Meditation for Kids with Migraine
By Janis D. Gioia, MAEd.
Migraines are a neurological disease that affect adults and children. In children, migraines may present a little differently, with kids experiencing pain on both sides of their head, and their duration may be shorter than an adult migraine. It’s important to learn and collect tools like meditation for kids with migraine
How do kids experience migraine?
Like adults, children with migraine experience a variety of physical symptoms including throbbing pain, feeling nauseous and possibly vomiting, being dizzy or lightheaded, having visual problems like seeing floaters, spots, or flashing lights, and having a lot of sensitivities to movements, sounds, light, temperature, and smells.
This makes daily life very hard for kids. Schools are filled with lots of sensory triggers, from fluorescent lights, to sounds and smells. Even if the child isn’t in school, just being a kid is hard with migraines: it’s hard to play, go to birthday parties or even enjoy reading a book or watching a favorite show.
In addition to the very disabling physical symptoms, children with migraines may experience anxiety, depression and a sense of hopelessness or dread. They may have a lot of anxiety about the next migraine attack. They might feel sad about all the things they miss when they have a migraine: school, playing with friends, or participating in fun activities like sports, dance, music or art classes.
What is meditation and mindfulness?
Migraines are debilitating and disabling, but there is good news: meditation and mindfulness can help manage symptoms.
Unlike medications and other treatments that may focus only on the physical symptoms, meditation and mindfulness offer a calming, holistic approach to treating the migraine and supporting the whole child.
There are many misconceptions about meditation and mindfulness. In simple terms, meditation is focused attention for a period of time. Mindfulness is experiencing the present moment, just as it is. Both meditation and mindfulness emphasize letting things be as they are, without judgment or trying to change anything.
Meditation often involves intention setting. A child may set an intention to feel better after they meditate, but this must not be mistaken for an attempt to change anything. Instead of a practice of forcing, meditation is a practice of letting go, and therein lies its therapeutic benefits. Meditation often eases migraines symptoms because it relaxes the mind and body which can ease the anxiety and stress that go along with migraines.
An example of meditation may be time spent focused on the breath, relaxing muscles in a body scan, or speaking a mantra or affirmation. Mindfulness can be practiced anytime you keep your attention on the task in the present moment. This could be focusing on washing your hands, noticing the temperature and feeling of the water, the smell of the soap, or the fluffy softness of the towel. Mindfulness is about bringing your mind, or attention, to the present moment, instead of thinking about the past or the future. Mindfulness grounds us in the here and now.
How Does Meditation and Mindfulness Help Kids With Migraines?
Meditation is a centuries-old practice, but current research validates that it has ameliorative effect on chronic pain, including migraines, reducing stress, and eliciting a full –body relaxation response that helps manage symptoms of a variety of illnesses.
Meditation works because of this relaxation response Meditation lowers physiological and psychological arousal, meaning it lowers blood pressure, heart rate, and stress hormones like cortisol. It then increases feel good hormones like oxytocin and dopamine, which makes you feel more calm and relaxed. Meditation is known to produce changes in the brain’s amygdala, which helps with emotional regulation.
It is the state of relaxation, then, that helps reduce migraine symptoms and gives kids a sense of peace when they aren’t feeling well, and gives them tools they know they can use to help them feel better.
Meditation isn’t magic, and it isn’t as simple as meditating a few minutes and a migraine disappears, never to return. Rather meditation is a practice which, when done over time, can reduce the severity of migraine symptoms when they occur, and which may, in time, also reduce the frequency of migraine occurrence by lowering the stress and anxiety that contribute to the attacks.
Can kids with migraines meditate?
Of course they can! Any child can meditate.
A child can meditate when they are having a migraine, or as part of a daily practice to help them feel calm and healthy. It is best to teach children about meditation and mindfulness at a time when they are feeling well. Then, when they are feeling unwell, or they are in a migraine flare, they can use practices they have learned, and those which they know will help them feel better.
Every child learns in different ways and at their own pace.
However a child learns and interacts with the world is their way, and just right for them. The same is true when teaching children how to meditate. Teach meditation the way you would anything else: make it fun and engaging, and for children with migraines, share the reason why they are learning how to meditate. Let them know that meditation is a practice, or a tool for their “Feel Good Toolbox” that they can use when they have a migraine. Meditation will help them feel calm and peaceful in their minds and bodies. Kids often need to know the why, or the reason they are doing something. When it makes sense to them, and seems practical, it becomes something they want to learn.
What Types of Meditation are Suitable for Kids with Migraines?
There are many types of meditation, but seven of the most common are:
- Focused
- Guided
- Body Scan
- Loving-Kindness
- Mantra
- Visualization
- Moving
Any kind of meditation can be right for any child. It’s simply a matter of preference, and what the child might need at the time.
Examples
For example, when children are actively having a migraine, they often enjoy listening to a guided story meditation. Guided story meditations invite the child into a story where they do practices like body scans, progressive muscle relaxation and calming visualizations, all within a story that is crafted with the sole purpose of helping them to relax and feel better.
Visualization practices can help the child when they are having a migraine, and they can also help a child visualize a life with less migraines, feeling well, and engaging in all their favorite activities.
The same is true for mantra or affirmation meditation. A child can say a mantra or affirmations when they are not feeling well, or in a migraine spell, but also use the affirmations or mantra regularly when they are feeling well, to promote hope and positivity and a feeling of overall well-being.
Another wonderful practice for kids with migraines is that of a loving-kindness meditation. Also called metta meditation, loving-kindness meditation is about giving love and compassion to yourself, others and all beings on the planet. Those who practice loving-kindness meditation can experience benefits like building empathy, increasing self-compassion, reducing anxiety and increasing feelings of positivity and hope, all traits that are especially helpful for kids with migraines.
Whichever meditation practices your child enjoys are effective, calming tools for them to use when they have a migraine, or when they want to manage big emotions, focus, or fall asleep easier. There are many ways to teach meditation to children. The eight tips below are a good starting point, and there are dozens of tips that can help you.
Tips for teaching meditation to children with migraines:
- Find a quiet, distraction-free place to practice. Consider helping the child create their own meditation space.
- Pick a meditation time when the child is calm and relaxed, especially when beginning to teach them how to meditate.
- Start with short sessions and increase the time slowly.
- Teach meditation to the child’s interests and strengths.
- If the child has a specific area of interest, utilize that in meditation.
- Meditate with the child, at least until they are proficient meditators.
- Allow the use of comfort items like teddy bears, fidget toys, etc.
- Use a reward system if that motivates the child.
Where to go for more information
Visit Wee Meditate to learn more about meditation that is just for kids. While there you can join Dragon’s Meditation Club, a free newsletter written for little ones that features a new meditation or soothing bedtime story in every issue. You can also sign up for a Wee Meditate membership, so your child has access to our library of story meditations, mini meditations, bedtime stories, music, and magical movie theater.
Here is another article Janis did for us. How to help your child meditate during migraine – Migraine Association of Ireland
Janis Gioia, MAEd, is a meditation teacher and former special education teacher and the creator of Wee Meditate. Wee Meditate is a meditation platform that teaches kids meditation in a storybook world with a magical dragon and his forest animal friends.
