Calm Kids: Help Children Relax with Mindful Activities

'At school, we believe education should touch the whole child. This includes the physical, emotional, spiritual, social and cognitive aspects of the child's life. We teach children quietness as a skill to reflect and recharge their inner lives. Lorraine Murray helped us on this journey.' -- Sheila Laing, Head Teacher Stress and behavioural disorders are common in children, who are increasingly bombarded by marketing campaigns, faced with school and peer pressure, and able to sense the stress of adults around them. Mindfulness and meditation can help children recognise and cope with these pressures, releasing bad feelings gently and giving them simple tools to deal with tension and stress throughout their lives. In this practical and inspiring book, Lorraine Murray shows parents, teachers and youth workers how to lead fun and peaceful meditation sessions with children. Lorraine explains a variety of different approaches, from meditations around daily activities for busy families, to ideas for group 'quietness' sessions in schools. She provides fun, tactile rhymes for toddlers to help them calm down before bedtime, and suggests ways to help teenagers reduce anxiety. She goes on to explain how these methods can help children with ADHD and those on the autistic spectrum, giving a range of case studies. This book is suitable for complete beginners, or those with some experience of relaxation and meditation techniques. It offers all the advice needed to lead sessions with children, whilst encouraging the reader to adapt and develop their own ways of helping children to feel calmer, happier and more peaceful.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 9 1. What is Meditation? 13 2. Understanding Stress 17 3. The Benefits of Meditation for Children 22 4. Creating a Relaxing Environment 29 5. Energy and Meditation 35 6. Starting and Finishing Meditations 42 7. Different Types of Meditation 53 8. Writing and Developing Your Script 68 9. Top Tips for Teaching Meditation 81 10. Working with Different Age Groups 94 11. Meditation with Babies 98 12. Meditation for Toddlers 102 13. Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) 108 14. Children on the Autistic Spectrum 126 15. Calming Methods for You 140 16. Beyond Meditation – Methods and Tools 143 Resources 148 Acknowledgements 153

About the Author :
Lorraine E. Murray is Managing Director of holistic health company Feel Good Therapies. Since 2003 she has taught meditation and relaxation methods to all ages and levels, and has worked with Maggie's centres for cancer, numerous primary and secondary schools, commercial corporations and individual families. Her passion is to help children strengthen their self-esteem through meditation and mindfulness, and to empower adults to help them.

Review :
'Her meditation techniques are simple, sound, and cleverly age appropriate; whether you try them on your Y10 tutor group, or yourself, you could see some rather astonishing results.' -- Teach Secondary 'In an age when children are constantly stimulated and have very little opportunity to practice silence, this book is a welcome contribution.' -- David Lorimer, Scientific and Medical Network Review 'In this practical and inspiring book, Lorraine Murray shows how to lead fun and peaceful meditation sessions with children. She provides fun, tactile rhymes for toddlers to help them calm down before bedtime, and suggests ways to help teenagers reduce anxiety … This book is suitable for complete beginners, or those with some experience of relaxation and meditation techniques.' -- Green Parent 'This book is well balanced, and it gives a clear background rationale for the use of meditation with children … The book facilitates the reader's understanding of the topic area in an easily accessible way, as well as giving them the skills to be able to use meditation and develop meditations for their children … It would be good for parents to read, as well as benefiting people working with children. The book is easy to read and mostly jargon-free, making it readily accessible.' -- www.youthinmind.info