Silence. Stillness. Meditation Explained.

We talk so much in this community about meditation. We talk about the importance of meditation and all of the benefits of meditation, yet still so many people are resistant to trying it or sticking with it.

Why is it that people get so intimidated by the thought of meditation?

There are many reasons.

First of all, our world and our society is so deeply trained to be busy and chaotic all the time. We are taught to juggle several things all at once, we are taught to multitask and check our phones constantly and scroll. We over drink coffee and caffeinated beverages and our bodies are simply jittery all the time. Our minds are loud and busy constantly. If we are not intentional about this, we get swallowed up by our own environment easily these days.

Another reason we find people to be intimidated and resistant to the thought of meditation is the way meditation is portrayed.

Expectations can be very high when it comes to this practice. For some reason people think they're going to have some spiritual experience that's going to change their lives and when they don't, it turns them off. They get disappointed or think it's overrated and don't continue.

However, that's the first and biggest mistake. The key to successful meditation is practice. You have to be consistent and you have to push through your resistance to it in order to see any long-term results.

At Koster Kare, we look at meditation very differently.

Since we often try and integrate meditation of some sorts into a child's routine, we really like to simplify the whole practice as much as possible. This makes it easier for the kids to be able to stick to it and benefit from it.

Since our staff have a lot of experience in teaching certain groups and classes of children of different ages, we've really played around with and experimented with alternative practices such as meditation.

When working with a group of children, it's not always easy to get them to meditate and buy into it.

So we created something very easy for the kids to be able to follow.

The 2 S's.

Stillness and Silence.

That's it.

We've had kids and adults both question this and especially mentioned their minds running a mile a minute. We always assure everyone that that is very normal. We can't shut our minds off. All we can do is practice silence and stillness.

The body will actually eventually start to calm the mind and thoughts down during this time. That's why they call it a meditation practice. You have to stay consistent and practice often so that you can train your mind as well as your body to calm down and be still.

Don't worry about your thoughts. Don't try and control your thoughts.

Many people suggest observing your thoughts and bringing your attention back to the breath. Sometimes that's even a little too complex for kids so we just simplify it by stillness and silence.

If you're interested as an adult to start this practice as well, simplify it and make it easy for yourself remembering these two essential points.

Like we said before, once your body starts to train itself to be still, the thoughts will follow.

To still your thoughts, you have to still your body as well.

Don't sweat your thoughts. Allow them to naturally slow down as you practice silence and stillness.