Teaching Your Child the Fudge Swirl Meditation
by Sarah Wood Vallely
Just as when we eat we refuel our energy, when we meditate we nourish our spirit. It is as easy as giving yourself a big, happy hug. Meditation is available any time and anywhere as a means to refuel spiritual energy supplies and gain physical energy, too.
Every tradition recognizes and honors subtle, nurturing energy in its own way, and gives this energy various names. Native American traditions calls upon Father Sky and Mother Earth when referring to the earth’s nurturing energy and that of the powerful, awe-inspiring sky. The Chinese refer to these same energies as yin and yang, yang being the masculine. Cultivating yin and yang within our being balances us, feeds us, and renews us.
The female and male essences exist inside and outside of each one of us, regardless of our gender. Over the past 30 years, women have moved toward reclaiming their male essence either by making their way into the workforce or by staying at home with their children and valuing this nurturing work as much as the role of the working father. Men, in turn, have accessed their female side by expressing emotions more easily and trusting their intuition. In some cases, a woman may already have a strong male essence and needs to nurture her feminine side to feel balanced, while another woman needs to unleash her male side. And the same goes for men. No matter how our male and female essences manifest, we need to honor and balance both within us.
While practicing the following meditation inspired by the Native American tradition, your child will pull from the earth and from the cosmos elements that nourish his soul. It is best if he imagines simple images and the feelings they elicit, such as a smile, laughter, warm sunlight, or a hug from a friend. No image is right or wrong; the only requirement is that it gives your child joy. This journey meditation will help him wake up happily in the morning, or lift his spirits any time during the day.
The Meditation
Close your eyes. You can put your hands over your eyes if you want to. Now take a deep in-breath. When you breathe back out, feel your body relaxing. We’ll take two more breaths. Deep breath in, and relax your legs as you breathe out. Deep breath in, and relax your arms and neck as you breathe out.
See a ball of light above your head. Fill this ball of light with some of your favorite things, maybe a smile, your favorite color, or your favorite toy or favorite food. You can even put laughter into your ball of light. As you bring more good things into your ball of light and energy, see the ball get larger and larger. Let the stars, the sun, and the moon help you bring good things into your ball of energy. You may even feel starlight or a sunbeam touch your ball of energy. See the ball of energy get even bigger. You can put pictures of your favorite places, favorite people, or favorite things into your ball of light. As you put these pictures into your ball of light, notice how the ball gets even bigger above your head.
Now bring the energy from the ball above your head into your body, through the top of your head, through your crown chakra. See it filling your whole body. Feel it filling up your arms and your legs.
Now you are going to bring energy up from the earth through your root chakra, which is at the bottom of your tailbone, where you sit on the floor. You may see this energy as a color. Feel earth energy come up out of the ground, up through the bottom of the building, all the way through the floor where you are sitting. Can you hear it? Feel this energy come up through the floor and into your body. If you want, ask the animals and plants of the earth to help you. Watch these animals sending energy to you from the earth through your root chakra at your tailbone.
Now see the earth energy mixing with the light ball energy in your body, which might be like mixing chocolate syrup into vanilla ice cream. I will give you a moment to really feel this energy mixing in your body. Remember, the energy from the stars and from the earth never run out, so you can continue to see the energies from above and below come into your body.
I’ll give you a few moments to do this on your own.
Now thank yourself for all the good feelings you brought into your body today. (Pause.) You can open your eyes whenever you are ready.
Here are some questions you can ask your child after the meditation:
1. What did you see?
2. How did you feel? What did it sound like?
3. Did you get some help from the stars and the animals?
4. What good energies did you put into the ball of energy above your head?
5. What did the earth energy look like?
Just as when we eat we refuel our energy, when we meditate we nourish our spirit. It is as easy as giving yourself a big, happy hug. Meditation is available any time and anywhere as a means to refuel spiritual energy supplies and gain physical energy, too.
Every tradition recognizes and honors subtle, nurturing energy in its own way, and gives this energy various names. Native American traditions calls upon Father Sky and Mother Earth when referring to the earth’s nurturing energy and that of the powerful, awe-inspiring sky. The Chinese refer to these same energies as yin and yang, yang being the masculine. Cultivating yin and yang within our being balances us, feeds us, and renews us.
The female and male essences exist inside and outside of each one of us, regardless of our gender. Over the past 30 years, women have moved toward reclaiming their male essence either by making their way into the workforce or by staying at home with their children and valuing this nurturing work as much as the role of the working father. Men, in turn, have accessed their female side by expressing emotions more easily and trusting their intuition. In some cases, a woman may already have a strong male essence and needs to nurture her feminine side to feel balanced, while another woman needs to unleash her male side. And the same goes for men. No matter how our male and female essences manifest, we need to honor and balance both within us.
While practicing the following meditation inspired by the Native American tradition, your child will pull from the earth and from the cosmos elements that nourish his soul. It is best if he imagines simple images and the feelings they elicit, such as a smile, laughter, warm sunlight, or a hug from a friend. No image is right or wrong; the only requirement is that it gives your child joy. This journey meditation will help him wake up happily in the morning, or lift his spirits any time during the day.
The Meditation
Close your eyes. You can put your hands over your eyes if you want to. Now take a deep in-breath. When you breathe back out, feel your body relaxing. We’ll take two more breaths. Deep breath in, and relax your legs as you breathe out. Deep breath in, and relax your arms and neck as you breathe out.
See a ball of light above your head. Fill this ball of light with some of your favorite things, maybe a smile, your favorite color, or your favorite toy or favorite food. You can even put laughter into your ball of light. As you bring more good things into your ball of light and energy, see the ball get larger and larger. Let the stars, the sun, and the moon help you bring good things into your ball of energy. You may even feel starlight or a sunbeam touch your ball of energy. See the ball of energy get even bigger. You can put pictures of your favorite places, favorite people, or favorite things into your ball of light. As you put these pictures into your ball of light, notice how the ball gets even bigger above your head.
Now bring the energy from the ball above your head into your body, through the top of your head, through your crown chakra. See it filling your whole body. Feel it filling up your arms and your legs.
Now you are going to bring energy up from the earth through your root chakra, which is at the bottom of your tailbone, where you sit on the floor. You may see this energy as a color. Feel earth energy come up out of the ground, up through the bottom of the building, all the way through the floor where you are sitting. Can you hear it? Feel this energy come up through the floor and into your body. If you want, ask the animals and plants of the earth to help you. Watch these animals sending energy to you from the earth through your root chakra at your tailbone.
Now see the earth energy mixing with the light ball energy in your body, which might be like mixing chocolate syrup into vanilla ice cream. I will give you a moment to really feel this energy mixing in your body. Remember, the energy from the stars and from the earth never run out, so you can continue to see the energies from above and below come into your body.
I’ll give you a few moments to do this on your own.
Now thank yourself for all the good feelings you brought into your body today. (Pause.) You can open your eyes whenever you are ready.
Here are some questions you can ask your child after the meditation:
1. What did you see?
2. How did you feel? What did it sound like?
3. Did you get some help from the stars and the animals?
4. What good energies did you put into the ball of energy above your head?
5. What did the earth energy look like?
