Body Scan For Kids

This is a body scan meditation for use with children. Mark Bertin is a developmental pediatrician and author of Mindful Parenting for ADHD and the Family ADHD solution.

Transcript

Music This is a body scan for children.

If you're a parent,

You might choose to do this with your child or feel free to use the audio as part of bedtime or at any other time during the day.

Start by lying down on your back.

Let your legs be soft and let your arms relax and fall to the side.

Find yourself a position that's comfortable and then close your eyes.

You can start by taking two or three gentle but large breaths.

Pay attention to how that feels in your body.

Each time you breathe,

Your belly rises and then it falls.

Air moves in and out of your body.

If you like,

Place a hand on your belly and you might feel it move with each breath.

When you breathe in,

Your hand goes up.

And when you breathe out,

Your hand goes down.

Now what we're going to do is pay attention to other parts of your body.

We're going to start with your feet.

Your feet right now may feel warm or cold,

Wet or dry.

They might feel relaxed or they might even feel restless like they want to move.

It's also okay if you feel nothing at all.

If you can,

Relax your feet right now.

If that's hard to do,

That's fine.

Take a moment and notice how that feels too.

For these next few minutes,

Let yourself be still.

There's nothing to do.

Pay attention as best you can even though it might feel very hard.

Notice right now the feel of blankets on your feet or maybe your feet pressing against the bed.

And then when your mind gets busy,

As it definitely will,

Gently bring your attention back again.

Now move your attention to your lower legs.

What do you notice there?

Do your legs feel heavy or light,

Warm or cold,

Or something else?

Maybe you can feel your clothes or the blanket touching your legs.

Notice if you start to feel frustrated or like you're trying too hard to do something.

Just do your best and give yourself a few moments of rest right now.

Move your attention next to your knees and then relax them if you can.

See if you can feel the front of your knees,

The back,

And the sides.

After a few more breaths,

Now move your attention to your upper legs.

Whatever you feel or you don't feel right now is fine.

Pay attention to whatever you feel in your legs.

If you start to feel restless or wiggly,

That's okay too.

That happens a lot.

And now move your attention to your belly.

Your belly always moves each time you breathe,

Rising and falling like the waves on the sea.

You might feel something inside like being full or feeling hungry.

You might notice the touch of your clothing or if you've left it there,

Your hand on your belly.

Sometimes you can even feel emotions in your belly like feeling happy or sad or upset.

Bring your attention now to your chest.

Notice that it also goes up and down each time you breathe.

Maybe notice while you do this if you can find a moment of stillness inside you,

Like the pause that comes at the end of each breath that you take.

Sometimes we feel feelings in our chest or it feels tight.

If you notice that and can relax,

Let it go.

And if you can't,

That's fine too.

Continue to practice by right now when you hear my voice,

Noticing again how your chest feels when you breathe.

Move on now to your hands.

You don't need to move them or do anything with them at all.

Just let them be.

Right now they may be touching the bed or the floor or sitting somewhere on your body.

Make them soft or relax them if you can.

And if not,

Just pay attention for another moment.

Moving your attention now up into your arms.

And then move your attention around to your back.

How does your back feel right now against the bed or against the floor?

Notice how your back rocks with each breath that you take.

Sometimes when your mind gets busy or angry or scared,

You can come back to how your body feels like this for just a moment and find yourself a sense of peace.

From there,

Move your attention to your neck and your shoulders.

See if you can make them feel soft and relaxed.

And remember,

No one can pay attention all the time.

Just keep on coming back whenever you find yourself thinking of something else instead.

And then notice your face and your head.

What expression do you have right now?

What would it feel like to smile?

What else do you notice going on right now in the feelings around your face or your head or even in your mind?

And then for a few moments,

Pay attention to your whole body.

It may be easier while you're doing this to continue to notice the rocking and rising and falling that happens when you breathe.

If it's time for sleep right now,

Allow that to happen,

Remaining still,

Continuing to pay attention to your breathing or the feelings in your body.

And if it's time to wake up or to do something,

Opening your eyes and sitting for a few moments before choosing when to move again.

Thank you.

Reviews

Put my wiggly 10 year old out. Five star worthy meditation to accomplish that.

My sleep-averse 6 year couldn’t stay awake till the end. Calm and welcoming.

Great! Made my mind feel right in the moment when I was distracted and lost. 😌

My nephew and ni e have McAllen asleep so easily to this for the 2nd night in a row. Ty. 🙏

It was great it made my niece calm down so great work

My 5 year old requests this one at bedtime more often than any other.

I am ADHD and so are my kids, this was fab as my eldest is really struggling with sleep lately so hoping this helps him understand more about his emotions. Thanks

My kids LOVE this body scan before bed.

My 7 y.o. son’s first time meditating! We loved it.

Descriptions great for a child to follow and have a calming experience. just the right length of time too!

Great! Make more like this one

One of my sons favorites!

Awesome 👏🏽 it was so awesome 👏🏽 namasta

My kids and I really enjoyed this one, I appreciate the calm tone without any over the top "relaxing" voice, and the acknowledgement of children's feelings during mediation

Excellent meditation for children. Great details and perfect for young children just learning meditation

It was very good! Even though I, 13 it still worked very well! :D thank you

Amazing spectacular and calming

Wonderful. My son loves it. Thank you. 🙏

Wish there was background sound but I understand why there wasn’t. Great learning tool for kids (and adults) to do body scan.

Well she fell asleep!!