Sleep is an essential part of our life. When we sleep, we are rejuvenated. Why is that? It is because our mind is not operational and our pranas are resting. They are in harmony and have put us to bed.
It is now becoming a source of anxiety that children are not sleeping enough. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends this:
Infants (0—3 months) 14—17 hours.
Infants (4—12 months) 12—16 hours.
Toddlers (1—2 yrs) 11—14 hours.
Preschoolers (3—5 yrs) 10—13 hours.
School age (6—13 yrs) 9—12 hours.
Teens (14—17 yrs) 8—10 hours.
What can one do as parents to enable children to sleep?
One is aware that the child should have healthy habits and a fixed time for bedtime and a fixed time for awakening. We can start with something many of us performed every night. We said our prayers. Now that we have access to social media and as do our children, we need to ensure that all devices are switched off. I am not writing to tell you how to handle the daily habits.
Yoga Nidra for good sleep
My concern and interest as a Yoga Teacher and a Psychologist is to enable the children have a healthy sleep. My suggestion would be a simple Yoga Nidra, in which the child is aware of her/his breath, inhalation and exhalation. Then using So Ham, which is the sound of the breath, let them count backwards.
It depends on the child and the age. They can say it aloud or mentally. Next just briefly say the body parts, like right side, left side, back of the body, front of the body and move to the face. Say the names of the eyes, nose, cheeks, ears, lips, throat. What you are doing here is, you are ensuring that the child becomes drowsy and falls asleep.
How is this happening, because you are making the child focus on a neutral activity. You are not engaging the fight-flight response. It works for older children also. The counting can be increased. Remember that when you are sitting by the side of your child, you are giving the child your undivided attention.
When there is a source of anxiety as there can be sometimes. Ask them to visualize the breath as golden. Golden inhalation, golden exhalation. Again, counting backwards from 54. 54 golden breath in, 54 golden breath out.
Dear ones, by giving Yoga Nidra to the children, one is restoring the balance in the pranas and ensuring a sound sleep. Do not forget, adding a prayer or a mantra.
Aim Hrim Klim
Photo by Richard Stachmann on Unsplash