Early in childhood, children typically have active inner lives. Often as children develop, however, they lose touch with this inner world. Spiritual practices can help children maintain a connection to their inner selves, allowing them to develop a strong sense of self-awareness, openness and emotional balance. Following are spiritual practices you can share with children to help them maintain awareness and respect for their inner selves as well as their outer world:


Read together and share feelings
Honor all the feelings and perspectives children have. Encourage them to feel their emotions and verbalize them. Help them to acknowledge their feelings and then let them go. 

Move together and focus attention on the body
Find an activity for you and your child to do together such as walking, yoga, or Pilates. Encourage your child to mimic you, a video, or a picture and then talk about how you feel while doing the activity. Discuss the different sensations you feel while stretching, moving, and relaxing. Help the child recognize the impermanence of both pain and pleasure.

Count breaths together
For a restful interlude, count breaths together. Make a game of noticing the various ways your bodies expand and contract with in-breaths and out-breaths. Imagine your breaths carrying wonderful oxygen to every cell, making your whole body strong and healthy.

Listen to music or sing together
Take turns playing your favorite songs. Sing or dance together. Then talk about how different music affects your moods and your bodies. There are no right or wrong feelings or experiences.

Listen reflectively and with empathy
When a child speaks, listen for the words and the emotions he/she feels. Repeat back what the child has said, along with your understanding of how the child is feeling. If you missed something, allow the child to correct you. Repeat the feedback process until the child feels heard and understood. This activity promotes self-awareness, self-acceptance and skill in processing emotions.

Note body sensations
During a restful or meditation time, imagine with your child that you are both moving through a body scanner that allows you to see inside your body. Look within and notice any sensations you feel. Say aloud to each other what you feel such as a tickle feeling, tightness, twirling, nothing, pulling in, pushing out, etc. Trace these sensations down through the body—include the face, neck, shoulders, arms, hands, chest, upper back, stomach, lower back, hips, legs and feet.

These are only a few of ways to attune yourself with your child. These spiritual activities also allow the child to tune in to him- or herself. For more information about using spiritual practices with children, visit www.unityfamilymatters.org.

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