Child Meditation

Son: "I am in deep stress!, I am feeling very depressed since the last few days. I don't feel like doing anything. Help me! Mom!" Mother, "We will visit psychiatrist in the evening and you will get immediate relief,"

Stress & Depression are modern enemies in the existing world. Previously there were only enemies who would try to intrude at the border. Those enemies were external and visible. But stress and depression are internal enemies, they are not visible to us but they are equally dangerous, if not more. They reside in our minds and gradually deplete us from all our creative energies and also take away the zest from our life. The good thing about external enemies was that, they were visible and if there was a war, some people were killed and some were reprieved. And there was no hiding from that fact. But stress and depression are much worse because they are residing in our own mind and the battle has to be fought with ourselves which is even more difficult.

People took psychological help for this and it gave relief to them for a certain time period. But that was not the solution. What would the psychiatrist do if we have to wage a war against ourselves? One other thing which people tried to do was MEDITATION. It was very quickly found out that the advantages of meditation far exceeded those which were received from psychological help. If a psychiatrist gives us some guidance, first we need to have faith in him, then we need to understand his language, and obviously the psychiatrist should be knowledgeable and experienced. And the most important part is to implement that advice after understanding the solutions provided by him. There are so many things that should fall into place, if we need any visible advantage from a psychiatrist.

But as far as meditation is concerned. we are directly trying to bring peace to our minds. We are directly trying to heal the instrument and bring it back to shape. We may take help from some people in the beginning stage but then it can be done all by our self. People have understood its importance very quickly and most of the successful people in the world dedicate a certain time of the day, mostly morning, to meditation.

Bill Gates, Will Smith, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Akshay Kumar, Shilpa Shetty, Kareena Kapur, they all have meditation as part of their schedule.

But still, there are a huge number of people who do not do meditation and many of them who think they will not be able to do meditation. But there are various kinds of meditation that can be done apart from the ancient method of closing eyes and dwelling on God. There are other forms of meditation which are very helpful like Guided Meditation, Vipassana Meditation, Transcendental Meditation, Meditation by listening to music or meditation by focusing on a certain symbol or meditating where we repeat a particular mantra.

People who are facing issues related to stress and depression can easily select anyone out of all these. And even if people have no disorder, they should do meditation because the amount of pressure and difficulties are increasing by the day in this world. One other meditation that comes to my mind is what I have termed it as CHILD MEDITATION.

This came to my mind, one day when I was feeling very stressed up after a long day in the office. I came to my home, switched on my TV, and was about to watch the latest update about the world on the BBC. But suddenly there was an electric spark and our television became out of order. At that time my eyes fell on my two-year-old kid who began to laugh while he was playing with his toys. I went near him and tried to figure out why he was laughing but did not find anything. I asked him why he had a laugh?

He gave me some reply which I did not understand because he is an Indian but maybe he was speaking in French or German. I thought that I should let him play and I went back to the sofa to relax. Just as I sat on the sofa, he began to cry, I went near him and asked him that suddenly why he has started crying?

This time I was somehow able to understand his language. He pointed to the floor and told me that there was a squirrel. He jumped to my arms and held me tightly. I began to wonder that within 3-4 minutes his mood has totally changed. He was a king who was given a throne 2-3 minutes back and after a few minutes he had become a person who was robbed of his whole wealth. It will not take much time before he will again become king, I muttered to myself.

Usually when I come from my office and my son does such things, I get a little frustrated and tell him to keep quiet and let me relax for some time. But that day, I looked at him very closely. I monitored him very minutely and was spellbound by his mannerisms.

"Oh! My God! What better joy or peace you can get than watching little kids without any bias and playing with them?" I asked myself. It was an absolute magical half an hour for me when I played with my kid and tried to figure out what he was doing. He had prepared a little kitchen made of small toys and was preparing dinner for me. He prepared rotis, rice, and also tea for me. In between he would get up and give food to all the members of the family by taking his little food plate with him which was made with paper.

I began to wonder, what might be going on in his mind? How much of his brain is already developed and how on earth he is doing things purely by his instincts. There is no fear of failure or he does not yet understand the meaning of the words stress and depression(I hope he never does). He lives his own life and he is a master of it and never allows any enemies, external or internal, to intrude near him. I became totally refreshed during that time. I decided that every day I would spend some time with my little kid when I came from office.

But we need to make sure that we do not become teachers or parents when we play with them. We have to play with them as if we are their close friends and children of the same age. It will be very surprising how they will begin to open up once you give them more time. The relationship which is taken care of right from the start blossoms into a life-long bonding. The amount of time we give to our children will bring us more close to them for the rest of our life.

Otherwise there will always be regret on our part that we did not give our precious time to children. A child is innocent, he is playful, he is loving, he is caring, he is He.

This method is what I have coined as CHILD MEDITATION. If our goal, when we go to a psychiatrist or do some form of meditation, is to get peace of mind, then this method works wonders.

If the child is so happy, joyful, and pleasant, can we not be the same? The fact that we have grown up, does it mean that now we do not have any right to be happy. I am sure it is possible to live in this demanding world and at the same time be happy and joyful like a child does.

Play with your child, be a kid, be in the present moment as your child does. If no psychiatrist works for you, if different methods of meditation are too difficult for you, CHILD MEDITATION will surely work for you!