Meditative State of Being; Grounding, Connecting, & Letting Go
Entering the Infinite Oneness of Self
Children naturally meditate. Before being told all about the world and the many ways it can be classified and truncated, children experience existence as it is; freely and without labels or preconceptions of what should be.
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"Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3
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Do you remember what seeing through the eyes of a child was like? Some of my memories stretch back into infancy and I still recall witnessing my surroundings with pure open mindedness. Studying the interlacing threads of a blanket, or the way window light formed patterns on ceilings that slowly changed with the Sun - it seems it was in fully witnessing the details that brought such simple joy and centeredness to the moment.
Keeping this in mind, I’ve faced an inner difficulty in teaching my kids about the world. A favorite bit of wisdom has resonated with me through my parenting journey:
“If you name me, you negate me. By giving me a name, a label, you negate all of the other things I could possibly be." -Søren Kierkegaard.
“If you name me, you negate me”…and yet how much of our child’s young life have we spent teaching them the names or purpose of this or that? Once we know a tree is called a tree, we never again see the tree as it truly is, but only our internal thoughts of it. By naming, classifying, setting rules and boundaries, we trap our minds within these perimeters. This can even leak into skewed misunderstandings of our own experiences, thoughts, and emotions, resulting in the inability to perceive reality as the multifaceted miracle that it is. This has been a driving inspiration behind our love for the unschooling movement; to strip away societally imposed laws and rules of what is and isn’t…to allow our children to be a clean slate and fertile soil for a full immersion experience of NOW.
And yet, this simple act of unbecoming is meditation.
At one point I thought meditation was seated lotus position, dropping ones active mind into the stillness within. Indeed, this is a wonderfully healthy and necessary state to Be for continued expansion, but meditation can have so many faces aside from all the “methods” like sitting, walking, yoga, mantra, malas/rosary/prayer beads, singing, praying, etc.
Meditation is a state of Being. Therefore, every moment is an opportunity for meditation.
I’m not talking about clearing your mind of all thought every waking second, but rather suggesting a slight shift in perspective. Dropping away what we think to be true, what does it feel like to really engage with our daily existence? While washing dishes, do you notice the splendor of rainbow soap bubbles and the sacredness of Water filling the space around your hands? In the garden, do you feel the perfume of flowers entering and assimilating through your lungs, becoming One with your bloodstream? Or the crackle of subtle energy transferring communication from soil to hands? When eating, can you feel the warmth of many days of sunshine that grew each grain? I gently remind myself daily “Just Be a Witness.”
Because most little ones still have an unadulterated view of life, incorporating meditation can be so simple. Remy and I are growing on this journey together, and he’s much more of a teacher than I’ve been. He’s taught me so much about being a pure Witness through his example, and I only hope to be half as influential in helping him stay Open as he’s been for me. It was pretty natural to start talking about consciously grounding via energetic roots, and eventually to enter into the infinite internal stillness. We’ve been really fortunate and blessed beyond measure to establish a homeschooling practice in order to incorporate this approach to Life full time, but it can be done just as well if your little goes to school.
Here are some of my favorite ways to bring attention back to the NOW:
Talking about feelings - “What are you feeling inside right now?… How does that really feel?”
Notice the little things and point them out - “Ooh, look at the way that spider web glistens on that blade of grass” or “WOW, the way that wind touches my body feels so beautiful..like earth breath!”…if you haven’t noticed yet, kids can say some of the most profound things about their perceptions of experience!
Golden Roots - This is a favorite for grounding and works so well with my hyper 4 year old! It goes something like this: “Let’s look inside ourself for a minute…so much energy! Let’s send down some roots to balance…see them golden, growing out of your feet into the earth? Yea, wiggle ‘em down through the dirt...past the bugs and worms and crystals. Really deep! Feel how strong they are. You are so rooted. (I like to have him repeat something like “I am rooted” or “I am grounded and strong” here too). Dig those roots realllllyyyyy deep, until you find the middle of Mama Earth. Can you feel her heartbeat? (Usually there’s an excited “yea!”) Yay, now plug those roots in! You are so connected to Mama. Now we can send that extra energy down into her heart for transmutation (he always likes to repeat “transmutation”). Now all I have to say is “roots!” and he starts grounding, haha. Win!
Letting Go - We usually balance out by grounding our golden roots first, and then make this one into a sort of silent game. After we’ve released extra energy, we sit still and listen to the quiet. Then we notice all the noise in our head. We don’t judge it, we don’t try to get rid of it. We just witness it, and let it pass. Another will arise to fill the space, and we let that one come and go too. We sit like this for a while, watching and witnessing our own interiority. We’ve progressed into using mudras to assist with energy flow, which I’ll talk more about in another post.
Mantra and Sound - Kids LOVE this one. After learning so much about the mechanics of our world through education, it’s easy to forget that everything is vibration - life is a song. Using sound as meditation is very potent medicine, and as a certified master sound healer, it’s also a deep passion for me. I haven’t yet lead Remy into exploring complex mantras, but we use the simple and profound primordial “OM” (pronounced “aaaauuumm”). This little mantra holds inexpressible meaning and has the power to energetically rearrange the subtle body and awaken our higher consciousness. We also play with singing bowls, who’s voices have healing resonance.
Mandalas - We like to create all sorts of mandalas; for the seasons, for the elements, and usually out of natural materials like leaves, shells, stones, pinecones, or other gifts. Not only is it a centering activity, but it’s also a prayer to the Earth, and teaches so much about geometry and symmetry. Triple win!
Yoga - How could this be an article on meditation without mentioning yoga? Both of my babies enjoy yoga’s physical expression, even though it’s many components are an entire way of life. We haven’t discussed the 8-limbs of yoga yet in class, but we will soon enough. Bringing a child’s focus into their body is a super effective way of grounding. We like activating our Golden Roots before our yoga sesh, and follow up with Letting Go during savasana.
The methods of meditation are many, but it feels really good to bring our whole state of mind to the Now, to the only place that we really exist. With a foundation firmly rooted Here, all of life becomes a meditation.
Enjoy the Bliss of Being.
Om & Cosmic Hugs,
Mother Woods