space will help them know that they cannot take them on or into their space.
What if we feel we don’t have the resources ourselves? Call in help! Do you remember the song “What would Brian Boitano do, if he were here right now?” It was from South Park show. Hilarious song and show, for that matter. But there is a point to this example. When we ask “outside of ourselves” we miraculously are able to connect with an experience or knowledge that “someone else” has that we haven’t or can’t access. It’s a bit of a trick of the mind, but it works. If your child doesn’t know what to do or feels intimidated by actually having the answer, ask “what do you think I would do, or grandma, or your teacher?” Ok, step into that experience and take it as your own. Use it accordingly when you need to. Please see the next Blog Post for the Dream Time Meditation to read to your kids.
Thanks for reading!