I want to give this gift to my children

[LeftBrainBuddha]

I have been reading Thich Nhat Hanh's Planting Seeds and using some of the techniques in his book to practice mindfulness with my children. I posted about it here: http://bit.ly/130rBAU
It has definitely been helping my 6 year old with her anger/emotions. I also agree with pp's that what we model to our children is so important.
-Sarah

[FeeHutch]

Welcome to the community Sarah

[Nibzy]

Hi,
Bit of a newbie to posting in this forum
However this particular topic is one that is very close to my heart and principles.
I am a trainee child and adolescent psychotherapist, a psychotherapeutic counsellor (adults) and tutor in schools. Part of my practice with young people is the mindfulness experience that helps to reintegrate the "inner workings of the brain" (I won't bore you with theory!) I am a great fan of Dr Dan Seigel who is a therapist and mindfulness expert, his teachings and books are fabulous and I would recommend them to any of you interested in helping your children stay in touch with you/ your children's mindful experiences.
You can google Dan Seigel,and he's also on YouTube with some great videos but I would recommend "whole brain child" to anyone who wants to begin with the very young children. This is a simple approach to helping children recognise many of the bodily sensations and thought processes that are central to being mindful.
I currently use mindfulness with my own teenagers, and nearly all of my clients. It feels so important and part of me too.


Also there is a website dedicated to bringing mindfulness into schools for those that are interested in looking.
http://mindfulnessinschools.org/

Thanks,

Nibzy. X

[JonW]

Hi Sarah and Nibzy. Thank you for those contributions and welcome to the community.

[Gareth]

I feel like I'm at an advantage Nibzy, because I know your real name.

My instinct is that I can teach this to them without them knowing that they are being taught anything. I'm lucky in that they are very young, and I have lots of time to read about this and experiment. I'll definitely try all the books that have been mentioned in this thread.

[larorra]

Anyway, I think the role of adults is maybe not so much giving mindfulness as a gift to children but rather being mindful not to take it away.


I absolutely love that Quote. This topic really interests me, not as a parent but a grand-parent. It has been a blessing to me to have found mindfulness just before the birth of my 2 youngest grandchildren, aged 7 months and 3 months. Oh the mindful time we have spent together. Also with my older grandchildren I find myself so much more tuned into them, they are all for the moment, they just show what they feel in the here and now. I will look on amazon for that book by Jon kabat Zinn, love his books.

[Kukurijek]

My son is 18 months old and as someone said above, he is so much in the moment all the time. My wife and I are very anxious people, so part of meditation/mindfulness I am doing is to avoid some of that anxiety rubbing off on him one day, more than he likely typically inherited genetically. Great recommendations above, really liked this.

[daniel12]

I will look on flipkart for that book by Jon kabat Zinn.