It’s been a very long week. My two-year old son has been sick.  It started with a 103+ degree fever that left him lethargic, turned into an upper respiratory cold and ear infection that made him hyper-emotional and all-around uncomfortable in his body.  The primary thing that settled him all week was laying cuddled in bed with his neck propped at just the right angle in the crook of my elbow.  Of course there were plenty of times where I was jumping up and down trying to find the right remedy to calm the coughing or to appease his endless requests for juice, something to eat, a different kind of juice, something else to eat (because of course nothing tasted good), etc. etc.  I’m sure all parents know the kind of week that I am talking about.  Exhausting and heartbreaking.

A couple of nights ago, at the end of the day, as I we laid down in his bed together – with my arms around him and his body at just the right degree of uprightness to stop the coughing so he could fall asleep – I let the extreme tiredness begin to creep into my body too.  However, my mind wouldn’t stop running around in circles with different things that I could possibly try tonight, or tomorrow, that would help him to feel better and get through it all the faster.  I was totally stuck in my mind and that “doing” mode that it’s so easy to get caught in.  As soon as I became aware of where my mind was on auto-pilot, I said “Wait, you know what to do.  This is what you DO, little miss healer.” I was immediately brought to the concept that everything is energy.  I got out of the thinking loop and went to the place that every cell in my body knows as reality and where my mind, with a lot of training, has learned to trust.  I asked myself “What is the way to heal this, energetically?”  Well, with LOVE of course.

I instantly accessed that place deep inside my chest – that is so easy for me to find these days, unlike 4 years ago when it was nearly impossible to find that frequency within my body no matter how hard I tried – and began to consciously work on letting it expand outwardly.  I visualized it filling up my whole body, begin to spread around my son, and then all through the room.  I held that feeling and intention for as long as I could.  Whenever my mind started to wander I would bring myself back to that place.  Soon, he was sleeping calmly and I crept out of the room.

As we laid down together tonight I immediately brought myself into the love space and felt grateful.  While my son was falling asleep, I contemplated how amazing this life is and how what we really are here to do is learn about the healing energy of love.  Why is it so healing?  Because it is our true source and when we are connected to that there can be nothing amiss.  I also let the fleeting thoughts come in about how love can cause so much pain, such as what we experience during a heartbreak (loss of relationship, death of a loved one, etc.). I was immediately aware that this is ultimately healing in it’s own way, and the souls we go through these experiences with are our greatest supporters (as we are theirs) in our spirit’s quest for understanding true love.  We experience pain to help us clear that which no longer serves us on our journey, just like a fever helps us to clear a virus that is affecting our physical body. Pain urges us to continue forward in our journey by demanding that we let go and move toward a more brilliant light – never ending steps on the ladder towards the highest love.  Experiencing darkness so we can truly see the light.

When my son uttered “mommy love you” as he drifted off to sleep I felt a surge in that energetic space that I was holding us in and immediately felt validated.  Perhaps I’m doing something right on this current journey that I’m on – otherwise known as the great love lesson called mommyhood.  Happy Mother’s Day to me!

Meditation doesn’t have to mean something esoteric or be some sort of practice that is out of reach or glossed over by the general public. Just as yoga has gained in popularity amongst the masses, so to can Meditation. It is basically a tool to help bring one back to the moment – free of past or future thoughts. The power of meditation for children is being recognized across the country in schools and other children’s based programs. Fun experiential sessions are being developed for children that teach simple, psychologically empowering, tools to help build a strong inner foundation to support all of life’s challenges and opportunities.

In an example of these sessions, everyday imagery is introduced as something kids can spend time visualizing to facilitate the release of thoughts and emotions that don’t feel good; help to set their energetic and emotional spaces to peace; and to serve as tools to draw upon in situations for proactive, rather than reactive, responses. Ultimately, helping them to gain coping skills, raise self-awareness, and increase personal power in recognizing and handling life’s tests. Another example is the the provision of a set-time each day where children can practice conscious breathing as a way to help them focus the mind on one simple, refreshing, act for themselves.

Meditation can empower children with lifelong skills to: quiet the mind; form practical awareness of how their energy affects others; gain understanding of how outside influences affect their energy and emotions; increase healthy behavioral choices thru reliance on inner resources; grow to maintain individuality yet thrive in groups; learn to stay in, and handle, the present moment with effortlessness; foster peace internally and externally.

Stay tuned for more articles on the progression of , and research into, children’s based meditation programs!

“It’s a true gift to have a body” is something that I have often heard over the years. Even though I could grasp the concept of coming here as a spirit to have physical experiences, often times I would struggle with really feeling the ‘gift’ aspect of it, especially when dealing with some sort of physical or emotional pain.

It wasn’t until recently, when my son was born, that this door was blown wide open for me. Throughout my pregnancy I felt connected to his beautiful spirit, but was a little bit in the dark about what it would be like to witness it within a body. Once his physicality came into my eye’s view it was amazing to me. I marvel at how I could have done this with basically no “know-how” what-so-ever. It’s probably a good thing that I didn’t have to figure out the science of how to put his little body together because I surely would have duped it up somehow. I have never been a science genius. All I know is that there is this amazing – tangible – being and he got here by my complete surrender to a higher knowing in the Universe. And, by the sheer gift of ME being in a body, I was able to ‘pay it forward’ to an old friend who I’ve likely known in many other lifetimes.

When he snoozes on my lap I love to lay my hand across his chest, where he will promptly rest his small hand on top of mine, and feel his heart beating. This constantly puts me right into a moment of wonder and awe. I can feel the tiny rhythm – actually very huge in the fact that it is pumping life through his beautiful body, which is really just a house for a spirit to have a lifetime of experiences. The heart is an incredible thing, not only in all of its physical properties and duties, but also in its relationship to the ability to feel and promote love – one of life’s most important components. I somehow took part in creating one of these magical organs for this special person that I am coming to know.

When I watch this wise old soul try to master his new little body I make the connection that we struggle with our ‘vehicles’ right from the start, and the sheer beauty of being able to see it through a mother’s adoring eyes gives me a new appreciation for all that we go through in life. Spirit within the body, and the gift of that opportunity is now quite apparent to me. I am grateful to be receiving this greater level of understanding from my new little one.