Thoughts As Clouds

19:45

19:45

Thoughts As Clouds

by Joe Holtaway

Rated

4.7

Type

guided

Activity

Meditation

Suitable for

Children

Plays

587

This is a meditation /relaxation for children with an invitation to tell the big people in their lives (who could maybe use it too!) what they have learned; how to imagine thoughts like clouds and observe them. There's a song at the end called 'Clouds' based on a poem by the Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh.

Meditation Relaxation Children Mindfulness Body Scan Breathing Music Gratitude Zen Thoughts Clouds Deep Breathing Mental Imagery Thought Observation Music Integration Visualizations

Meet your Teacher

London, UK

Meet your Teacher

London, UK

Transcript

Hi there, My name is Joe Halterway and welcome to this relaxation calm time near a thought to the clouds. So my guess is that no matter who you are or where you are, If you're a small person or a big person, And especially if you're a small person maybe you know a big person in your life, You could do with some calm time and if that's true then you could give them this recording or you could listen to what I've done and then you could give that to your, You could try and do it yourself for your big person. Send me your message if you want any help with that. So this is about taking some time out. I know I need it to and it's a meditation and that means finding a quiet place to relax your body and your mind and so we're going to do that for about 15 minutes today. I'm going to show you how your thoughts are a bit like clouds. So we're a bit of a good place that you could be quiet for 15 minutes, I'll play the guitar for another 30 seconds while you settle down into that place. You can lie down when you get there or sit down. Okay, So I'm going to ask you to close your eyes first and feel the whole of your body. Feel the shape and the weight of it and feel your breath coming into your nose or your mouth. We're going to take some deep breaths together, Okay, So breathing in, Deep into your lungs, You might feel your belly rising up and then breathe out. Two more breathing in, Lovely, And then breathing out. And one more time, Breathing in and breathing out. And now for a few minutes, About five minutes, We're going to go right through the shape of the body and as we do that, I'm going to ask you just to imagine that part of the body and inside yourself, You can just say the word relax. So feet, Relax, Legs, Relax. Okay, So soles of our feet, Without touching them or even seeing them, We can feel them but we know they're there so put your attention on the sole of your foot and say feet, Relax, Toes, Relax. And top of the foot and the ankle, Relax. Your breathing is just, You're just relaxed and you're feeling chill, Just calm breathing as we move into the legs, Lower legs, That's the bit before your knee, Lower legs, Relax. Knees, Relax, Top of the legs, Relax. Thank you for being there when I want to run and play and swim, Even just sit quietly, Thanks for being there. You can relax in 10 minutes. And then feel your bum, Feel your waist, Relax. And then up to your tummy, Your stomach. Feel where the belly button is and your chest and your whole back. Top of the body, Relax. And then you know where your shoulders are. So can you imagine one of your shoulders, Either side. You can say relax shoulder and then move over to the other shoulder, Relax shoulder. And then our arms and hands. So there's the top of the arm, The elbow, The lower part of the arm. And what's on the end of your arms? Your wonderful hands and fingers and thumb. Relax arms and hands, Fingers and thumb. And there when you want to draw and paint, Wave at someone, Do some dancing, Whatever you like to do with your hands. And then like we're hugging ourselves, We're going to feel that warmth of our arms. As we move back up the arms again, Up to the neck, Your chin, Your teeth and tongue, Relax them now, And the back of the head. And your lovely ears. Can you feel those? And your nose. And your eyes, Can you feel the light on your eyelids? And the back of your head, The top of your head. And then feel your whole body, The whole shape of your body. Resting on the ground. Now I'm going to ask you to imagine something. Can you imagine that where you're sitting or laying underneath is actually a green grassy field? So you imagine all the green grass, Maybe there's some daisy flowers in there. Some clover, That's the rounded green plant that's often in grass. And above you is a blue sky. You feeling relaxed? That's like what you want to do right now is just to relax. And when we relax we have thoughts, Our brain is, It's what it does, It makes thoughts. If someone says, Think about an apple, You probably get an image of a colour, Maybe you're thinking about it now, Maybe you're thinking about cutting it or taking a bite. Sometimes we get other kinds of thoughts, We might get worried thoughts if something's been a bit difficult for us. We might keep thinking about it, And that can be called a worry. So I want you to imagine that you're either lying back and looking at the sky or you put your head, Turn your head up and look up at the sky. Imagine a cloud coming across the sky. Let's say it's in the shape of an apple we were just talking about. Apple comes and it's floating over your head. You can smile and then as clouds do it starts to change into smaller clouds and it passes by and then you see blue sky again. Okay, Here comes another cloud. This is smaller and it's darker and this is a worry, Something that you're worried about right now. Maybe there's something that someone said to you or you said to someone else and it feels not so nice. I want you to watch that cloud as well and just accept that it's there and it comes overhead. Maybe just by seeing that it's there you might think, Well, Maybe I need to say sorry or maybe I need to tell that person how it felt when they said that thing, For example. You might want to write it in a book or you might want to talk to someone else about it. It passes by over our heads and it moves off. It might come again but things do change and things will pass. Here comes a strawberry. Juicy red strawberry. You might love strawberries, You might not. If you do you're probably imagining what it tastes like and if you don't you're probably waiting for it to go by. In case you're feeling your whole body and relaxing, When we're relaxed we can look at these clouds. I feel for me they don't bother me so much. I can look at them and decide what to do with them but I don't worry about them disappearing and I also don't worry about them getting bigger or if there's any thunder or lightning or rain from the dark clouds. I just know that they'll pass by and this is a song for you so maybe think about what thoughts are in your mind and watch them as they come by. This is a song called Clouds Come, Clouds Go. Clouds come, Clouds go, My mind is a clear blue sky. May my mind be a clear blue sky. May my mind be a clear blue sky. Worry's coming, Worries go, My mind is a clear blue sky. Bad dreams come and bad dreams go, My mind is a clear blue sky. Bad dreams come and bad dreams go, My mind is a clear blue sky. Bad dreams come and bad dreams go, My mind is a clear blue sky. It's true isn't it? Bad dreams go. Okay now let's think about something nice. Okay I want you to imagine your favourite food. Could be cake. Could be. . . Figs. Chocolate. My favourite food comes, My favourite food goes, My mind is a clear blue sky. My favourite food comes and my favourite food goes, My mind is a clear blue sky. May my mind be a clear blue sky. Don't worry there'll be more of that food. May my mind be a clear blue sky. My favourite food comes and my favourite food goes, My mind is a clear blue sky. I'd love to hear what your favourite food was. For me it was. . . In that moment I imagine baked beans. I do like baked beans. Storms come and storms go, My mind is a clear blue sky. Storms come and storms go, My mind is a clear blue sky. May my mind be a clear blue sky. May my mind be a clear blue sky. Storms come and storms go, My mind is a clear blue sky. Okay one more, Clouds again. Clouds come and clouds go, My mind is a clear blue sky. Clouds come and clouds go, My mind is a clear blue sky. May my mind be a clear blue sky. May my mind be a clear blue sky. Okay, They're taking some nice deep breaths again. Saying goodbye to our imaginary field and our imaginary sky. And look out the window when you're done with this and you'll see. You'll see that sky. And for the weather is today where you are. In the sky outside the window and also in the sky that's inside of you. I wish you a good day and you take care.