Maureen Garth - Moonbeam A Book of Meditations for Children

For Eleanor, who is my light

Children are our lifeblood, the essence of our future. What we put forth to a child, be it positive or negative, will be incorporated into that childs persona. Therefore, it is essential that we place high importance on the positive aspects of life and personality, rather than the negative. Meditation is one way of doing this.

Children would benefit greatly from learning the art of meditation. It is not only helpful as an aid for creative visualization but promotes tranquility. It is a marvellous tool to pacify and deal with emotions which children do not understand.

All of us need to have time to ourselves, time to go within, to feel our essence. Training our children to do this in the early stages of their life could help them, not only throughout their childhood and maturing years, but also during their adult life.

Meditation has been an important part of my life for many years. The gentle art of going within for the answers to problems has helped me through difficult phases. It not only helped me in problem-solving, but I found I became calmer, more peaceful and able to cope.

If we can teach our children how to meditate so that it becomes a natural part of their lives, we will be looking at future adults more centred and more aware. They will be able to draw from their innermost being the necessary resources to carry them through the difficulties life can present.

Children respond to meditation in a natural way. Their minds are very flexible, absorbing and dealing with everything around them. The first five years of life are full of concentrated learning. Children learn to sit, to crawl, to walk, to speak, to co-ordinate, to read, to dance, to play, to interact, to write. All these skills, which will carry them forward, are learned during this short period of time.

If meditation were included in this vital early stage, it would become a skill that could help children throughout their lives. They would use meditation as they use their speech, their communication skills. It would be an integral part of their being and as natural as breathing.

In my first book, Starbright - Meditations for Children, I placed a lot of importance on the necessity for starting the meditations as early as possible. I started with my daughter, Eleanor, when she was three years of age by doing simple visual exercises to quieten her at night. Although she slept well, she had an occasional nightmare. A nightmare is a terrible experience, both for the child and the parent. The child shakes and trembles while the parent wonders what has caused the distress. Is it something he or she has done? What is the child seeing in the waking hours to cause such troubled nights?

Because of my concern, I gave Eleanor a Guardian Angel to make her feel safe. I explained how the wings of the angel would go around her so she would feel protected and secure. I then placed Eleanor in a garden and drew a mental picture for her of what could be in her garden: perhaps lots of animals, perhaps a boat she could climb into, or a cloud to float on.

These exercises grew and grew as time progressed until a theme emerged which I call the Star Prelude. I gave Eleanor a Star and I brought its light down throughout her body; her Guardian Angel was there; I filled her heart with love; I gave her a Worry Tree where she could place anything of concern. Then I would take her into her garden.

Eleanor loved these times so much she wouldnt sleep until I had told her the meditation for the night. It became more than just telling her a story or meditation. We achieved a more complete way of bonding than I had experienced before, and a very beautiful one.

The meditations also tested my skills as a story-teller. I had never considered myself to be imaginative and never as a teller of tales, yet, when I sat on the edge of Eleanors bed, the images flowed. I always started with the Star, the Angel, the Heart, the Worry Tree, the entrance to the garden. I would not have any idea what would follow nor what I would say. But when I opened the gate for Eleanor, I always saw something which would give me the story for the night. Sometimes it would be just one thing, say a cloud drifting by. Once I mentioned the cloud, other images would unfold, such as the cloud having reins and coming down to pick her up and take her off into the heavens. I was going into a state of meditation, too, so that the images I saw came from my subconscious.

In Starbright I included a number of meditations I had used with Eleanor and also with many children who had stayed overnight. These children still ask me to do a meditation for them when they stay, even if they have not been with us for some time. And they remember the theme I used before. I find it interesting that, in todays hustle and bustle, the children remember the quiet time they experienced during the meditation and wish to enjoy it once more.

The meditations in this book are, as in Starbright, only an indication of what you can do. There is no set format. You must feel comfortable with what you are doing and put the meditations into your own words, not mine. The ideas in the meditations might spark off scenes that you might want to explore with your child or children.

Whatever I write is for guidance only and to suggest to your subconscious what you could say, not what you should say.

Each meditation starts with the Star (see page 19), the focal point for setting up the conditions for the meditation. Indeed, the Star is an integral part, the point where the relaxation and visualization starts. The Star is followed by the Angelor you might prefer to say a wise personwhich in turn can be followed by the Worry Tree (if you feel it is necessary). You then do the Meditation you have selectedperhaps The Snow Flakes or The Elphinites. Do whatever you feel is appropriate to the mood of the child or children, or even to yourself.

Although I use a Star as the focal point, you might prefer to use the Moon or perhaps the Sun. It does not matter which; the important thing is to give your child something to focus on. For relaxation and visualization, it is as easy to bring the light down from the Sun or Moon as a Star.

If you use the Moon, for instance, you could say that the Moons fingers are spreading out over the world so that everyone can see in the night, but there is one special Moonbeam that is coming down just for your child. That Moonbeam is filled with glitter, little sprinkles of which are touching all parts of the body, making it glow in the night.

And if it is the Sun you have selected, you could speak about how the Sun is a golden ball in the sky, filled with warmth and light. A large shaft of sunshine is dancing down to the childs bed where it is caressing and embracing her or him, filling every part of the body with the Suns rays. You must choose the vehicle with which you feel the most at ease, be it the Sun, Moon, or the Star.

I taught meditation at Eleanors Infant School, which proved to be an interesting experience for several reasons. Very few schools, to my knowledge, encourage meditation. Eleanors teacher, Helen, who was also the Head Mistress, said she would like me to introduce meditation as a trial. So, it was a first for me, a first for the children, and a first for the school.

The children were excited when they were asked to sit in a circle in order to meditate. I explained that we were trying something new with them and that meditation was like story-telling, only they would have their eyes closed while I drew a story in their minds.

I did the Star Preludethe light from the Star, the opening of the heart, the Guardian Angel, the Worry Tree, the Garden, and then one of my stories. From the time I started, we noticed that some children immediately went into a relaxed state and stayed motionless for the duration of the meditation. Others fidgeted. They could not sit still and had trouble keeping their eyes closed.