Pacifying Kids Meditation for Anxiety
Anxiety is a mental and physical reaction to things that may appear to be (or that someone may interpret to be) threats. In small doses, anxiety can be helpful: It protects us from danger and helps us notice possible problems. But when anxiety grows too big or occurs too frequently, it can keep us from our normal activities.
Childhood anxiety disorders are very common, affecting one in eight children. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates a prevalence between the ages 13 and 18 years of 25.1 percent and a lifetime prevalence of 5.9 percent for severe anxiety disorder.
What does anxiety look like?
When young children feel anxious, they cannot always understand or express what they are feeling.
You may notice that they:
become irritable, tearful or clingy
have difficulty sleeping
wake in the night
have bad dreams
often have stomach aches or headaches
In older children you may notice that they:
lack confidence to try new things or seem unable to face simple, everyday challenges
find it hard to concentrate
have problems with sleeping or eating
have angry outbursts
have a lot of negative thoughts, or keep thinking that bad things are going to happen
start avoiding everyday activities, such as seeing friends, going out in public or going to school
How does anxiety affect your child?
In small doses, anxiety can be helpful: It warns and protects us from danger, and helps us recognize possible problems. But when anxiety grows too big or occurs too frequently, it can start causing issues instead of preventing them and keep us from our normal activities.
Anxiety drives people to avoid things that scare them. When a scary thing is avoided, there is a short-lived sense of relief. However, the next time the situation arises, it can seem even scarier and the anxiety will often get worse.
Managing Anxiety with Meditation
One way to practice is in a guided meditation. Meditation is all about acceptance and beliefs, both about the world and about yourself. It’s a chance to pause the outside world and breathe.
Guided meditations like the one provided below create an opportunity to set an intention and help a skill really sink in—such as the beauty of one’s self and really being able to see it.
When you and your child are ready to practice reducing anxiety in yourself, read aloud the following script with them and let yourself find a moment of calm.
Anti-anxiety Meditation Script for Kids
When you're settled and ready to start, listen to yourself breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth.
Don't force anything, just breathe in and out at your own pace.
Keep breathing and imagine sitting under a shady tree in a big open field.
When we breathe in through our nose, let’s smell all of the wonderful flowers around us, and when we breathe out, listen so we can hear the gentle sound of leaves rustling in the wind.
Let's take a few deep breaths and let go of all our anxiety to feel calm.
Take a deep breath in through our nose and breathe out all our anxiety through our mouth.
Breathe in all those worries and then breathe them out, letting go of everything that makes us anxious.
Breathe out all our fears so we can breathe in and feel calm and relaxed.
Smell the beautiful flowers as we breathe in and feel ourselves becoming more and more calm and relaxed.
Breathe out all of our worries, shyness, stresses, and fears so we can breathe in more calm and keep smelling the flowers.
When we feel scared or worried, our heart beats really, really fast.
You might be sitting still, but your heart feels like it's running.
If you ever feel this feeling, remember you are a calm superhero, and practice breathing the worries out to smell the flowers.
All we need to do is take a few breaths.
Let's practice one more time together.
Breathe in all your calm through your nose and breathe out all your troubles through your mouth.
Breathe in and gather all your concerns, and breathe out letting go of all your concerns.
Breathe in all your anxiety and then breathe it out until you are feeling calm and relaxed.
Return to your normal breathing, breathing at your own pace and when you're ready open your eyes.
You're really incredible at this!
Mindful breathing can help you feel relaxed when you’re feeling worried.
Next time you feel your heart racing super fast, just take a few deep breaths and remember this meditation.
Like this, we can breathe all of our anxiety away.
More Kid-friendly Meditations for Learning About Feelings
Want to help your children improve other lifelong skills? Explore Good Luck Yogi’s other guided meditation scripts, and explore the Good Luck Yogi mobile app to listen to guided meditations, nature sounds, and uplifting music!
