Meditation Articles Series

Recently I had an email from a teacher asking if I could give her some tips on introducing guided meditations into the classroom for her students. She told me that a survey done in her school revealed that students reported stress management to be one of their highest needs.

Children are natural meditators

Children are natural meditators. Have you noticed how focused your children are when they are involved in an activity that they love? Do you remember when you were a child how immersed you became in something, and how the rest of the world around you seem to fade away? Do you recall how time seemed to change, like you had been doing something for hours but it only seemed a few moments?

Guiding students through meditation

Because children are bombarded with so much stimulation, with TV and computers, play stations and cell phones, it may take them a while to readjust to coming back within themselves. If students are stressed, and they’re actually reporting this back to their teachers then helping them with some basic relaxation would be a good place to start.

The Guided Meditation on Fragrant Heart, called Creating Your Own Peaceful Sanctuary, would also be helpful in encouraging students to go within, and create a place where they can always feel nurtured or comforted, or to find solutions to their problems. Children may need to practise some simple visualizations for them to be able to use their senses more acutely. Starting with about five minutes of visualization will benefit students and get them understanding how the process works. If you are a teacher, and you have a meditation practice yourself then your own presence of calmness and peacefulness will also influence your students and help them feel less stressed.