This morning my son Noah and I woke up to do our daily morning routine. Part of that routine typically includes some yoga (asana) and meditation. Noah chooses either to play on his own or participate in some way with me. Lately he has been playing with his trains and joining me only for the seated meditation component of my practice. He usually walks over and sits on my lap and we sit in silence together for about 5 or 10 minutes (if I’m lucky). Today I practiced to a guided asana and meditation CD (Noah is also familiar with this). During relaxation Noah was calling for his Dad’s attention who was on his way out for work, so he came to me and I invited him to join, but instead he chose to lay on the floor kicking, whining, and screaming. He was interested in joining me, but only if I got up from what I was doing to pick him up and bring him to me (from only three feet away). I invited him again to join me and he screamed his way over, laid down on me, and relaxed for about 15 seconds until getting upset again. I continued with my practice which was coming to the guided meditation. When I set up to meditate, Noah was screaming, “I want to meditate, I want to meditate.” I invited him to sit on my lap, but he chose to lay on the floor whining throughout the whole meditation. This was definitely one of my better days where I continued on and did not allow him to disrupt my peace…this is not always the case. I laughed inside at the irony of him screaming to meditate, getting upset when he is really interested in calming down.
The meditation ended and I got up to get ready to take a shower. Noah followed me, again whining, “I want to meditate, I want to meditate.” He continued, “the CD is off, I want to meditate.” I replied, “would you like me to turn it back on?” Noah said, “nooooo.” I replied, “okay, well what would you like if you’re not interested in meditating?” And Noah said (very seriously and calmly), “chocolate.” “Chocolate,” I said. “Yeah, chocolate,” replied Noah. I’m not sure how this whole temper tantrum got to chocolate, but it did. I smiled and laughed a little to myself. He did not get any chocolate this morning, but he did calm down.
I reminded Noah that he has a choice in how he acts…kicking, whining, and screaming or being calm, kind, and talking. Countless times I’ve told Noah, “I don’t understand whining.” And, it’s true…either I don’t understand the words coming out of his mouth or it’s such a stress to my ears, that my brain just does not hear it. We understand each other better when we talk and when we are nice and kind. Not only a valuable lesson for a mother and a three year old, but for all of us.
Anna Ferguson is the co-creator of World Peace Yoga, a style of yoga that inspires peace in action, developing intuition, deepening empathy, and expanding compassion. You may connect with Anna via Facebook.
