Leave a commentFamily Health, Family Yoga

I help children (and Parents) be still.

Call it Yoga, call it Mindfulness, or call it learning how to enjoy being still.

There is power in being still.

There is learning in being still.

There is healing in being still.

There is processing in being still.

There is connection in being still.

There is creativity in being still.

There is freedom in being still.

There is peace in being still.

There is love in being still.

Especially today where we tend to encourage children to do all the hard worky things. The balance has to be restored by being still. We can’t ignore that the balance is being overloaded by activities and the accompanying pressure to be engaged in some kind of productive activity and making progress at all times. Even a long car journey nowadays is consuming their little minds with over stimulating screen activities rather than freeing them to be bored looking out the window and be still with their own thoughts.

If you are an adult who goes to the gym and has a personal trainer you will know that rest is important. Your personal trainer will tell you how important it is to rest your muscles after working out —- to restore the balance. Good personal trainers will also tell you how. This is the same for our brains, rest is important after working it (even “peopling” classes as work!) but do you have a personal trainer reminding you to rest your brain or telling you HOW to rest your brain?

Can I be the one to remind you right now….find a comfortable position, be still and rest your brain.

You see, I’m one of those people who has a tendency to overwork, work, work and work, become ill, emotionally erratic and reach for things like sugar/alcohol for a boost (aka “burnt out”) it used to be a reoccurring cycle….maybe you know this cycle too?

But now, I know, to take regular time to BE STILL. It took a lot of practice, overcoming frustration and being uncomfortable being exposed to “inner me” and so I understand our children won’t find it easy to begin with either but seriously, it just solves everything. It restores balance and brings in a whole load of perspective.

They say it’s impossible to get children to be still, but I beg to differ. It’s just a skill they’ve not learnt or been able to practice yet, we already know that children can learn new skills and habits far better than most adults. This is one skill that can hugely impact their life and give them a fighting chance in this modern busy world.

Passing this awesome gift of being still on to today’s pressurised and anxious children is never going to be easy but it’s the greatest gift they can discover and it’s so important.

If your children are “activity guzzlers” I want to encourage you today to encourage them that it’s ok to be still and, actually, that it’s important for them. It’s ok to not be “doing” something for 5-10 minutes a day.

It’s not lazy, it’s not a waste of time and it’s not unproductive – in fact, you’ll watch them develop better engagement, focus and enthusiasm to learn afterwards! I’ve seen this firsthand to be true 🙂