I offer new, innovative, attunement exercises that gently and effectively help children and teens focus and concentrate. These sitting, standing and moving exercises help with self-image, self-esteem and self-confidence. They also further creativity and self-expression in daily life and the arts and help with coordination in sports. Children who are particularly sensitive to stress or are anxious or depressed due to learning difficulties or social challenges can find relief in knowing that they have the capacity to feel calm and vitally alive. These exercises can be combined with play, art, movement and theater.

Nine-year-old Tony would blow up for no reason at all. He had recently been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and showed indications of sensory processing issues. His mother, Evelyn, wanted to give Tony tools so he wouldn’t feel easily overwhelmed, and so she brought him to me. 

I teach children the Realization Process, a unique and innovative approach that helps direct a child inside himself so he can experience feeling both substantial and stable.  In developing this work, I have gratefully based it on the study-proven Realization Process for adults originated by Judith Blackstone.

I asked Tony to stand and feel that he was inside his feet. At first he remarked with some embarrassment that his feet felt like they were all over the place, across the room and on the ceiling. It was new for him to find his feet beneath him. But as he practiced inhabiting his feet while standing and walking, he slowed down from his often hyperactive state. As he continues to practice Realization Process embodiment exercises, his mother notices that he is calmer and is more resilient when dealing with the unexpected. 

For sensitive children like Tony, life can be challenging, from learning to write by hand to getting along with friends at school.  These challenges can lead children to feel agitated and overwrought. Realization Process's sitting, standing, and moving exercises help children learn to access the internal space of their bodies, where they can find ease and vitality. This work is especially helpful in times of stress or transition and has been successful in helping children alleviate anxiety, depression, the symptoms of ADHD and sensory processing issues.  In fact a recent pilot study at the New York University School of Medicine (the Institute for Stress and Resilience) showed that the Realization Process exercises reduced symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and increased positive emotion. The work also helps with anger management.  

Children take easily and naturally to the embodiment exercises I teach. If you put your hands on either side of a child's ankle and ask her to find herself between your hands, she will be able to do that. The more she becomes familiar with finding herself inside her whole body, the more she will feel calm, vital, capable and what is intrinsically her.  As one child describes her experience, “I was very small and got bigger and bigger until I was my full size.” 

Realization Process for Children teaches children to experience the quality as well as depth of their essential nature. John, a twelve-year-old, asked his mom for medication one day. She saw this as a red flag and brought him to me. He suffered from ADHD and had been bullied for years. I asked him to find himself inside his mid-section, between his rib cage and pelvis. Then I asked him to feel his power or strength inside his mid-section. He said, "Wow!" Taking time to inhabit the mid-section and attune to the quality of personal strength can help children feel that they have the "right to be." John discovered that he did have strength and that it was okay for him to feel strong. He learned that he had as much right to be as anyone else. Months after his third and last session with me, his mother reported, "The sessions were a great success.  John went from being very anxious about participating in class to being able to present a report with confidence."   

With Realization Process, children learn to re-experience themselves in a way that feels good to them and in a way that releases their potential. Claire, age 11, noticed that when she walked with attention to the center of the sole of her heels, her shoulders dropped dramatically.  This exercise allowed her to settle down rather than pull up out of a situation with anxiety as she was accustomed to doing. Repeating this exercise helped her to understand the safety and ease that comes with being that far down in your body and yourself. In the two years I worked with Claire, she went from moving with hesitation to dancing with rigor and expressiveness. When I asked if incorporating the embodiment work with her free-style movement made a difference, she said, “It makes my dancing better. It wouldn’t be as good otherwise.”  

Yesterday, seven-year-old Mary and I were knotting a piece of grass outside. I asked her to feel that she was inside her hands as she tied the knots. I asked her how that felt. She smiled and said, "Good!" surprising herself. I explained to her that I liked being inside my body because it made me feel happy. She replied, "It does! It makes me feel happy!"  Realization Process exercises help children feel their joy of living. It gives them practices to release the deep tensions and imbalances they have acquired in their short life span. Because children are still so open, it is easier for them than it is for adults to re-organize themselves in a way that allows them to live life more fully. With the use of Realization Process embodiment, children can experience their essential nature and learn to rely on it.

© Kathleen Donovan, 2010