Encouraging Spiritual and Psychic Awareness ... 

...in children is an enjoyable experience for any parent. You not only engage in instilling an awareness of the child’s spiritual being that pre-dates the physical, but also the other spirits beyond the veil who, even if they are not known to the child, are made real through the familiarity of stories.

The psychic skills teach them to relax, to remain centred, to listen and feel those intently, and to see and understand what is around them in both their worlds.

Also in the physical way it shows them positive the way of releasing emotions and puts importance on being in touch with feelings [thus how to control them] and more importantly, their intuitions.

They learn to become more independent and to count on themselves, rather than learn to manipulate others into gratifying their wants and needs.

This will have valuable results ...

... but the children in your life will reap the rewards of a higher self esteem, a clear understanding of authority and universal laws, a creative imagination, and a strong sense of cooperation in all things around them.

Since most children’s awareness has not been diminished by logical and rational thought patterns, the ability to work with a child’s imagination and creativity is boundless.

Through story telling from the spiritual books that are readily available, the use of the metaphor and its parallels, will go into the store of knowledge for later life.

 One way to start the process is working with your child at bedtime. Repeat relaxation and breathing exercises before the usual bedtime story. You take them on an imaginary journey incorporating their vivid thoughts, and developing great sleep patterns. Before you start this exercise each night, remember to make a trek to the bathroom, get a glass of water, and remove any other night time jaunts so there are no interruptions once the process is started. After the first time you will find that they look forward to bed and get the other annoyances out of the way quickly. Children are anxious to spend quality time with their parents and caregivers. They look forward to the bonding and intimacy attached to the private one-on-one time spent together.

Relaxation and Breathing

With very young children adapt the length of exercise; you may prefer to do these exercises after the story because sleep follows quickly! This exercise is still taught after 30 years for the anti-natal relaxation, and to use it again for the child’s own benefit again I think is poetic. 

Once in bed and comfortable loose pyjamas

which don’t bind in any way, are suggested, tell them to close their eyes and that you will guide them on this great adventure. Start by asking them to wiggle their toes and feet slowly and then relax them. Then gently tighten up the muscles in their legs and then relax the muscles. Ask them to picture what their muscles looks like as they tighten and relax them. Encourage them to get the full experience of what they are doing. You want them to learn to think in pictures as well as cognitive assessment.

Now take this exercise and work on all their body parts, stomach, chest, arms, neck, face, and head. Once this is completed (some may even start to fall asleep by now), have them focus on their breathing patterns. Begin by asking them to draw in the deepest breath possible and then gently blow out their breath into the air. You can have them picture blowing up a big balloon, or blowing the air all the way over to a Grandparent’s house for instance.

Use your imagination. It doesn’t matter whether they breathe in and out of their noses or mouths, the same affect will be achieved through both. Ease is the key here, so especially for allergy sufferers, do what’s most comfortable. Remember that each child is different, so have separate expectation levels for each child in your home. They will individually find which way of scrunching their muscles and breathing patterns work best for them. Allow them to experiment and discover the patterns best suited for each child. The following exercises do not all have to be done in the same night. Especially for children under five along with relaxing and breathing, I would encourage only doing one exercise each night. Once your child has learned the relaxation and breathing, you can however do these other lessons during the day. It is not necessary to do these at night. Just have your child relax and take a few deep breaths to centre themselves before engaging in any lessons.

Listening Skills

Now perhaps for the older child as they are relaxing ask them to (while keeping their eyes closed) listen to all the sounds around them. Hear intently all the little and big sounds they hear throughout their bedroom and throughout the house (describe to them the sounds you hear also). After they are finished, now tell them to take a deep breath and exhale again and to now try to listen to only the sounds inside their own body. Coaching them gently, tell them to try not to hear the sounds in the room and the house, but to focus on only hearing the sounds coming from inside their body. Ask them to hear their heartbeat. Teaching them to use their imagination, tell them to picture their heart pumping. Describe to them how the heart works to pump the blood to the rest of their body (use discretion for age groups, too much technical staff and most kids will get bored and frustrated with the process). Remember that children have great imaginations and are already used to playing these kinds of make-believe games.

If they cannot recognize any sounds at first, don’t be disappointed. Tell them that everything takes practice and that they are not suppose to hear most of these sounds in a literal sense, but in their “mind’s ear‿. Describe to them how they can see, hear, and feel “inside their body‿ as well as “outside their body‿.

 Tell them again to push out all the sounds around them in the room and to try to only hear the sounds going on inside them. Be still and pause for a minute or two telling them you’re giving them time too really “hear the sounds‿. After you’ve paused, ask them to open their eyes and say: “Did you hear differently than you usually do? Were you able to push out to other sounds and only hear the sounds in your body? Could you hear soft sounds that you normally don’t hear when you are playing with toys?‿ If they answered yes, ask them to describe the other sounds they heard on the inside of their body. Start to encourage them to speak of sounds they might hear in the head also. Call sounds your child hears inside their body or mind, their own sounds. By referring to these sounds as their own sounds it makes them special. Ask them; “Could you go back and only hear your own sounds?‿ Again don’t be frustrated for those who may not get it the first time, practice and it will come eventually.

Learning to See Imaginatively 

Have your child take a couple of deep inhales and exhales. Have them gaze at a particular object for about one minute, and then close their eyes and have them describe the object to you. See how accurate they can get with their descriptions. Tell them to open their eyes and now have them look around the room slowly.

Ask them to take in all that they see. Now again, have them close their eyes and describe to you everything they remember in the room. This exercise trains them to see ‘the big picture’ instead of just one or two objects in the room. They will soon start thinking in ‘the big picture’ as well. You’ll see in the way the describe new place they visit, or the inside of their school, or their dreams. Which leads us to our next phase…dreaming through fantasy.

For information on dispelling fears, taking control and exercises for the parent see next essay.....