You’re probably familiar with the benefits of meditation for stressed out adults, but have you heard about the ways meditation can help children with ADHD? As an ADHD natural treatment, meditation teaches children to reign in their impulses, provides them with clarity, and helps them recover from the pressures of school. All children need to find ways to center themselves so they can focus, learn discipline, and feel positive about themselves. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if your ADHD child could have better focus in the classroom and feel at peace?  Here are a few tips that will show you how to make meditation a part of your ADHD child’s life.

Meditation before bedtime

It’s difficult to get a hyperactive child to sit down and chant “Om”, but you can introduce the principles of meditation by making it a part of your child’s bedtime routine.  Not only will meditation help your child unwind; it will promote restful sleep, which all children with ADHD need. Start by sitting on the floor with a straight spine and hands on the lap, palms up, with the right hand resting above the left. Play soft music to set the mood. Have your child focus his eyes on the top of the nose, a posture that is thought to help break old habits and create newer and more effective ones.  Now, do the breath of fire move by breathing rapidly through the nose, as though you were sniffing very fast. Breaths should be shallow and should go at a steady rhythm. Do this for one to three minutes. This exercise is thought to restore balance between the hemispheres of the brain, which will help the eyes focus on the tip of the nose.

Meditation upon rising

Another way to introduce meditation is to spend a few minutes sitting quietly each morning before starting the day. Save this technique for the summer or winter breaks, as it will be near impossible to do this during hectic school-day mornings. As with the bedtime meditation, sit on the floor cross-legged, palms touching. Take slow breaths in the nose, then out the mouth.  Stay this way for about five minutes before getting up to start the day. Remind your child that he or she can always return to this position whenever life becomes too overwhelming or stressful.

Meditate with other children

If you are part of an ADHD support group, why not plan meditation activity with other kids?  Look for a peaceful, quiet venue and have the kids sit on the floor. With relaxing music playing in the background, have everyone experience a few minutes of silence. You can also purchase a guided meditation tape for kids and play this during the session. Afterwards, the kids can enjoy a more energetic activity, such as a ball game in the park.

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In this pilot study, researchers  followed a group of 10 middle school students with ADHD, aged 11 to 14,  who were meditating twice a day in school. After three months, researchers found over 50 percent reduction in stress and anxiety and improvements in ADHD symptoms.

According to the lead author of the study, Sarina Grosswald, the effect of the meditation was much greater than was expected. The children not only had reduction in stress and anxiety levels,  they also demonstrated improvements in attention, working memory, organization, and behavior regulation.

This is not the first study that suggests that Transcendental Meditation (TM) is helpful for children with ADHD. Other studies have found that TM can helps not only reduce anxiety, but also helps improve mathematical skills, reading and memory. Informal studies suggest that TM may reduce symptoms of ADHD by 20-25%.

In fact, Transcendental Meditation is one of the tools that we recommend in Key#13 (Engage the Body Mind) of our “14 Keys to Overcome ADHD Naturally” protocole.

If you would like more info about TM and ADHD, check out:

www.adhd-tm.org

Dr. Yannick Pauli