[Sameer Vishwanathan]

Hi Sam, this topic is very close to my heart. A big component of my parenting entails helping my child understand (via their own experience) how their mind works.

Some background–I’ve been meditating (off and on, admittedly) since 2006. My child, who is now 4, has grown up seeing me meditate. She and I started to meditate together (loosely speaking) since she turned 2. Now, at 4, I think she seems to understand the impact it has on her mind, and will sometimes go off to meditate on her own, or will ask me to meditate with her. At other times, I will invite her to meditate and she is usually up for it. We usually do short sessions–10 minutes or so.

My point here is that the intellectual understanding of how the mind work is interesting, of course, but the experiential understanding is really a lot more impactful. An analogy would be watching swimming videos versus being in the water and learning to swim. So, I encourage you to try practicing meditation and mindfulness with your child(ren). I think that experience will help them understand how the mind works (at some level) faster than the purely intellectual route.

Also, I’d love to hear how it goes if you do try this out. Or, maybe you are already practicing. If so, please do share their experience of the practice.

[Sameer Vishwanathan]

Ryan, I’m curious about your background in meditation. Do you practice? If so, what type? Are you teaching based on your experience?

I’ve practiced (off and on, admittedly) vipassana meditation since 2006. I have taught my child (she is 4) to meditate and we do short sessions (roughly 10 minutes) every so often. We started off simply observing the rise and fall of the belly as one sits with their hands on the belly. Then, over time, we observed the breath, and eventually body sensations.

After a session, I usually ask her what she experienced. And, sometimes explain a bit of the theory. For instance, that body sensations are impermanent and we react (like/dislike) the experience. I ask her to try to simply observe without reacting. My goal is for her to make her own judgement about the benefits (or, lack thereof) of meditating.

How old are the kids in your class? 15 or so? They should be able to understand the instructions rather easily. The actual practice, of course, is anything but easy. But, if the kids find it beneficial, they will be more apt to do it. Experiential learning will be a lot more effective than intellectual.

Happy to chat more, if you’d like. I’m new to the platform but I assume you can message me.

[Sameer Vishwanathan]

Ryan, how are things going for your students on the meditation front?

I’m curious, what instructions do you give them for meditation? You mentioned a problem with focus. How does that manifest?

If they observe their breath, and the mind wanders, they would at some point realize that that has happened, and can simply bring their attention back to their breath. It doesn’t matter how many times the mind wanders. The important thing is to not develop a craving for the mind to not wander, and not develop aversion if it does.

If they practice in this unattached way, they will surely make progress and their concentration will improve over time.