The Fantastic Five: Core Meditation Techniques for Parents

For some parents, meditation is an integral part of their parenting style. The Fantastic Five meditation techniques help parents:

• Gain restful sleep and increase energy
• Achieve emotional balance
• Maintain mindfulness in the present moment
• Discover new approaches to inspire their children to work within safe boundaries and complete household tasks
• Better understand their relationship with their children; whether it is uncovering reasons behind an argument or getting to the root of a long time pattern.

All of these meditative experiences directly heighten the time we spend with our children.

The first tool of the Fantastic Five – The Grounding Cord:
Patience, good judgment and humor can quickly evaporate into the universe when we are tired and ungrounded. We can get swept up into the drama of our lives. We have lost touch with the simplicity of our being and with our center. This grounding meditation will bring you down from the pinnacle where you witness your life swirling by.

Simply imagine a cord attached to the bottom of your spine, extending through the floor beneath you all the way to the center of the planet. Notice what moves through your being and down the cord. You might see colors flowing down, or hear the pitter patter of pebbles fall. You might feel lighter as heaviness drops away. How ever you experience this is perfect for you. You are letting go of energies that once served you but now are getting in the way of your ability to be grounded in your life. Now in this reclaimed space you can consider exactly what you want to do with your day instead of your day deciding for you. At the close of your day, sleep long and well.

The second tool of the Fantastic Five – Notice Instead of Become Thoughts and Emotions
Our emotions play a key role in our parenting. Just like any close relationship, our children stir up feelings within us. Emotions are beautiful and make our lives full and complete. However, we can gain a life changing perspective when we take a step back from our emotions occasionally. This meditation will help you practice how to transcend the drama of your parenting life.

Close your eyes. Breathe deeply. Become aware of the thoughts and emotions you are experiencing one at a time. With each thought or emotion state to yourself, “I’m noticing I'm thinking about what my child said to me. I’m noticing the anger I’m feeling. I'm noticing that I'm frustrated with my ability to meditate. I'm noticing that I'm excited about my friend coming to town. I'm noticing that I feel tired and might fall asleep.” Practice noticing instead of spending energy wrapped up in the thoughts and emotions. Take a deep breath and NOTICE what you are thinking and feeling. Keep with it until you feel less involved in the emotion and more of an observer.

The Third tool of the Fantastic Five - Sensational Focus:
When you make time to meditate, you will find that your life actually slows down - some kind of miracle tranquility. Shift down a few gears and become mindful of the flow of your motherly or fatherly energy winding in and through the desires of your children. When we are mindful and present, we can enjoy our children more fully. This meditation is a great way to practice being in the present moment.

Close your eyes. Breath deeply. When your eyes are closed, your senses of hearing, touch, smell and taste increase. Take several minutes to notice each of the following stimuli.
Listen to your outer environment. What do you hear?
Take a deep breath. Any scents in the air?
Do you feel any sensations in your body?
Are you tasting something right now?

The fourth tool of the Fantastic Five - Experiencing a Child’s World:
It has been several years since we have been children, which makes it difficult for us to really understand how a child interprets the world and perceives what we say. If we could glimpse into the minds of our children, we could learn where their motives stem from and what inspires them to act. We would know what to say to make what we are conveying click in their minds. Or a peek into their conscious might give us inspiration to change our needs.

Close your eyes, take three calming breaths, and imagine yourself as a child. You do not need to imagine you are your child, nor do you need to imagine you are you when you were a child. Simply imagine you are a child of the same age and possibly gender as your child. Allow yourself to follow this child’s movements until you encounter a situation involving your subject (if your subject is clean up, then wait until this child in your mind enters a messy room and is asked to clean it up). Then see what this child sees, hear what this child hears, notice what this child thinks and feels. How does this child experience this subject?

The fifth tool of the Fantastic Five – Looking into the Mirror:
The relationship between parent and child is divine, intense, karmic – if you will, and on some level nothing like any other bond between two beings. Our children are our mirror. If we look into this mirror, it reflects who we are, who we want to be, and who we do not want to be. Therefore, when our children appear to be acting out or are not following directions, they are usually showing us something important about ourselves. In meditation, we bypass our intellect and find answers deep within. It is here that we transform frustration into growth.

Close your eyes and take a few relaxing breaths. Consider what feelings and thoughts your child triggers in you. What button is your child pushing? Ask yourself this key question: What is my child mirroring to me? Be open to sounds, words, images, and emotions. Trust what you hear, see, and feel.

"Wish I Had Time to Meditate."
As parents, time and quiet are usually just something we hear about; definitely not a reality for a busy mom or dad. Before you begin your mediation practice, simply set the intention to meditate. Do not put pressure on yourself. Think about meditating at least once a day for a week. Then think about meditating at least twice a day the next week. Then imagine where and when you will meditate a few times a day the third week. Hopefully by this point you will have sent enough energy out into the universe to begin to create the time you need to meditate. During this fourth week, begin to notice anything that indicates to you I have time to meditate. Maybe there will be a moment materialize when all is still and you can sit quietly for a few moments, even if it is just five minutes.

You might prefer to meditate in the evenings after your children are asleep. Or you might consider giving up a weekly or daily activity temporarily and meditate instead. For example, check your email every other day instead of every day. Another solution is holding one single meditation over a few different sessions. This is easy. Begin one of the Fantastic Five meditations before bed. Let yourself fall asleep when you need to. When you awaken in the morning, continue your meditation where you dropped off. Suspend your meditation when your alarm rings or a child awakens you. Then take a moment later in the day to complete your meditation. There is no need to put a lot of energy into the exact form your meditation will take. It may manifest in a way entirely different than you anticipate.

______________________________________________________________________

Meditation 101 Tele-Class (18 yo and up)

This class is not available at this time.

______________________________________________________________________

Description Learn how meditation can help you find peace in your daily life, determine how many different kinds of meditation are beneficial for you to know, overcome obstacles to meditating such as creating time to meditate, understand comparisons between different paths of meditation and a brief history. Learn how to practice five meditation techniques including grounding, mindfulness and self-reflection. There will be ample time to answer your questions.

Topics Covered During the Course:
•Become grounded in difficult situations.
•Maintain mindfulness in the present moment with sensory awareness meditation
•Become aquatinted with your chakra system.
•Learn how meditation helps us better understand our relationships.

Cost: $40 person. Receive a $5 discount when you "Bring a Friend". To receive this discount, BOTH FRIENDS who are registering need to select "Bring a Friend Discount" on your registration form and enter their friend's name on the "Personal Information" page. Discounts will not be given to those who do not enter their friend's name. If you select $40 and then later find a friend to register with you, you can go back and edit your registration to receive the discount.

How the Tele-class Works: To participate in our tele-classes all you need is access to a telephone and you can participate from anywhere. Participants are provided with a phone number and access code to join the call. While on the call, participants can listen to the training facilitator, fellow students and ask questions whenever they come up.

Suggested Articles

Self-reflective Parenting Sarah Wood Vallely Newsletter Summer 07

Meditation, Yoga Might Switch Off Stress Genes Amanda Gardner, HealthDay Reporter, July 2008

Meditation made me crazy Hillari Dowdle Natural Health July 2005