THE NURTURE MEADOW APPROACH
Every session and child are individual, but the modalities of Creativity & Play, Yoga & Mindfulness and Nature & Wonder are crucial to The Nurture Meadow, and make the approach unique, allowing us to flex and work in ways that resonate with children and young people.
ENCOURAGING UNIQUENESS TO SHINE
Scientifically backed
Building resilience
Mind, body & heart coherence
Emotional education
ENCOURAGING UNIQUENESS TO SHINE Scientifically backed Building resilience Mind, body & heart coherence Emotional education
Creativity and Play
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Yoga and Mindfulness
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Nature and Wonder
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Creativity and Play ● Yoga and Mindfulness ● Nature and Wonder ●
“If I can provide a certain type of relationship, the other person will discover within himself the capacity to use that relationship for growth and change and personal development will occur.” - Carl Jung
There is much that goes into creating an environment in which children feel comfortable to relax, share, process and learn. Taking inspiration from a variety of schools of thought, including the science of neuroplasticity, Montessori principles, Forest schooling, Jungian psychology and historic yoga and equine philosophy, The Nurture Meadow approach see’s every child as a valuable, creative individual and works alongside them without judgement, communicating in a language that they understand.
The Nurture Meadow…
Works through building trust and safety and then exploring Creativity & Play, Nature & Wonder and Yoga & Mindfulness.
Supports changing emotional state and overall mindset, beginning with the science behind emotions, building emotional awareness, and enabling better access to emotional regulation.
Encourages young people to be themselves, allowing them to be expressive independently, without judgement, while validating their thoughts and feelings in a way that allows them to be actively heard.
Equips children with the ability to identify and separate their thoughts, emotions and actions.
Enables young minds to manage/express/regulate emotions in safe, creative ways, enhancing their toolkit for life and building resilience.
Views each child as an individual. There’s no one size fits all approach. They each have their own unique story and blueprint for the world around them.
Inspires engagement in, and enjoyment of, the therapeutic benefits of holistic approaches while cultivating a sense of wonder and awe.
Supports children in learning about their brain, body, mind and nervous system, while encouraging the exploration of strategies to support them in their everyday lives.
Encourages a child’s self-acceptance, confidence and self-belief.
Works alongside children, families, schools and the wider community to build connections, communication, understanding and bonding.
Working alongside young people – talking their language.
Creativity and play
Children are born to create and play - that’s their language and it’s how they learn. But, today’s world teaches children to colour between the lines, to line up in rows and to live in ways that work more for the benefit of adults, than developing young minds.
Whilst conforming, (to an extent), and integrating into society is important, playfulness and self-expression needs to be encouraged too if we want to enable young people to better build positive health and mental wellbeing, with a deep-rooted foundation of self-awareness.
The benefits of Creativity and Play include:
The opportunity for self-expression
Non-verbal communication
Facilitates ‘being a child’
A chance for emotional understanding, release and exploration, directly or indirectly
Can improve motor skills
Creates feeling of achievement and pride
An opportunity for storytelling
An opportunity for ‘presence’
An encouraged respect for diversity and difference, increasing tolerance levels.
Children are born with an innate ability to be creative, with one study showing that between the ages of two and four approximately 95% were classed as ‘highly creative’.
When the study was repeated with the same children at age seven, just 5% fell into the ‘highly creative’ classification.
Yoga and Mindfulness
Rooted in ancient practices, Yoga and Mindfulness are the perfect combination for talking to, listening to, and supporting the mind and the body.
The act of being mindful provides an opportunity to observe sensations and thoughts, and then to let go of them. That way, those thoughts do not have to define behaviours, actions and emotions meaning that everything we experience is transient and impermanent.
When we then weave mindfulness with yoga, we have a chance to educate children about breathwork, and the state of being that these two practices allow us to cultivate.
Children can at first roll their eyes when we talk about yoga and mindfulness. But, The Nurture Meadow’s approach to these deeply spiritual practices allows children to playfully explore them in ways that suit their developing minds and bodies. We might try mindful eating, or a visual story as a guided meditation. If there are wobbles when attempting Tree pose that’s fine. With all of these beautiful golden threads of wellbeing we are simply building a foundation and drip-feeding knowledge to support brain development and plasticity.
The benefits of Yoga & Mindfulness can include:
Reduced stress and anxiety
Increased Serotonin production
Decreased muscle tension and the ability to release and let go
Increased ability to access Alpha and Theta brain waves
Improved concentration and focus
Improved resilience
Healing and restoration
An ability to access the body’s relaxation response and greater understanding of the nervous system
Acceptance and grounding
Bi-lateral integration Exploration of somatic sound and movement
Opportunity to rewire and upload new messages and belief systems.
Research from Wells and Evans, 2003, concluded that highly stressed children with access to greener surroundings, even on a visual level, were able to better manage stress.
Those living in environments without those vistas had a deeper struggle.
Nature and Wonder
The natural World is Mother Nature’s canvas. A space to explore, witness and marvel at, while using all our senses. It acts as a gentle reminder that no matter how challenging life is, regeneration and growth happen. That nothing is permanent and that if you look hard enough, little miracles regularly occur. No matter what our human emotional state, nature is a wonderful place to be.
In addition to time in nature and crafting with nature’s materials, The Nurture Meadow is also able to offer Equine Facilitated Learning. Horses have a truly majestic power and are a wonderful mirror. We are able to co-regulate with horses meaning that they can be a wonderful guide and support when emotional wellbeing is a challenge.
The benefits of Nature & Wonder can include:
Supporting the body’s natural circadian rhythm
Reducing anxiety, balancing mood and the ability to absorb oxygen
A reduction in blood pressure
Increased brain adaptability and creative thinking
Increased problem-solving skills
Co-ordination of motor skills
Ability to negotiate risk, increased resilience and confidence
A greater awareness of boundaries and sense of self
Increased sensory awareness, soothing and regulation
A feeling of ‘presence’ and grounding.