Season 2 EP 9: Two Kid-Friendly Meditations to Try at Home
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Perfectionist in Recovery
Two Kid-Friendly Meditations to Try at Home
Hello and Welcome back to the Perfectionist in Recovery Podcast!
Hello and welcome back to the Perfectionist in Recovery Podcast! My name is Marcy Parks and I am a perfectionist in recovery.
On today’s episode I wanted to share two kid-friendly meditations to practice with your little ones (that are also fun for adults to do, too), but first - I want to take a second and thank you so much for being here and for supporting this podcast! I love producing this podcast and it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun without other people to share it with, so thank you for being here. If you are enjoying this podcast and would like to show your support for my work, then please, leave a review for the podcast! Reviews are the best way to support the growth and success of the podcast. You can go to my website at www.marcyparksart.com/perfectionistinrecovery and find links to leave a review at the bottom of the page. In fact, it is in that same place where you can also send me your feedback about the podcast! As I have said before, your feedback makes this podcast more enjoyable for you to listen to, so please, let me know what you think! Let me know if there are specific questions you have, episodes that have helped you, or if you have any questions you want answered! So go to www.marcyparksart.com/perfectionistinrecovery to leave a review and send me your feedback.
Now for our meditation today, I have two different meditations to practice that are kid-friendly (and pretty fun for adults, too) that I wanted to share with you!
So one of the two meditations I am sharing with you today is from the kid’s book Breathe Like a Bear, and the other is from the kid-friendly meditation app, Stop, Breathe, and Think Kids, I recently shared in My Top Three Favorite Meditation Apps blog post that you can find on my website. And just in case you were wondering, no, this is not a sponsored post! These are truly just books and meditation apps that I love and enjoy and have found to be really helpful and I wanted to share them for anyone with littles that are interested in teaching their children about mindfulness and giving them tools to help regulate their emotions.
I have shared a meditation from the Breathe Like a Bear book before that Searsha and I do on occasion and we both enjoy it.
The first is the Hot Chocolate Breath from the Breathe Like a Bear book. To practice this meditation, pretend that you have a steaming hot cup of hot chocolate and you have to cool it off before actually drinking it. For a few rounds, you and your little one can practice taking deep breaths in and then blowing on your cup of hot chocolate to cool it off, just like you would do in real life. Then, after 3 or 4 rounds of taking deep breaths and blowing on your hot chocolate, you can then start to pretend to drink the hot chocolate. So at this point, you would bring your invisible cup to your lips and take a deep, long sip of your hot chocolate as your inhale, then on your exhale say “MMMMMMMM…” For the next 3 to 4 breaths, you can then sip your hot chocolate and say “MMMMMM…” as you breathe out.
This was the first breathing practice Searsha and I really tried together. Every now and then I will ask her if she wants to do some hot chocolate breathing with me. There are times when she says no, that she doesn’t want to do it, or isn’t in the mood to do it, so I don’t push her, but it is something that I do try to incorporate into our routine so that it is a familiar practice to her.
The second breathing exercise is from the Stop, Breathe, and Think Kids app that I shared in my blog post about My Top Three Favorite Meditations apps. This breathing exercise and meditation is Smell the Roses, Blow out the Candle.
For this practice, you and your little one will each hold up your index finger in front of your face pretending that they are roses. You can even have a little fun talking about what color the roses are, being mindful of the thorns on the rose, and what they might smell like. Then, holding your index fingers to your nose, you will take a deep breath in pretending to smell the rose. You can do a few rounds of breathing just pretending to smell the rose to start. After a few rounds of getting used to taking deep breaths in to smell the rose, you will pretend that your index finger is then a candle. Once again, you can have some fun visualizing the candle, talking about the color of the candle and even the flame of the candle. Then, you will practice taking a deep breath in and holding your index finger to your mouth to blow out the candle. Take some time to practice blowing out the candle, first with the intention of blowing out forcefully to blow the flame of the candle out, like you would with candles on a birthday cake, but then, after a few forceful, flame extinguishing breaths, practice blowing out slowly so as not to disturb the flame of the candle.
Once you have practiced blowing out slowly with control in order to not blow out the candle, start to combine the two practices together. Holding your finger up to your nose, take a deep breath in to smell the rose, then holding your finger to your mouth, slowly breathe out to blow the flame of the candle without blowing it out.
Then, on the last round, you can finish up by blowing out the candle!
So those are two kid-friendly meditation activities you can introduce to your little ones to start getting them acquainted with mindfulness and meditation. It might be a fun bedtime activity to introduce into your bedtime routines, or even something to try out after a meltdown or a stressful event to help your little one process the emotions afterwards. However you decide to practice it, let me know! Let me know what your little one thinks and if they enjoy the practice.
Otherwise, I hope these practices serve you well. Thank you for being here!
Until next time, friends!
Ready to take the first step in your creative recovery?
If you enjoyed the episode, LEAVE A REVIEW!
My dream is to help more people connect with their creative identities and embrace themselves as a whole, messy human, and as it turns out, leaving a review on iTunes helps me to do just that!
So thank you in advance for leaving your review and helping me to connect more people with their inner artists!
My Top Three Favorite Meditation Apps
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Have you listened to the Perfectionist in Recovery Podcast lately? If not, you need to check it out! On the podcast, You will hear from me, as well as other artists and makers, all about our creative practices and how we manage perfectionism in order to keep creating.
Every week on the podcast, I share conversations I have had recently with a fellow maker and creative about their creative practice, what’s on my mind about my own creative practice with actionable items you can take to develop or maintain your own creative practice, and meditations to help get you reconnected to your body and get you inspired.
I have shared on the Perfectionist in Recovery Podcast before how beneficial a meditation practice can be to maintaining a creative practice and keeping us connected to our own internal voice. I like to share meditations regularly on the podcast for anyone who would like to start a meditation practice, but isn’t really sure where to begin, or for anyone who needs a little guidance. The reason that I think meditation is so beneficial for creatives specifically is because as a creative person, we spend a lot of time in our heads and that can get a little overwhelming sometimes, especially if your creative energy starts to spiral into anxiety. Meditation, however, is a way to help us get back into our bodies, and when we are grounded and connected to our bodies we can actually take action to channel all of those ideas as they swell up in our brains. Not to mention, there are LOADS of health benefits to meditation, but specifically for creatives, it can be a useful tool for keeping us grounded so we can actually create.
And if you are not into the meditations, well, just pretend like they don’t happen! Lol
But if you are enjoying dipping your toes into meditation and would like to explore more, I wanted to take a second just to share a couple of meditation apps that I love to use! *And just to clarify, this is not a sponsored post, or anything like that, these are apps I use personally and genuinely love.
1. Insight Timer app
First, I love the Insight Timer app. There are loads of free meditations on this app and that’s not even a fraction of what they offer. They have tons of different types and styles of guided meditations, sometimes even live events so you can practice with others in real time, and now also offer yoga classes! There is so much that this app has to offer, so I definitely recommend downloading it and exploring it if you are interested in a consistent meditation practice.
2. Calm app
Second, I also love the Calm app. Now this one doesn’t have as many free features as the Insight Timer app, but it does offer several free “7 Days” meditation courses which are really nice introductions into developing your own meditation practice.
3. Stop, Breathe, and Think Kids app
Third, and finally, I love, love, LOVE the Stop, Breathe, and Think Kids app. This app is geared more toward kids, obviously, but it is super fun for parents to practice along with their kids. This is a great app for introducing your little ones to meditation and even starting a practice with them. They have cute little animated characters guiding the meditation and there is usually a story that accompanies the practice. Searsha’s favorites are all of the bulldog meditations, probably because we used to have a bulldog named Spud. But she loves doing her bedtime meditations with bulldog.
If you are looking to start a regular meditation practice, take a look at these apps and give them a try, then let me know what you think!
Ready to take the first step in your creative recovery?
If you enjoyed the episode, LEAVE A REVIEW!
My dream is to help more people connect with their creative identities and embrace themselves as a whole, messy human, and as it turns out, leaving a review on iTunes helps me to do just that!
So thank you in advance for leaving your review and helping me to connect more people with their inner artists!
Season 2 EP 6: Busy Mind Guided Meditation
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Perfectionist in Recovery
Busy Mind Guided Meditation
Hello and welcome back to the perfectionist in recovery podcast. Today is meditation day! I have shared on this podcast before how beneficial a meditation practice can be to maintain a creative practice and keep us connected to our own internal voice. I like to share meditations regularly on this podcast for anyone who would like to start a meditation practice, but isn’t really sure where to begin, or for anyone who needs a little guidance. The reason that I think meditation is so beneficial for creatives specifically is because as a creative person, we spend a lot of time in our heads and that can get a little overwhelming sometimes, especially if your creative energy starts to spiral into anxiety. Meditation, however, is a way to help us get back into our bodies, and when we are grounded and connected to our bodies we can actually take action to channel all of those ideas as they swell up in our brains. Not to mention, there are LOADS of health benefits to meditation, but specifically for creatives, it can be a useful tool for keeping us grounded so we can actually create.
And if you are not into the meditations, well, just pretend like they don’t happen! Lol
But if you are enjoying dipping your toes into meditation and would like to explore more, I wanted to share with you my top three favorite meditation apps, so I made a blog post sharing just that! If you go to my blog at www.marcyparksart.com/new-blog, you will find my Top Three Favorite Meditation Apps! I promise, this is not a sponsored post, these are just the apps that I use personally and love and I wanted to share them for anyone who is interested in developing a deeper meditation practice.
Now, for our practice today!
Today’s meditation is intended to help settle a busy mind. Now, there is no way to force your mind into stillness, but there is a way to be a better witness and observer of what your mind is doing the stories it loves to tell you.
To practice at home:
First find a comfortable position for your body. You are welcome to sit up right or lie down. If you are feeling more tired and needing more support at the moment, come to lie down in a comfortable position. Make sure you have good padding underneath you wherever you need support. You can pause this recording for a moment to take some time to get yourself comfortable and then come back when you are settled in and ready.
Sometimes, if the mind is really busy, we can settle it down by actually moving our bodies. If you are lying down, this might just be rolling your wrists and ankles, maybe even turning your head side to side. IF you are seated or lying down, maybe roll your wrists out a little, slowly and gently, then make fists with your hands, then relax them, and do that a couple of times. If you are seated upright, you can start to roll your neck, making gentle and slow circles with your head - first letting your chin fall to your chest, then rolling one ear to one shoulder, then the other ear to the other shoulder, and if it feels comfortable, even letting your head roll back and your throat open up. You can even coordinate this movement with your breath. Exhaling chin to chest, inhaling one ear to one shoulder, exhaling chin to chest, inhaling your ear to the other shoulder. Do what feels good, but take a few moments and feel into these movements, whatever you choose to do. Feel into your body.
But now, feel the back of your neck lengthen. Feel your shoulder blades flatten and smooth down against your upper back. Feel your chest, broad and open. Feel your chest swell on an inhale. Feel the whole barrel of your chest, top, bottom, front, and back, all parts swell as you breathe in deeply, then soften as you exhale.
Take a moment to take 3 full deep breaths in this way.
Now return to your natural, easy breath.
See if you can keep your awareness on your natural breath, still.
Feel the coolness of the inhale and the warmth of the exhale.
To help keep your attention focused on your breath, maybe even start to say to yourself, silently, “Breathing in” as you inhale and “breathing out” as you exhale.
And anytime your mind starts to wander off, which it will, just notice and bring your attention back to repeating your mantra - “breathing in” as you breathe in and “breathing out” as you breathe out.
And if your mind gets caught up in a fantasy, or dream, or memory, just take note of what it is your mind is reaching for, and without any judgement or condemnation, come back to the breath.
“Breathing in” and
“Breathing out.”
Take note of any feelings or sense of urgency around the thoughts that captivate your attention. Take note of how enticing they are, or how fascinated you are by them, then, come back to the breath.
“Breathing in” and
“Breathing out.”
And then, let all of that go. Let go of your mantra.
Just feel your body for a moment. Feel the room that you are in, feel the temperature of the room, feel the temperature of your skin. Notice how you feel in this room, in this position that you are in.
Then slowly, transition back out of the meditation.
And as you integrate back into your day, take with you this understanding of your mind and your thoughts and how captivating they really are. Take care today to notice your thoughts and what thoughts are pulling your attention away and which of those thoughts have anything to do with the present moment. And when you can, remind yourself that you are breathing in and you are breathing out.
Thank you so much for meditating with me. Until next time.
Ready to take the first step in your creative recovery?
If you enjoyed the episode, LEAVE A REVIEW!
My dream is to help more people connect with their creative identities and embrace themselves as a whole, messy human, and as it turns out, leaving a review on iTunes helps me to do just that!
So thank you in advance for leaving your review and helping me to connect more people with their inner artists!
Season 2 EP 3: Guided Meditation and Body Scan
Listen Now!
Perfectionist in Recovery
Guided Meditation and Body Scan
Hello and welcome back to the perfectionist in recovery podcast. Today is meditation day! I have shared on this podcast before how beneficial a meditation practice can be to maintain a creative practice and keep us connected to our own internal voice. I will be sharing meditations on this podcast regularly, but if you find one you like, you can re-listen as much as you please.
To practice at home:
First find a comfortable position for your body. You are welcome to sit up right or lie down. If you are feeling more tired and needing more support at the moment, come to lie down in a comfortable position. Make sure you have good padding underneath you wherever you need support.
Once you are comfortable, take a nice deep breath, drawing your energy back into your body. Bring your attention to your breath, reclaiming your attention back from all the other things that might be drawing your attention away, bringing your energy and attention back into your body with every breath.
Then just feel your breath as it moves through your body. Notice your breath and its natural rhythm. Know that there is no right or wrong way to pay attention to your breath, no right or wrong way to breathe, just noticing your breath. Notice the filling up and the letting go, the collection and release of breath, the swelling of your body with breath and the releasing with the exhale.
Then start to bring attention to your entire body. Feel your entire body. Feel all of its parts at once. Feel the top half of your body, and the bottom half of your body. Feel the front and the back. Feel the left side and the right side. Feel the center of your body from the base of your spine all the way up to the crown of your head, the entire centerline of your body.
Feel the base of your spine. Imagine a warm, bright, brilliant light at the base of your spine. Imagine a light shining bright at the base of your spine. Feel the warmth, visualize the color.
Feel into the center of your lower abdomen. Feel again another bright, warm ball of light, just above the light at the base of the spine. Another bright, brilliant light of warmth there in your lower abdomen.
Moving just a bit further up, feel again another bright, brilliant warm light here at the location of your diaphragm. Feel, or even visualize, this bright, warm, light right at the location of your diaphragm.
Now move further up along the centerline to the center of your chest. Once again feel this bright, brilliant, warm light in the center of your chest. Visualize and feel the warmth of this light. Visualize and feel the color of this light shining brightly in the center of your chest.
Continue moving upwards along the centerline, move further up to your throat. Visualize and feel into the center of your throat a warm, bright, brilliant light.
Continuing along the centerline, move further up to the center of your eyebrows. In the space between your eyebrows feel and visualize once more a bright, brilliant, warm light shining brightly there at the center of your eyebrows.
And moving up to the crown of your head, feeling another bright brilliant light, in line with all of the others, there shining at the crown of your head.
Feel and visualize the string of lights, the warmth from those lights, the colors of those lights, from the base of your spine all the way to the crown of your head like a constellation inside of you.
As you inhale, trace the line of lights from the base of your spine all the way up to the crown of your head, then tracing the constellation all the way down to the base of the spine as you exhale.
Repeat this with your breath and your attention. Breathing in from the base of the spine all the way up to the crown of your head, pausing briefly there, then exhaling to trace the length of your spine from the crown of your head back down to the base of your spine.
After a few rounds, release the visualization and come back to your natural, easy breath. Come back to the feeling of your body and all of its parts. Come back to your body in its position in the room in which you are in.
Take a moment to notice how you feel and if you feel any different than you did before the start of this practice.
And when you are ready, open your eyes and take with you this feeling into the rest of your day.
Thank you so much for meditating with me. Until next time.
Ready to take the first step in your creative recovery?
If you enjoyed the episode, LEAVE A REVIEW!
My dream is to help more people connect with their creative identities and embrace themselves as a whole, messy human, and as it turns out, leaving a review on iTunes helps me to do just that!
So thank you in advance for leaving your review and helping me to connect more people with their inner artists!