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You know that leading a more mindful life makes everything more peaceful, efficient and generally easy. Being mindful undoubtedly promotes happiness in your life and in the lives of those around you. Develop your children’s mindfulness practice and everyone in the family will benefit. Wee Yogis can help foster your children’s mindfulness practice through yoga classes and yoga music.
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Before you promote your children’s mindfulness practice, you must have established your own mindfulness as much as possible. You don’t have to be at a professional level, in order to teach something, you need to have some level of proficiency at it. You don’t have to be a master by any means—in fact, you may want to refer to resources that can help you in this undertaking of children’s mindfulness practice, such as Wee Yogis. Consider how you can tailor your own practice to your children’s mindfulness practice.
There are numerous methods to encourage your children’s mindfulness practice. Discuss with your family what their intentions and expectations are. Depending on your children’s age(s), this may be pretty unclear. They could want to be more focused in class or better at a sport. A great place to start for your children’s mindfulness practice is to practice being present. But, as will all things, you shouldn’t have outlandish expectations. You’ll only set yourself and your family up for disappointment. Children’s mindfulness practice will provide the skills to develop awareness and presence.
There are benefits that arise from the practice, but it’s difficult to approach the routine hoping to be ‘more calm’. You don’t want to force anything, and if your little ones are not receptive to the children’s mindfulness practice, there may be a number of reasons for that. They may not be ready for children’s mindfulness practice, or the approach may need to be changed. It’s supposed to be a fun and simple practice (which does not necessarily equate to easy). Don’t be too married to any one outcome for yourself or your children. This is very anti-mindfulness!
A great technique to start your children’s mindfulness practice is with simple breathing exercises. You have to tailor this exercise to children, as it’s hard for them to be instructed to simply ‘focus on their breathing’. You can give them a stuffed animal and have them lay on their back, focusing on the movement of the stuffed animal.
Another great children’s mindfulness practice pulls double-duty: going on walks. Have at least part of the walk be silent so you and your children can focus on their own inner and outer experience. Who knows—you may see things around your neighborhood in a way you never have before. You may see yourself in a way you never have before. This is also an easy way to incorporate fitness into your routine in a low pressure, easy way.
Develop your children’s mindfulness practice. Find out more at https://weeyogis.com or 323-770-6635.