Why Every HSP Highly Sensitive Person Should Learn How To Meditate. Why meditation helps the Highly Sensitive Person or Empath become more mentally and emotionally resilient in their life and business.
Daily Challenges Of The HSP Highly Sensitive Person
I believe everyone should learn how to meditate but if you are an empath or HSP I believe meditation is a must. Why? Because if you are an HSP you are more sensitive to the energy and stress of modern-day living. The HSP has a highly sensitive sensory system, basically a more finely tuned nervous system than most people. This gives the HSP a lot more awareness and receptivity to the world around them. But this also makes HSP’s less resilient in some ways more easily overstimulated.
Reasons Why The HSP Highly Sensitive People Should Meditate
The highly sensitive person is often more easily wounded. The HSP Empath is often more scattered in their energy. In many ways, they are often not fully in their energetic body. That is why many highly sensitive empaths are often ungrounded and uncentred. Why so many highly sensitive’s and empaths struggle mentally, physically, and or emotionally in their day-to-day life.
Highly Sensitive Empaths are like energy sponges. So they need to need to learn how to become more centered, grounded, and energetically aware. Meditation naturally helps increase awareness and presence. Meditation can also help us become more grounded and centered.
Why Every HSP Should Meditate Daily
Daily Meditation is so good for your mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing
Regular meditative practice is known to lower anxiety and stress levels.
It helps you access a deep space of stillness and peace, so meditation often increases clarity and confidence
We know meditation helps you access much clearer intuition and inner guidance.
Meditation allows you to heal mentally, physically, and emotionally
My Own Meditation Journey As A HSP And Empath
I began meditating over 30 years ago, I tried, tested, and studied various styles and teachings of meditation. As someone with very rare medical challenges that mainstream medicine couldn’t treat, I had to find skills that would make me more physically, mentally, and emotionally resilient. Oh, how I thank god that I found meditation. This was a skill that helped me become so mentally resilient. Meditation helped me deal with so many tremendous and long-term challenges with strength and peace.
One of my earliest teachings of meditation was to a class of rather troublesome young men. I knew teaching meditation to a class of rather rowdy you men might not be a walk in the park. So I went searching for a style of meditation that might accommodate their particular needs. I found a technique that I adapted in which became My 5 Minute Meditation. In-fact this became the most popular meditation tool I ever taught. Loved by not just teenagers, but stressed-out executives, carers, healers, highly sensitive people, and empaths.
Finding The Right Type Of Meditation To Start With
When you find the right type of meditation tool for you, you will build your meditation practice up much stronger. If you have a very busy, demanding lifestyle the 5 Minute Meditation is a great starter tool. But I would still encourage you to practice a more traditional style of meditation into your routine. This form of meditation will help you transcend into living more of your life from a place of meditation.
The problem today is there is a lot of myths and misunderstanding around meditation. Many people give up too quickly on their meditation practice because of a misunderstanding of what meditating actually is.
Beginners Meditation Technique For The Anxious HSP
If you are an HSP who struggles with chronic anxiety and stress I would encourage you to try out a very short style of meditation like my less than 5 Minute Meditation which is great for beginners. This particular technique is really useful for chronic anxiety and even trauma sufferers, so it’s much more gentle than other forms of meditation.
The Right Type Of Meditation Teacher If You Are Highly Sensitive
My advice would be to choose a meditation teacher wisely, find out more about them, years of experience, training, and styles of meditation they teach. If you’re an Empath or HSP you may want to book a one-to-one session with a meditation teacher before attending a class or start with some simple meditation at home. Also, check-in that the meditation teacher actually teaches you how to meditate they are not just practicing or guiding you through guided meditations more like guided visualisations, this is often something very different.
Why Meditation Supports The HSP
Anxiety and emotional wounding is a big problem for the HSP, Meditation helps loosen those challenges as it helps us detach from that wounding. When we meditate we connect with the self, an aspect of us that never changes. This helps nurture a healthy anchor, a stronger connection with where magic and stillness transcends everything else.
8 Ways How To Reduce Teenage Exam Stress And Anxiety
Top tips on helping reduce student and teenage study and exam stress, hep your teen feel more calm, confident and relaxed when exam time and study time comes around.
Sadly Exam Stress And Anxiety Is A Big Problem For Many Students And Teenagers. Especially with such increase in mental health challenges in young people, especially chronic anxiety and depression.
Exam stress for many is actually stress anxiety, for some it is more anxiety performance. Most students and teenagers are suffering from both exam stress and exam anxiety, so it is important to approach both.Most of us when we hear the word exam get a feeling of panic.
But there is so many simple things your young adult or teenager can do to reduce exam stress and anxiety. With the right approach and the right tools you can help increase calm and confidence.
Top Tips To Reduce Teenage Exam Stress And Anxiety
Create A Suitable Study Space:
Make sure your child or teenager has a suitable comfortable space to study where they wont be disturbed or distracted. A space which is ideal to encourage more calm and focus. For teenagers who lack focus or suffer from ADHD, the NYR Study Remedies roller ball is great, ideal to fit in a pocket, purse or bag
Encourage A Balanced Study Routine:
Help or encourage your teenager to create a healthy and balanced study timetable. It is so important your teenagers prioritise their time effectively. It can be so easy for them to want to avoid subjects they struggle with or are concerned over.
Reduce External Stressors:
Help take the pressure off your teenager by reducing external stressors as much as you can. If your child normally has a lot of household chores, a job, try reducing them temporarily during study and exam time. So they are not overwhelmed, overstressed and over exhausted
Boost Your Teens Confidence And Self-Worth:
Support your teenage by boosting their confidence, self-worth and self-esteem. Focus on their strengths, praise them, be kind to them reduce criticism and help them understand that their worth does not equate to their exam results. Teenagers today are put under extreme pressure from all angles, especially peer and educational pressure. It is important to do what you can to encourage healtheir confidence, self-worth and self-esteem
Encourage Time Out:
Make sure your teenager takes plenty of breaks between study time and exams. It is important they take time to switch off and have fun.
Reduce Technology Overload:
We use technology for so much in our lives that we forget how over-stimulating and energy-depleting it can be. Also, most computers and mobile devices such as iPads emit blu ray technology which can play havoc with our nervous system and sleep patterns. So ensure they spend time off computers, phones, facebook…
Teach Them How To Meditate And Relax:
Meditation and relaxation techniques can be really helpful at helping anxious teenagers switch off. Teenagers love my less than 5 Minute Meditation (included in the Exam Stress Kit) is the most popular tool I have taught for 20 years. Muscle relaxations are great at reducing anxiety, muscle tension and sleep challenges, all in my Exam Stress Toolkit For Teens And Students.
Encourage Deep Quality Sleep:
Good quality sleep can make a huge difference to our concentration, focus, and memory recall. Guided meditations designed to support sleep can be really helpful so can muscle relaxation techniques. Lavender oil is a great essential oil that can encourage a deep restful sleep. One product many clients and friends love is the NYR Organics Night Time aroma ball
Want to support your child or teenager the right way?
My Exam Stress Toolkit is ideal for young adults, teenagers, student,s and parents who want to learn how to manage exam stress in a more natural and holistic way
How To Create A Calm Bedtime Routine For Your Child
Simple effective ways to create a calm bedtime routine for your kids and teenagers.
For so many parents a calm bedtime routine seems impossible. So many families are so stressed out and exhausted that bedtime can feel like a nightmare or the last straw. But the reality is children’s bedtime don’t have to be as stressful as you think. Some simple changes can make a huge difference to a family’s bedtime routine.
As a stress therapist for over 20 years, I know how effective a healthy calm bedtime routine can reduce family stress.
A calm bedtime routine is important not just for the kids but the whole family. Believe me a calm bedtime routine into your evening routine. Can make every family member feels far more happier, healthier and stress resilient to all sorts of stressful life challenges.
5 Ways to Create A Calm Bedtime Routine For Children And Teenagers
Create healthy boundaries and a regular routine. It is important to have set times when your kids must be in bed, must have the lights out. Even times when kids should stop eating, drinking and watching tv. So set specific times when they have to switch off their phone.
Make sure stimulants are cut out or seriously reduced from early afternoon as stimulants stay in the body for many hours. For example let your child have their favourite treat or sweet early in the day. Encourage teenagers to stay away from caffeine stimulants. As sadly energy drinks are highly addictive and bad for your child’s health. In-fact the withdrawal and side effects can be quite serious.
Encourage relaxing hobbies like drawing, painting, colouring in, listening to relaxing music. As most children and teenagers today struggle to switch off, relax and fall off to sleep. Kids are so mentally busy and overwhelmed. They have forgotten how to really relax. If you look at most new born babies they naturally know how to just be, how to switch off, be calm and content.
Switch off and unplug. It is important children and teenagers have rest and quality sleep away from electric devices and technology. Because the electro magnetic frequencies and blu ray from ipads, iphones can play havoc with your child’s nervous system. Examples of healthier night time activities are a relaxing bath, a foot massage or baby massage for toddler or hobbies as mentioned above.
Teach your child how to meditate, meditation helps your child feel more relaxed, more calm. Guided meditations which are actually guided relaxations can help your child drift off into a deep sleep. So they can be particularly useful for sensory challenged children, more easily stimulated. Your Guardian Angel mp3 is one of my oldest and most popular relaxation tracks for children it is aimed at about 3- 8 years old. but even a little older children have enjoyed it.
Teach Your Child How To Relax if they suffer from chronic anxiety, chronic overstimulation or stress. Relaxation Techniques can be very helpful for all ages, especially children and teens 5 years up. Learn More
Help Your Child Get More Grounded, children are so over stimulated today, so ungrounded and disconnected from what is truly natural. It is so important to help support them to feel more grounded, make sure they get out to play in nature daily. Take them out for walks to the park, countryside, encourage them to be bare feet on the ground, the sand, the sea when they can.
Soothing Essential Oils. There are a variety of soothing essential oils that can be helpful for children and teens, that can help them relax, feel more grounded, safe and secure. Camomile and Mandarin can be extremely soothing for children, lavender is suitable for children over 2 years of age.
Encourage A Calm Bedtime Routine today
If your child likes learning and reading I have published the Bedtime Tips With Astral- cartoon video into a little cartoon ebook. So it will encourage your child to get off to bed when they are supposed to. And will remind them how important it is to get a good healthy sleep.
5 Ways To Empower Your Child With Life Long Skills
How to empower your child in the most healthy way, how to give them powerful life skills that will support your child for life?
How To Empower Your Child To Be The Best Version Of Themself
We all know how much a lack of self-esteem and self-confidence can seriously impact the way we approach and live our life.
So how do we help our child who may be sensitive, sensory challenged, shy, struggling, ill or disabled step into their power? Here is a five simple but powerful ways you can begin to empower your child today!
5 Simple, Powerful Ways That Can Empower Your Child For Life
They Are Enough:We live in a society and culture that in many ways has everyone believing they are lacking, they need to have or be more to be loved, accepted, valued, respected, successful. When this is so not true.
This is such a huge distortion. We can help a child open up and live their greatest potential. But helping them recognise they are enough right now, at this moment is the most powerful thing you can do to increase their confidence, raise their vibration.
Celebrate Your Child’s Uniqueness:Helping your child celebrate those quirky, unique and challenging traits they may have is about helping them recognise they are so much more than enough. And that they are here with their own unique traits, for a particular purpose.
There are somethings a child grows out of but it is so important to love and accept them just as they unique special being they are.
Open Up Your Child’s Potential:Help your child see out of the box, look past limitations even your own. Open them up to the rich tapestry of life, other ideas, other skills, let them try things. Often parents who are unaware, but well meaningly can limit their child’s dreams, they can squash down their ” Joie de vivre” Joy of Living. Or they do the opposite and fill in all sorts of activities into their child’s schedule without enough downtime.
Sadly over 20 years as a Stress Therapist I have saw too many children with depression and anxiety. And some children who developed suicidal tendencies exacerbated by this sort of pressure from parents.
Empower Yourself:When you empower yourself, you empower your child, children are energetic sponges, so they can easily take on other’s anxiety, stress and depression. Especially children who are extremely sensitive who find it difficult to identify what is their energy and emotions and others.
Teach Your Child How To Meditate: When you teach your child the right type of meditation, your child can access calm and peace whenever they want. Now I am not talking about guided meditations, they can help your child to relax and help build self-worth, confidence …
I am talking about meditation skills that with daily practise will eventually let them access instant stillness. So whatever life challenges or stress come along, your child will have the tools to deal with them more effectively. The right meditation and mindful skills can also help your child become more accepting, compassionate about themself and those around them. Their less likley to have chronic anxiety, depression or chronic stress because they are not as lost in negative thinking.
Benefits Of Meditation And Mindfulness For Children
So What Are The Healthy Benefits Of Meditation And Mindfulness For Children?
Well sadly more and more children are suffering from anxiety, stress, depression and over-stimulation that is why mindfulness for children is now so popular. Society places a lot of pressure not just on adults but children and teenagers.
More and more children are becoming addicted to technology, sugar and other unhealthy habits from a very young age. Unhealthy patterns that could seriously impact on the quality and potential of their adult life. Meditation and mindfulness can support a child in many ways, in-fact in many ways meditation can be your child’s best friend.
Why meditation and mindfulness for children is extremely powerful
Meditation And Mindfulness Can Reduce Anxiety, Stress And Depression– Sadly more and more children are over-stimulated, over-anxious and depressed. Meditation and mindful activities encourage the body off the stress response into the calm response. A reason why mindfulness for children has became the latest skill in many schools.
Meditation and Mindfulness Calms The Monkey Mind– Children have an amazing ability to think quickly and grasp new tasks and activities, look at the way even young toddlers quickly grasp how to use your mobile phone or their own mini ipad. But the biggest challenge with children today, is focus and over stimulation one of the biggest causes of anxiety, stress and other mental health challenges. Mindful activites and meditation techniques loosen the attachment to the monkey mind. And in many ways relaxes and resets the child’s mind and body into a more natural state of being.
Mindful Activities And Meditation Creates Confidence– Lack of self-esteem, self-worth and confidence are all triggered and caused by our mental beliefs, by over-thinking. When a child learns to let go of these self-destructive tendencies they become more calm and confident. Your child recognises they are enough, they are not their thoughts. When we access a place of deep peace regularly we are more at peace with ourselves. I have witnessed many children with various disabilities and challenges completely change in attitude, confidence and ability through learning meditation. You would be surprised how powerful these skills can be when encouraged in a child’s daily life and way of being.
Mindfulness And Meditation For Emotional Wellbeing–We all have to go through different life challenges and emotional pain, but how we approach and go through is what makes us struggle or suffer. The powerful aspect of the right mindful and meditation tools is that they can teach your child to accept their pain, accept their emotions without judgement. When we allow our pain to arise and flow in acceptance, we reduce reaction, fear, destruction and denial. All of the things that create the biggest unhappiness in life. An emotionally healthy child is a happy child, a child who creates happier and healthier communication skills and positive relationships.
Daily Meditation And Mindfulness Encourages Healthier Sleep Routines–When a child is more calm and peaceful throughout the day, it is much easier for their mental, emotional and physical body to switch off.Many people are so focused on tiring their children out, they fail to recognise their is a huge difference between physical tiredness and mental tiredness. Mental tiredness is often mental stimulation and one of the biggest reasons children and teenagers don’t want to go to bed. With so much information and technology overload, many kid’s natural circardian rythm is out of sync. Programs that include meditation and mindfulness for children can encourage the mental and physical body back into its natural circardian state.
As someone who has meditate for 30 years and taught meditation to all ages including children for over 15 years I have been very fortunate to witness the many benefits and blessings.
Common signs of a highly sensitive child? Want to learn if you have a HSP Child? Lets explore some of the challenges and traits of highly sensitive children.
So what are some of the more common signs of a highly sensitive child or HSP?
Thankfully research todays recognises the most common traits of the highly sensitive child or highly sensitive person.
The Highly Sensitive Child Is Intuitive
HSP’s are usually very intuitive and are good judge of character. But because of deep compassion and empathy will often let their heart rule their head. It is important they learn to trust and be guided by their inner guidance.
Highly Sensitive Children Are Easily Overstimulated
The easily over stimulated child is often a HSP. Thus they are more easily stimulated; noise, visuals, smells, touch, movement and taste. For some the sensitivity can be so extreme, it can seriously impact their life. For example they may not be able to tolerate touch or find specific or loud sounds extremely painful, certain clothes too itchy or uncomfortable.
Highly Sensitive Kids Need Time Out
They will usually need more time out and alone. Highly sensitive kids and teenagers need more time to unplug from technology and other’s, Even if they appear sociable and talkative. They burn out and get over stimulated very easily. This can appear as high energy or fun to be around, but can often be over stimulation or over excitement.
Highly Sensitive Child Struggles With Violence In Media, Stories
Dislike Violence, Horror Movies, many highly sensitive children will find even the slightest violence quite disturbing. They can appear very cautious or fearful in doing certain activities which may appear to have a risk such as climbing.
Highly Sensitive Children Over Identify With Other People’s Stuff
They are very sensitive to not just stimuli but are often sensitive and highly empathic to other people’s emotions, needs and pains. In-fact they will often over identify or take on other’s emotional pain, especially as they find it difficult to set healthy boundaries. Which can seriously affect their physical, mental and emotional well-being. They can suffer from Irrational or irrelevant guilt due to their highly empathic nature and difficulty identifying their own emotions with others.
HSP Children Are Often People Pleasers
They tend to be people pleasers, often to their own detriment. Many HSP’s will go out of their way to be kind, please others as they don’t want to hurt others or cause conflict.
Powerful Yet Simple Life Tools You Can Teach A Highly Sensitive Child
Highly sensitive children need calm and respite from the over stimulation and information over load of modern life. As a healer, therapist and stress expert I have witnessed for many years, the huge benefits highly sensitive children achieve from learning meditation. Especially the right meditation skills and the right relaxation techniques. The right type of meditation helps one access inner calm and peace no matter what is happening around them.
Highly sensitive children who struggle and don’t learn how to harness their gifts and traits tend to really struggle in adulthood. The more we can learn how to love, accept and honour ourselves as children, the more happier and healthier we become. But if we are misunderstood, not given the support we need, not taught the skills we need we end up carrying those wounds into adulthood. That is why Inner Child Therapy has became so popular, why so many highly sensitive and highly empathic adults are attracted to Inner Child work.
Tools For The Highly Sensitive Child
Healthy Boundaries
The highly sensitive child needs to learn about personal boundaries from a young age. Be able to learn how important it is to set and maintain healthy emotional and energetic boundaries between other people, parents, siblings, friends and family.
Highly Sensitive Kids Need To Learn To Switch Off And Relax
The HSP Child should learn how to become more resilient to anxiety, stress and any form of over-stimulation. It is important for them to be able to take time out,switch off and relax.
Traditional meditation techniques can help the sensitive child or sensitive teenager find their own inner calm, own inner peace. Guided meditations for sensitive children are extremely common as they can help encourage not just deep relaxation, but help them nurture a safe space within them self.
Highly Sensitive Children Need To Ground More
HSP’s and empaths
often struggle with being grounded and centred. So it is important that they do daily activities that will help them become more earthed and grounded. They can easily do that by spending time in nature, around plants, flowers, trees and animals. The use of essential oils and flower essences can also be very helpful.
Improve A Highly Sensitive Child’s Self Worth And Self Esteem
Parents of a highly sensitive child should work on helping the highly sensitive child know they are enough, the need to learn and develop self-love and self-worth. Not base their worth on being the rescuer, helper or healer to other people’s needs.
Inner Child Work For The Highly Sensitive Adult
Inner Child work when approached safely and effective way can be extremely helpful. But in many ways most inner child healing is about healing trauma so there is certain approaches that must be used. It is not something that can be approached lightly.
As someone who has studied a variety of therapeutic approaches for 30 years. Not just different healing and therapy modalities but counselling, psychology, psychotherapy, archetypes and inner child work. I use a variety of safe and effective tools and approaches in my work to ensure my sessions and courses are safe and soothing.
Eileen has worked with many highly empathic and highly sensitive children and highly sensitive adults, HS kids with Autism, Aspergers and other sensory processing issues. She offers 1-2-1 inner child support for highly sensitive and empathic adults LEARN MORE
