At its core, meditation is a practice of self-awareness, self-reflection, and mindfulness. It requires training the body to pay heed to the mind and let nothing distract or attract their senses. While it takes time to achieve that state of mindfulness and meditation, sincere and regular practice can easily get you there.
But why is meditation so widely recommended? It is because of its numerous health benefits and ability to develop mental endurance in humans of all ages. Mental endurance refers to the capacity of an individual to overcome and persevere in the face of obstacles in life. It is an important trait that must be inculcated in kids from a young age today.
As the demands of modern existence are rising by the day, with leisure vanishing and tuition and academics gaining the majority, kids need to develop mental resilience and toughness to make it through life successfully. And meditation is the easiest solution to the problem. Here is a quick guide on the benefits of meditation for your kid’s mental endurance.
Meditation helps switch off the stress response and lowers levels of the stress hormone cortisol. It also reduces heart rate and slows down respiration rate, inducing a calming effect. As a result, meditation helps lower stress and anxiety levels in kids, grounding them in the present.
Meditation inculcates mindfulness in kids which prevents them from feeling stressed, overwhelmed, or helpless. It enables them to apply what they calmly have at hand to solve the problem. This increases mental resilience in kids and boosts their skills of endurance and perseverance tremendously.
High levels of stress and cortisol weaken the immune system, causing kids to fall sick faster. Meditation helps lessen worries and enhances your kid’s immunity by supporting healthy functioning of heart and blood vessels and steadying respiration rate.
A stressed brain is forever searching and looking for danger or triggers. It cannot focus on anything else and is too restless. Whereas a calm mind can focus on any task at hand and absorb information by analyzing it better. This is due to meditation as it not only helps calm the stress response but also improves focus, concentration, and learning skills in kids.
Meditation creates awareness of emotions and feelings in kids. Once they learn to tune out external distractions and focus on their inner self, they understand the link between feelings, thoughts, and actions. Kids learn to handle negative emotions better and not lash out if they engage in healthy regulation.
Meditation’s inversely proportional relationship with stress and cortisol helps kids relax and fall asleep much faster. Often, deep breathing exercises and meditating while lying down also help as much as normal meditative exercises. This is due to the relaxing nature of meditation, which inculcates mindfulness and creates a soothing, safe space for kids in their own minds.
Meditation also has a feather in its cap for alerting kids to the development of negative thoughts and emotions regarding themselves. It allows them to observe how their negativity impacts their relationship with their own self. As a result, kids can identify and let these negative thoughts bounce off them harmlessly, by developing healthy, positive self-esteem.
Meditation also helps in developing decision-making and future-planning skills in kids. Mindful thinking and meditation have been associated with the thickening of the prefrontal cortex and healthy blood supply to the frontal cortex. Both cerebral cognitive areas are associated with making decisions and planning the future. Therefore, daily meditation, thanks to its soothing and self-realizing manner, helps kids make better choices in life.
Even kids with behavioral issues or teens with anger issues benefit from meditation. Wholesome exercise helps combat various kinds of negative feelings, by detaching kids from the past and future and grounding them in the present. It also helps broaden their perspective, inculcates empathy, and creates awareness. Kids who meditate daily automatically correct their bad behaviors, preferring to be mindful instead.
Meditation may work like magic, but it is not one. It is plain and simple science combined with mental wellness and spirituality. It needs to be practiced and engaged in daily for at least a few months to see proper improvements and changes. Do not force your kids to sit and meditate as that will not do the trick. Try practicing it yourself first and let your kids hang around and imitate you. Once they get into the groove of things, try variations like guided meditation and visualization exercises to nurture and develop mental endurance in your kids. Remember, meditating today is like investing in premium mental health for the future, so give this guide a try now.
References:
https://cambrilearn.com/blog/benefits-of-meditation-for-kids-and-teens