Meditation is increasingly being used to improve children’s mental and physical well-being, with research continuing to demonstrate its powerful and life-changing benefits. Children who meditate, or practice mindfulness, experience more calm, less stress, better sleep, and increased attention, just to name a few. But children who have experienced trauma might need to practice meditation in ways that respect their backgrounds and needs.
Trauma-informed meditation is the modification of traditional meditation practices, to make them more approachable and effective for those with trauma. Trauma sensitive practices allow children to feel safe, respected, and supported.
There is no one-size-fits all approach to trauma-informed meditation, as traumatic experiences are unique to each individual. However, there are some general guidelines and modifications that can increase comfort for all meditation practitioners, big or small.
Trauma is a lasting response to a severely distressing event, like a natural disaster or bodily harm that can affect an individual’s mental, physical, and emotional health. Trauma can be a singular or recurring event and is highly individualized. What causes trauma for one person may not cause trauma for another.
Trauma is debilitating at any age, but can have more detrimental impacts when experienced in childhood, as the brain is not yet fully developed.
Trauma presents itself in many different ways, especially in children. The National Institute for Children’s Health reports that nearly half of all American children are affected by childhood trauma in some capacity. Oftentimes you may not know that a child is dealing with trauma, which is why it’s important to use trauma-informed meditation practices.
Some signs of trauma in kids include:
Childhood trauma is sometimes referred to as ACES (adverse childhood experiences.) ACES, or traumatic childhood events, can have debilitating consequences for children’s mental and physical well-being, long after the event is over and even throughout their life.
Fundamentally, to be “trauma-informed” or “trauma sensitive” means to recognize and be responsive to the impact of trauma on children and adults. In the context of meditation, it means adapting practices to minimize triggers and create a safe, supportive place and ways to practice that avoid re-traumatization and which can lead to healing.
While meditation is often used to help practitioners feel calm, some aspects of meditation can be triggering for children who have experienced trauma. Many traditional meditation practices involve practicing with the eyes closed, but for children with trauma, this might make them feel unsafe. Other practices like silent meditation may cause children to feel overwhelmed or out of control. Trauma-informed practices aim to take these feelings into account and make meditation more approachable for those with trauma.
Meditation is a wonderful way for children to connect with calm. Practices that can be especially helpful for children with trauma include grounding, breathwork, self-compassion, body scans, mantra meditation, visualization, and story meditation. But it is important to remember that children may love some of these practices, and others, not so much.
The key to making meditation helpful and healing is to understand trauma, be aware of when children may be feeling it, and then responsive to and supportive of their needs. The following suggestions share ways to create trauma sensitive meditation for kids, however, they are wonderful adaptations even for children who have not experienced trauma.
Choices can be for many aspects of meditation, including duration of practice, type of practice, room ambience, props to be used, and anchors.
In meditation, anchor is another word for object of focus. Anchors allow you to be grounded in the present moment, which is very important for children with trauma as past memories can haunt their present moments. It is best practice to always allow a child to choose what to focus on in meditation, or their meditation anchor.
Kids often like the term anchor as it gives them a good visual cue of a boat being held steady in the water. Like a boat’s anchor, a meditation anchor will help a child feel connected to the present moment. Anything can be an anchor for meditation. Breath is a common anchor, but for many children who have experienced trauma, taking deep breaths isn’t relaxing.
Kids often enjoy choosing which of their 5 senses they would like to use as their anchor to the present moment:
It is best to give kids a few choices, but not too many to be overwhelming, and also if the child can keep that object of focus for the duration of their meditation practice. If a child needs to switch anchors mid-practice, this can be done, but if at all possible try to help them find an anchor they enjoy and will stick with throughout their practice.
Allow children to choose their meditation space and their position in it. This might mean meditating indoors or out, in a swing or on a cushion, seated facing a door, away from a window, whatever makes the child feel safe in their environment.
Let kids decide if they want to keep their eyes open or not. This can make a huge difference in comfort levels and give them a sense of security.
Sometimes when children have trauma they find sitting still to be uncomfortable or triggering. Allowing children to meditate while they move can help the child feel safe enough to practice. Swinging, walking, swaying, and rocking are popular choices for little ones with trauma, but any type of calming movement is okay.
When children are processing trauma, listening to a meditation story can be a gentle place to begin. Children find stories comforting and they allow them to create soothing mental images as they listen. Stories also allow the child to choose to just listen, or listen and join the story’s characters in a meditation practice as they follow along.
When first introducing children to meditation, start small. This might be with simple mindfulness exercises or a short story meditation. It’s important to let kids build up to longer sessions, only as they feel comfortable, to avoid overwhelm or triggers.
When children with trauma are learning to meditate, they may not be fully comfortable, so let them know they are free to stop meditating at any time.
While these modifications may seem simple, they can be the difference of a child being comfortable enough to try meditation. Once they are comfortable to try, they then can benefit from the practice.
It’s important to remember that any child, regardless of trauma, may wish to use these adaptations in their meditation practice. At any age, meditation is only beneficial if it’s practiced, so ensure children know they are in control at all times. With these modifications, children with trauma can learn how to use meditation as a part of their healing journey.
Looking for some help introducing trauma-informed meditation to kids? Moose, our newest character, has experienced trauma, so he greatly appeals to children with trauma. All of Moose’s guided story meditations utilize trauma sensitive practices, to help kids recover from trauma and challenging events.
Any of our Moose meditations are perfect for a child with trauma: Moose Hugs His Heart, Dancing With Stardust, and Moose’s Lighthouse.
