Meditation
(This is an excerpt from University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org, please feel free to visit the school website)
Meditation is a relaxing way to cope with stress and find solutions to problems. Meditation is a time for contemplation and reflection, a way to go within, quietly sitting upright for five to twenty minutes. Invite children to find a comfortable place to sit. Ring a bell three times to signal the beginning of the exercise. This can add to the power of ceremony that helps mark this as a special time. Take a few deep, slow clearing breaths. Let your body release and relax. Let any parts of you that need to wiggle or stretch do so. Feel the gentle pull of gravity and allow the chair you’re sitting on and the floor beneath you to support you without any effort on your part. Just let go and allow yourself to be silent and not do anything for a few minutes.
Focus only on your breathing, allowing it to flow in and out without effort. If you find yourself thinking, distracted, working on a problem, don’t fight it, but don’t get stuck in it either. Just allow it and you to be, and bring your attention back your breath and to not doing. Perhaps you can imagine those thoughts or concerns floating up like bubbles from under water. When they reach the surface they simply burst and disappear. When you feel done, ring the bell one more time to indicate that the exercise is ending. As you gently come back to the room, you may notice sensations such as feeling more peaceful or maybe your mind is clearer.