As meditation becomes more and more popular among adults, teaching meditation to children is being promoted as a way to create centeredness and focus at a tender age. Yet many teachers and parents recognize the difficulty of a young child to silence the mind and sit still. As a result, a variety of "children's meditations" are being invented that often use imagination, focusing on the breath or trying to find stillness within. Unwittingly, these practices have been introduced to children without any track record of success and little if any scientific research on the effects they may have on a child's brain and development.

Some parents may wonder: should children be taught to discipline their minds or channel their imagination for specific purposes? At what age is it appropriate for my child to meditate? What kind of practice is safe and effective for children? Is there any tradition, precedence or scholarly authority behind the practice of children's meditation? Is meditation something I can teach my child, or do along with them?

The ancient, venerated Vedic Tradition of meditation prescribes different practices at specific stages of development in the child's life. Because very young children are still integrating their inner world with the outer world around them, they may find it difficult to practice a meditation that requires them to sit still or inhibits their natural inclination to know and discover. Attempts to settle a child through directing their attention to breathing or trying to create inner silence may instead cause strain and frustration for the exuberant, growing child.

One technique of meditation that has been successfully introduced to many middle and high schools throughout America and around the world is the Transcendental Meditation technique. Based on the broad spectrum of scientific research on the effectiveness of the TM technique for students, [1] educators have felt confident that the Transcendental Meditation program is a safe and reliable practice to help children cope with stress and improve learning ability [2] and behavior [3]. Over 140,000 school children around the world have learned the TM technique in the past three years.

Science has looked at what happens in a the brain during the practice of the TM technique. Findings indicate a healthy development of coherence and balance between all parts of the brain, with increased activation of the pre-frontal cortex [4], the part of the brain responsible for discrimination and higher reasoning. Notably, this type of holistic brain functioning is not found while a child is studying, playing, watching TV, or listening to music; nor does this balanced, holistic brain functioning come about through other types of meditation exercises, such as minding the breath, visualizing, or directing the imagination. All such activities activate specific areas of the brain. Only the meditative state associated with 'transcending' during TM practice has been found to activate the entire brain in this holistic way.

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