Recently, I had an opportunity to teach an introductory meditation class to a small group of pediatric nursing students. After the class, I had a lot more insight about their work with young patients and it triggered the idea of adapting guided meditations for kids who are sick or in the hospital. While most nurses are already experts at helping kids with the stress of hospital routines and doctor's visits and already quite busy, this is simple tool for them that might also facilitate the healing process and treatment procedures. Parents and teachers might also find it useful to have a calming exercise on hand for those inevitable meltdown moments.
Here's Smiley Face, a guided meditation exercise adapted from a Taoist practice called the Inner Smile. I recommend that those wishing to share practices like this actually do it themselves or with an adult first so they can understand and feel comfortable with the process. After all, the best we have to offer others is our own level of comfort and resonance, especially in a healing setting. This of course is also a good thing to teach your own child even when there are no special stresses. It is never too early to incorporate a regular fun "down time" into the day.
Depending on the age and mobility of the child, you can start by offering a piece of paper and some crayons or markers. Ask the child if you can play a little imaginary game with them that will help them feel better while they are in the hospital or feeling sick or just tired.
Ask the child to imagine or draw a smiling face on the paper. It can be the face of someone they know from real life, their own face or that of someone they make up. Have them concentrate on the smile on that face and draw it or try to hold onto the image mentally. They might want to tell you who it is, or give the figure a name. They may just imagine it and not draw anything at all. If they have trouble imagining a face, you can also suggest or draw the classic round yellow "smiley" that almost everyone is familiar with.
Then ask the child to invite that beautiful warm smile to come up close to their own face. They can smile back at it if they wish or talk to it.
Next, perhaps with the child closing his/her eyes, ask the child to imagine that they have a little doorway in the middle of their forehead. Tell them that only they hold the key to the door. Then ask them to open the doorway with their own special key. Now they can invite that special smile to come in. Let them move at their own pace- and stay in tune with them. You don't want to trigger fear in a place where the child may already have some fears of invasive procedures. If the child is reticent to invite in the smile, then just have him/her observe or play with it or talk to it.
Once they are comfortable with the idea of the smile coming inside their heads, (perhaps on another day) then they can direct its movement through the body- letting it stop at various organs like the heart, or tummy, or toes etc. Each place the smile travels it delivers a warm, peaceful feeling, healthy and strong. Perhaps the place it visits is able to "smile" back. It might also tickle them a bit. The child may be able to share what the process feels like. They may also spend some time having the smile visit any particular area of illness, injury or pain.
When you have helped the child survey his or her body in this way, you can direct them to take a few deep breaths and remember the good feelings of the smile. If they have drawn a picture, you might also hang it in a place where the child can see it. Tell them they can always carry that picture in their heads to use anytime they wish or especially when they feel scared or uncomfortable.
Ask them to share anything they would like about the game. Depending on the child, I think this could be used successfully for children from 3- 10 or older.
Kay Goldstein, MA teaches meditation and writes poetry, fiction and articles addressing the challenges and joys of daily living and spiritual practice. You can read more at www.kaygoldstein.com or http://members.authorsguild.net/kaygoldstein/