Nourishing The Family Spirit: Meditations To Do Together

Welcome to your family meditation practice! In this meditation, we will focus on breath and a little visualization. If you or your child have issues with breathing such as asthma, this can be triggering. I would suggest for that person to breathe at their own pace instead of how I guide them. For our first meditation together, I suggest having a bit of a discussion with the rest of the family before beginning. Maybe try sharing some benefits of meditation with the family. Some of the benefits you can share are: feeling healthier in your mind and body from all of the deep breathing, feeling more relaxed/calm/peaceful, being more creative, feeling more connected to yourself and the present moment, and for your little ones, learning how to be still. After this first meditation, I suggest holding a discussion about the process. Ask your children the following questions: Were you able to see a color? If so, what color and what did it look like? Were you able to sit still? If not, what will help next time? How did it feel to breathe deeply? Did you struggle with that? (If they did, help them figure this out. Sometimes, it is good for kids to imagine their tummy as a balloon that they are trying to fill up.) What did you like or dislike about this experience? Meditation is a practice for a reason – every day our bodies and minds are in a different state. Each day will be different. If today didn’t go well, try again tomorrow, then try again the day after that. Remember, it takes the human mind about 21 days to make something a habit. Try meditation at different times of day to see if that makes a difference. I personally like after school for the kids as a transition but before bed is also nice. This is your course so think about the different ways you can use it. You can practice the same meditation for a set number of days before moving on to the next one. You can also try one a day moving through in 10 days then repeating them in order again. You can also try all 10 as a family and pick the one you like the best to repeat. Make it yours and thanks again for going on this journey with me.

The following meditation is one of my favorite meditations to teach to high school students. I use this practice myself on particularly stressful or draining days. I also think it is a great one to do when you are feeling ill. In this lesson, we dive deeper into visualization and imagination. I will guide you to imagine yourself in a serene place in nature that has trees, where you feel safe. Before you begin, you may want to discuss some places in nature the family has visited and enjoyed. This meditation includes a body scan and visualization.

In this meditation, we focus on thoughts. We learn to take the role of the observer. This is the first mediation I ever learned. As a child, I told my mother I had a hard time sleeping because I was thinking too much. She shared this practice with me and I have used it from time to time since. This meditation is a good way to calm a busy mind. Before you begin, you may need to show your preschool children on a whiteboard how one can erase the words or images on there. I was taught to use a chalkboard for the visualization but I have changed it to a whiteboard for modernization. You may want to have calming scents such as lavender, sweet orange, or rosemary to enhance this experience. Out of all the meditations in this course, this one is the hardest for children five and under. If you find your little one struggling just encourage them to focus on their breath.

In this meditation, we will be focusing on our own names and using them as a mantra. I think it is helpful for you to have each person’s name written down for them before the practice. I have an activity for you if you would like to try this before the meditation but it is not necessary. Activity for the Family: What's in a Name? Suggested supplies: Paper, coloring supplies, glitter, sequins, pompoms, glue, and stickers Approximate time: One hour Before this activity, look up the name meanings of each family member. You can search on baby name websites for this information. If you named your child, recall the reasons why you chose that name. My daughter loves to hear the story of her name. I am a Tom Waits fan and while pregnant with her, I listened to “Lucinda” over and over again. It is one of my all-time favorite songs. In the song, a man is singing at his hanging about the beautiful Lucinda and how he would commit the crimes all over again for her. I also love Lucille Ball and read her biography while pregnant. I love that Lucille means bringer of light. Being of Sicilian heritage, I also considered "Lucia" for my daughter. In the end, I knew I wanted her to be a Lucy because of my love for The Beatles and wanted my own Lucy in the sky. My husband and I settled on Lucille because of how well it goes with our last name. If you don’t have a story like mine, it is alright. Look up your child’s name. You can discover the meaning, variations, and maybe even famous people of the same name. Share this information with everyone. Discuss why names are special then have each family member draw and decorate his or her name. You can do this on little pieces of paper, you can make shirts, you can mold them from clay - this depends on time and creativity level. Have fun with it! For your little ones, create their name ahead of time and just let them decorate. Then, present what you have done at the end to one another. Keep the names up somewhere as decoration or place them on your altars. You will need them later in this chapter. Some people wish they had different names. This activity is intended to help your children feel proud of the name they have. It is to help them feel special and feel good about what others call them. To go further, you can look up the translations of the family’s names into other languages and even see if you can trace the meaning of your last name. I know that my married last name of Bell comes from the fact that the family were once bell makers in Scotland. To dive deeper into names: Variation for littlest ones: Put on some fun music and encourage them to sing and dance while saying their own name. Variation: If you have a transgender family member, then they will change the meditation to this is the name you have chosen. In fact, this activity can be extremely powerful for a transgender child.

This is our first meditation with our eyes open. Right thought is about releasing judgment and this meditation asks everyone to merely observe things as if seeing them for the first time. It is a great activity to practice during long car rides or while waiting in lines. We will be observing while resisting the urge to judge or label Think of the game I spy but on a meditation level.

Today, we will be visualizing our inner light and using the famous quote from the Buddha, "Be a lamp unto yourself," as our guide. If you have a candle (real or fake) available it would be great to light it as we will be using a candle as our focus.

I feel this meditation is best practiced outdoors. Maybe save it for a weekend when you can all walk in a pretty park or nature spot together. But if this privilege is not available to you or safe to do at this time, no worries, you can easily walk around your home or yard. Determine how far you will walk ahead of time so as not to push the patience of your children. I think anywhere between 20 minutes and an hour is good if you allow time for stopping and talking and maybe even snacks and water breaks. The meditation will probably end before you finish walking and that is intentional so that you can practice on your own in the quiet. If someone in the family has limb differences or is in a wheelchair, they can still do the practice to the best of their comfort level.

TIn this practice we will try affirmations. Affirmations are positive I am statements that help us rewire our brains to think in a positive manner. Affirmations are used to create our own destiny. We use words to manifest the person we are deep down. They can really manifest lasting changes in ourselves and our lives. I also have an optional activity for you to try after if you would like.

Gratitude has personally changed my life. I feel it is really the key to a happy life. It is something I practice alone and with my family on a daily basis. Today, I share some of my favorite practices with you. If you have very young ones, you may want to share a bit about gratitude and what it means before practice.

For our last meditation, we will be focusing on love. We will first wrap ourselves in our own love and then extend it to others. It is believed by many that when people meditate they raise the vibration or frequency of the area in which they live. In this way, meditation is not just for you but for others around you and in your life. You will be using love to raise your own vibration as well as those around you. I thank you so much for finishing this course and allowing me to teach you and your family meditation.