Category Archives: technology

Meditations and mindful tips for you and the family – COVID-19

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Welcome and hope you find this blog useful in this strange and challenging time.

I don’t know about you, but life feels like we’ve been put on a roller coaster (without our permission) and we are on for a ride of ups and downs.

I’ve been practising meditation for over 30 years and even I feel tested to my limit by world events.  However I have strong resillience, mentally and emotionally, because of my meditation practice.  But I realise that many people (and children) are reeling from everything and don’t have lifeskills to help them through.

So our team of Connected Kids Tutors, Trainers and Students have decided to offer some meditation practices and mindful tips on this blogpost – to be used by you, your family or both.

These are free for you to use and share.  

We know how much having this skill helps us (it’s why we teach people worldwide!) and we just want to share and help everyone have a little bit more peace of mind (and resillience) through this challenging journey.

We hope it helps and please let us know via our Facebook group, or Twitter or Facebook page (or ask us a question).  We’ll be adding more on as they come through so remember to visit this page or join our social media to be kept informed.

Namaste

 

 

 

Lorraine E Murray – Founder and the Connected Kids Team

Listen to the meditation recordings (more to come).  Watch the recordings and decide (or let your family choose) what feels best for you and your kids.

(Please note the quality of sound will vary as each person used whatever device they had to record from home!)

 

Tree of Protection Meditation for kids – by Connected Kids founder Lorraine Murray

 

Golden Spacesuit meditation for kids on the Autism spectrum – by Connected Kids founder Lorraine Murray

 

Mindful tip to engage kids in meditation – Lorraine Murray

 

Pranyama Breathing for Anxiety – by Judy Lam

 

Mindful rainbows, drawing/colouring tips by – Jackie McBeath

 

Mindful Colouring tips – by Lorraine Forsyth

 

Mindful Tips for parents – by Pippa Elwood

 

Coping mindfully with anxiety – by Tara Russo

 

Straw breath-painting – breath work (create a rainbow) – by Sue Hurst

 

Mindful Breath ideas for young kids (under 10) to reduce anxiety – by Lorraine Murray

 

Sound Meditation to help boost immune system – by Gary Posner

A note from Gary... “Before you listen to the Immune Enhancing Tuning Fork Meditation. Close your eyes and start breathing. Feel each breath you take moving through your whole body. Feel your breath waking up in every cell in your body. ”

We would also suggest asking your kids to notice where they feel the sound in their body as they listen and breathe.

 

3 Breaths Meditation to calm – by Alice Chinn

 

The Lighthouse meditation – by Sara Graham

 

The magical forest meditation for 7 to 11 year old kids  – by Tara Russo

 

 

Rainbow breathing for kids  – by Chris Maxwell

tech and social media addiction in kids – can meditation help?

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You are probably reading this article on your mobile phone or computer – perhaps a friend kids tech social media gaming addictionshared it through social media or you did a google search for ‘teach children meditation’.

The irony is that we use social media and tech in our lives so much that we don’t notice how much it may be affecting our well being.  This is true for our kids and teens too.

Is tech really that bad for kids?

Perhaps you remember the candy cigarettes we use to have as kids?  You know the ones where we pretended (as kids) to smoke even though we knew it was candy.  Interestingly the sales of these are now banned in the UK as society has realised, and has the research to prove, that smoking damages our health.  But back in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s this wasn’t the case. People thought of smoking as a slimming device or it was just regarded as a social habit.  Now we know the truth.

I feel the same about phones and laptops for kids.  At some point, as a society, we will realise we have allowed our children to access technology too early;  children with screens attached to car seats or buggies…giving our kids our mobile phone to play with so they’ll be quiet.

It’s interesting that parents who work  (and create) this technology don’t allow their children to have access to this tech.

Continue reading →

How to help Kids in Canada thrive – with meditation and mindfulness

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Are Kids in Canada Coping with Stress?

I’m writing this post with a focus on Canada.  Why?  Because I’ll be canada kids stress and anxiety mindfulness going there to teach in September and I wanted to find out more about how Canadian Kids could benefit from meditation.

What I find fascinating is that many of the issues facing young people in Canada are similar worldwide. 

With 1 in 5 Canadian kids diagnosed with a mental health issues and research demonstrating that meditation can help, the time is now to equip young people with these life-saving skills.

Issues include a lack of self esteem, inability to self regulate behaviour, poor body image,  bullying, high stress levels and an inability to cope. Continue reading →

Is technology disconnecting our kids?

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In society we want things easy.

Maybe it’s a combination of technology, lifestyle and the way boy reading text on phoneour brains are developing.  Reading the book ‘Mind Change‘ has been fascinating as I learn I am a ‘digital immigrant’.  That means I have been introduced to blogs, emails and the tech stuff  later in my lifetime.

According to the author, Baronness Susan Greenfield kids are ‘digital natives’ – in other words their brains are introduced to it from the day they are born and it is shaping how their brains develop.

Continue reading →