We are all energy, and thus, we must take care of our energetic selves as well as our material, physical selves. We are all spiritual beings, exploring, evolving, and possibly also contributing to this amazing planet we live on, Earth. Our children are also spiritual, energetic beings on a journey, and they need to know how to care for their energy.
The Four elements of energetic nourishment:
1. Nutrition
Nutrition refers to all the information we offer ourselves for consumption, including the food we eat. What type of information does our food transmit to our body—calories or energetic nourishment? Is it empty or whole? Is it processed, raw, or cooked with natural ingredients and love? Does it fit our needs? Or is it more aligned with the preferences of someone else?
Like everything, our food is energy, and the energy it carries informs us in all of our layers.
Young children recognize which foods nourish them and which do not. Social conventions undermine their inner knowing. Must there be super sugary cakes at every party? Is a peanut butter and jam sandwich the most nourishing lunch?
Food is information.
Raising energetically healthy children invites maintaining (not harming) their inner ability to choose vegetables and fruit over cookies and sweets. It invites observing their natural tendencies and guiding them toward a variety of options, not falling prey to corporate interests and norms that we know do not serve us or our children.
Nutrition affects the natural flow of our energy. There is a growing body of evidence linking the consumption of dairy, gluten, and sugar to inflammatory disease. My experience with my family and clients shows that these foods also slow down and block our energy flow.
Reducing the consumption of meat (even if it comes from “healthy” sources and is raised without antibiotics) also releases our energetic bodies and allows much wider expansion. Thus, we can have more flowing access to the divine, our essence, and the field around us.
Some kids and adults who are overly floaty can use grounding foods, such as meat or root vegetables, to help them be more present until the spiritual source of their floatiness is addressed and resolved.
Offering our children natural nutrition strengthens their energetic health and spiritual flow for the now and for their whole lives.
2. Environment
Similar to nutrition, everything in our environment is a source of information, interacting with our personal energy and affecting its flow, and thus our health.
Who do our kids meet in their daily lives? Relaxed adults? Stressed ones? Is their social environment kind and accepting, or is it very competitive? Are they exposed to a lot of screens, from too much time spent staring at them to viewing content not appropriate for their age? Do we know what they are watching? Do they receive guidance on monitoring their screen time and content? Is technology part of their personal mission and something to be nourished? Or is it a place to hide and disconnect from others?
What about books (electronic, audio, or ones you actually flip the pages in)? Are they empowering? Inspiring? The story and the words, as well as the illustrations? Are they violent?
Each family, and each individual within each family, needs different levels of exposure to different types of environments to flourish. Awareness and conscious choices, based on observation and attentiveness to one’s journey, make a huge difference.
In today’s environment, nature and pets are the ultimate source of an energetically healthy connection and space, especially for more sensitive, empathic, and spiritually aware children and teens. Nature cleanses the energetic noise around us. Exposing children from a young age to the benefits of nature is a worthy gift. Nature always brings us to a greater energetic balance and, thus, greater spiritual alignment.
3. Tools
Ancient wisdom, as well as its new forms of remembering, offers numerous tools for balancing our energy. These tools include breathing—even merely knowing when to slow down and take a deep breath. Mindfulness is another tool—guiding children to notice their feelings, physical state, environment, and more. Yoga or tai chi. Individual exercises like hiking, walking, or running. Energy healing modalities. Visualization, such as visualizing a light wash or bubbles as energetic nourishment. Connecting to the Earth, through stones, and many more.
Slowly, some of these tools, such as breath and mindfulness, are entering school systems. As spiritually aware parents, grandparents and teachers, we can offer our children the tools we use to balance and nourish ourselves energetically in an age-appropriate manner.
A repeated response I often get from my clients is that they don’t know where to start. How do they even explain what energy is?
Children and teens eagerly wait for us to share energetic language with them. They feel the energy, but they don’t always have the words to express what they see or feel. If sharing the ideas in words is still challenging, reflecting on the nourishment you feel in nature is a great start. No further explanation is needed, unless your teen refuses to join.
A simple way to feel energy together is to create an “imagined” ball of light between our palms, moving our palms closer and then slightly distancing them until we feel the tingling and warmth—our energy.
Remember that most children are aware of their energy in an unconscious way. It is us adults who make it an issue. For them, it is just another natural part of their lives.
4. Awareness and personal example.
We—parents, grandparents, and other significant adults— are our child(ren)’s guide to living on Earth. If they see us take care of our energy, they learn to care for theirs.
Energy is felt. Feeling our own flow will remind them of theirs. Indeed, it is often the other way around. Their flow reminds us of who we are and the joy of being.
When we merely start to pay attention to and nourish our energy, choosing and creating the environment that supports us, our children sense it in their energy field, and walking energetically whole and healthy becomes their natural choice—as it was and always is the possible natural balanced state of all humans.
