Meditative Games
Meditation is many things, but first and foremost it is to simply being present. Thinking about what happened or what will happen is usually exhausting, but being in the present is not just energizing, it is also the essence of having fun! Real fun can happen in the present only.
Meditation is training the mind to be focused on the here and now. In order to have strong muscles, we have to use them again and again, and in the same way, to train the mind to be one-pointed we need to focus it again and again.
This kind of concentration training is not taught in schools, although it is the basis of successful studying and successful living. Whatever work you do with a focused mind you do twice as fast and ten times better than if you would do it with a distracted mind.
The following are fun ways to quiet the mind and become present. Don’t take any exercise too seriously--take a deep breath, do your best, and have fun!
1. 3rd Eye Yoga Diamond. Put a small stone (I use glass pebbles, but you can even use crystals if you want) on the foreheads of the kids when they lie down with their eyes closed. Tell them to focus on it, imagining its color or many colors, feeling its warmth or coolness, its weight, etc. After a few minutes, very gently and slowly, collect the stones – the kids will usually keep feeling that the stone is on their forehead. After another minute, tell them to sit up (or come up into Shoulderstand) without dropping the stone – if they were focused, they will think that the stone is still on their forehead and will come up tilting their heads back so that the stone won’t fall.
2. Bell Circle. Sit in a circle and close your eyes. Have one kid hold a bell and walk around the outside of the circle very slowly and softly without ringing it. Then reaching a person of his choice, he gently rings the bell by that person’s ear and sits in his place as he hands him the bell. The game continues in this manner for a few minutes, until you guide everyone to open their eyes and discover that everyone has switched places but the circle remained whole.
3. Energy. Sitting in a circle, close your eyes and rub your hands fast one against the other. After a few moments, when you feel some heat generated between your hands, stop and place them one in front of the other without touching. Feel the heat or coolness, the electric sensation, the energy that was created between your hands.
Now, still with your eyes closed, imagine a ball of light between your hands. Move your hands a bit to feel the ball. Pass the ball from one hand to the other, make it smaller or stretch it bigger, bounce it between your hands… Is the ball light or is it heavy? If you can’t feel it, that’s fine, just use your imagination.
Every time you pass the ball from hand to hand now, it keeps growing, and the distance between your hands grows accordingly to hold this bigger ball of light. Make the ball so big so that your hands really stretch far out. The bigger the ball grows, the greater the pleasant sensation its light gives you.
Stay with this feeling for a moment before you gradually make the ball smaller until it fits again between your palms. Bring the ball of light now close to your heart and let it come into your body, feeling its warmth over your whole body. Take a few deep breaths and slowly stretch your hands and legs and maybe even roll your head a bit before you open your eyes.
Remember this light and this pleasant sensation. It is always with you even if you are distracted by other things.
Fun in this game:
- The same game can be played in pairs, sitting one in front of the other. One partner keeps his hands low and facing up, while the other partner starts just above his palms with his hands facing down and slowly moves his hands up as the ball of light grows
And many, many more!