I love meditation—pure and simple, it is my go-to tool in life (I’m an Aquarius). So when my children, who are five and seven, are going through something, I use some child-friendly meditations to help them express their feelings. I hope to build a foundation for them to want to use meditation as a way to help cope with life’s challenges.
Two kid-friendly meditation methods––Happy Trees and Worry Trees––I adapted from Sensational Meditations for Children by Sarah Wood Vallely. These are simple yet effective meditations for children of any age. In addition to using the techniques outlined below, consider having your child draw their Trees after their meditations and hang them up in their rooms––a visual reminder of the things they’re letting go.
Meditation #1: Happy Trees
Recently, my son, Max, who is seven and a Capricorn, told me he needed more time in the morning to eat his breakfast. I was surprised, but also realized that I’d been rushing him in the morning, and it helped me to see that it was causing him distress. Through a meditation technique, we were able to resolve his lingering anxious feelings.
The meditation Max I used is called The Happy Tree, one of my favorites for children. I love it because it helps kids identify their feelings and find a solution that connects them to joy again.
Remy’s Happy Tree
How it works:
– Ask your child to lie down or sit comfortably and to gently close his eyes.
– Ask him to picture a tree in his mind.
– Tell him to see fruit on the tree and explain that some are happy and some are sad.
– Have him describe for you which are the happy fruits and which are the sad fruits. Take your time and allow him to come up with explanations.
– Now comes the empowering part: Ask him to ask the sad fruit what it needs to become happy.
Through this meditation, your child is listening intently to the fruits explain their needs, and you’re learning about your child’s needs.
The final step is asking your child to take care of the fruit’s needs, and by doing so you are learning what your child needs to be happy or to work through a challenging situation.
Once your child is feeling complete, ask the tree to thank the child, and vice versa. Then try to visualize bright sunshine shining down on the tree and ask your child to visualize soaking up this warm sunshine. This short, precious exercise really help to open up a creative dialogue.
Fortunately Max’s problem was pretty simple. Obviously, bigger kids will have bigger problems. The beauty of the Happy Tree meditation is that by the time my children are older and their issues are bigger, they will have a system in place for discussing their problems and processing them.
The key is to find an outlet to allow these feelings to be explored. I have done this exercise with older children and I’m always amazed at what they come up with. One child told me that his fruit was unhappy because nobody was listening to him. Another said his fruit was unhappy because he was not picked to be on the right team. In that scenario, the child came up with “practicing more to get better,” and also not worrying about it so much because he is good at other sports and the team he was on had some of his good friends on it.
Meditation #2: Worry Trees
In this meditation, my five-year-old daughter, Remy (also a Capricorn) decided to let her Worry Tree deal with bedtime fears. One night, she surrendered her fear of bad dreams to the tree and asked the tree to protect her from any scary thoughts. In the morning, she said that she only had good dreams that night.
Max’s Worry Tree
How it works:
– Ask your child to lie down or sit comfortably and to gently close her eyes.
– Ask her to picture a tree in her mind, and explain that we all get to have a Worry Tree in our lives. A tree is sturdy and strong and has thick roots and beautiful branches that connect to Heaven and Earth at the same time. So in essence, this tree is rooted strongly and can handle anything and everything.
– Once we visualize the tree, we pin our worries, cares, and concerns onto the tree. We surrender them so that we can be free to play and live without this burden.
– Tell your child the Worry Tree will whisper solutions to the wind and the wind will carry back messages to her. These messages may come as an idea or suggestion, something that pops into our minds. (I tell my children that this is what inspiration is!)
We now make this a nighttime ritual––to have the Worry Tree take away all the bad dreams and turn them into happy dreams. The Worry Tree teaches Remy the power of transmuting fearful energy into love.
The Worry Tree has been especially helpful with first days of school and camp. Another time, the meditation was helpful with Max who was apprehensive about trying out for skiing and “what if I fell a lot?” We pinned that concern to the Worry Tree and the first time he tried skiing, he was upgraded from beginner to intermediate—to all of our amazement. Giving up his worry, he was able to confidently do his thing!
The Aquarius mom of a son and a daughter, both Capricorns, Macha Einbender is a teacher of practical spirituality and meditation. She is an inspirational spiritual activist and specializes in helping people find the light within them by customizing spiritual practices for them. Her most sought-after method is guiding meditations while healing with reiki. She is certified in teaching Overcoming Negativity Addiction, a program founded by Denise Coates. Her passion is to connect and interview women on their spiritual journey. She lives happily with her husband, Harry, who she knew at age 5 would be “the one,” and her two young children who are the loves of her life. Her mission is to help everyone she can live a better, happier life and connect with the energy of love.
