35. Calm and Connected Kids with Meditation with Lorraine Murray

In this week's insightful episode, I interview Lorraine Murray, the founder of the Connected Kids program, who has been practicing meditation for over 30 years and has been teaching it since 2003.

She started teaching meditation to kids and teens to give young people skills to reduce stress, anxiety, and to build their self-esteem. She is the author of two bestselling books, Calm Kids and Connected Kids: Help Kids with Special Needs Shine with Mindful, Heartfelt Activities.

She shares her own journey of starting a meditation practice as an adult to cope with difficult feelings that arose from challenging childhood and how it helped her move through the grief of losing her mother.

She is passionate about sharing the practice of meditation with both mothers and their children since whatever the mother is feeling is easily felt by her child--especially the ones on the spectrum--and the grounded and calm energy she cultivates through meditation can have positive effects on her child.

She says that practicing meditation doesn’t mean that you won’t ever be stressed but the ability for recovery and self-regulation will be stronger with meditation. It can also be a calming and connecting activity for both you and your child to do together. Meditation can offer both you and your child a toolkit to reduce stress and anxiety, she tells.

She talks about the importance of self-compassion and how to turn inward to bring acceptance to our feelings instead of avoiding them and reminds us to not rush and cultivate for ourselves a sense of wonder and curiosity kids have.

Enjoy this episode!