Meditation, Yoga, & the Distracted Child: Sa Ta Na Ma Meditation

A while back, the J-Rex's Occupational Therapist began working with her on a finger isolation technique that involved touching your thumb to each fingertip in turn.  When the J-Rex told me about the exercise, I was immediately reminded of a meditation listed in her yoga book:

Sa Ta Na Ma Meditation*

1. While pressing thumb and first fingertip together, say "saaah."
2. Move your thumb to press against your middle fingertip, saying "taaah."
3. Now pressing your thumb and ring fingertip together, say "naaah."
4. Finally, press your thumb to your pinkie fingertip and say, "maaah."
5. Repeat, alternating saying the sounds out loud and silently.

What I love about this particular meditation for the J-Rex is that it touches on so many things all at once: fine motor (finger isolation), speech (enunciation), attention/focus, mindfulness, and relaxation/calming.  She is young and can only maintain her focus on the meditation for about five minutes on a good day but she improves in all the areas I listed above with each practice and that, my friends, is a wonderful thing for this mom to see.

For more on the benefits of Meditation and Yoga, see my introductory post to this series, Meditation, Yoga, & the Distracted Child: Slowing the Juggernaut.

*Sa Ta Na Ma Meditation taken from Fly Like a Butterfly: Yoga for Children, by Shakta Kaur Khalsa