Since many families are required to make adjustment to their daily schedule due to these unprecedented times we face, we are choosing to offer this program online for you and your child. We realize it would be a challenge to monitor and modify behaviors in an online platform; therefore, we are inviting a parent(s) or caregiver to participate in the program with your child. This invitation allows for you as a parent to participate and practice the meditations and exercises at home. The program will consist of age appropriate meditations and exercises that are designed to build resilience and emotional strength to help your child navigate their fear and anxiety in these challenging times.
This 6-week program is designed for kids ages 7-12. This skill-building program utilizes a combination of age-appropriate exercises - mindfulness, yoga/mindful movement, art, meditation practices and multimedia - to cultivate kindness, encourage insight, build skills of self-awareness and empathy, and strengthen the capacity for greater emotional regulation and stronger emotional resilience. Focused attention and sustained concentration are just a few of the benefits of mindfulness. Kids can easily experience what is commonly known as "monkey mind," a mind that jumps around, and is continually distracted by thoughts and ruminations about the past and future. Neuroscience research provides strong evidence that when practiced, mindfulness can help to calm the mind and body, alter the structure and function of the brain/pre-frontal cortex, and promote a greater sense of well-being. One of our pre-teen students stated, "I may not always understand my feelings, but I know if I name it, I can tame it. I can choose what is important to pay attention to and can focus better when I need to." By building the capacity to become more self-aware, kids develop greater resilience and emotional strength in the face of adversity. Mindfulness and self-kindness help to cultivate the skills to respond with greater kindness and generosity to the needs of others as well as their own.