On this page
The inner child is a metaphor and it is worth saying so plainly, because taken literally it puts a lot of people off a practice that would suit them. There is no child. There is a set of responses formed early that still run.
What this practice is
What the phrase points at is real enough. Patterns of expecting, flinching and needing get laid down before you had any say in them, and they carry on operating in situations that no longer resemble the ones that formed them. The metaphor gives that something to address.
The practice is turning toward one of those responses with something other than impatience. Most people meet their own early patterns with irritation at still having them, and the irritation is a continuation of whatever taught them the pattern in the first place.
The imagery of speaking to a younger self is a device rather than a claim. It works because addressing someone else recruits a kindness most people cannot direct at themselves straight on. If the imagery does not suit you, the same practice runs on the feeling alone.
The tradition of this is modern and therapeutic rather than classical, which is worth being clear about. What people commonly report is finding a softer register available toward themselves. Whether this does anything a clinician would recognise is a question for evidence, and no claim is made here.
When to use it
Practise when things are otherwise steady, not in the middle of a bad period. This work goes better with reserves and it asks for some.
It suits recurring patterns you can already see: the same disproportionate reaction, the same fear in the same shape, the same harshness toward yourself. If you cannot see a pattern yet, the emotional balance sessions are the more useful starting point.
Do not use it to excavate. Going looking for what happened is therapy, and it is a poor idea alone with a recording.
The sessions
Inner Child Healing, one practice at three lengths, 9 to 24 minutes. Every session in this collection needs Premium. Four other meditation collections have a free session in them, and the free tier covers twelve guided sessions across the app.
| Length | Tier |
|---|---|
| 9 min | Premium |
| 18 min | Premium |
| 24 min | Premium |
How long to practise for
Begin with the shortest session and stay there for a while. This is one of the few practices where going long early can genuinely be a bad idea.
Longer sessions are worth it only once you know how you respond to the shorter ones and the answer is that you are fine afterwards.
The general version of this, and what a longer session actually adds, is in How Long to Meditate For: Choosing a Session Length.
How to use it
Practise somewhere private with time afterwards. Sessions occasionally land harder than expected and having to be somewhere is the worst version of that.
Keep it to something small. A specific ordinary memory works better than the largest thing you can think of, and is far safer to meet alone.
Drop the imagery if it feels false. Addressing a younger self is one route and the feeling itself is another, and neither is more correct.
Stop early whenever you want. Nothing here needs finishing and the ability to leave is part of what makes it reasonable to begin.
What usually goes wrong
Taking the metaphor literally and dismissing it. The device puts a lot of people off. What it points at is a set of early-formed responses, which is unobjectionable and is what the practice actually works with.
Going looking for trauma. A guided recording is not the setting for excavation. Work with something you already know about, or work with a therapist.
Meeting it with impatience. Being annoyed at yourself for still having the pattern is the pattern continuing. The shift in register is most of the practice.
Starting with the biggest thing. The large ones are exactly the ones not to meet alone. Small and ordinary is where this works.
Small, ordinary, and not alone if it is large
PanchPrana keeps these short at the front of the collection because this is the practice most likely to bring something up. The self-love sessions cover much of the same ground more gently.
Who should take care
This is the meditation collection most likely to surface difficult material, and the cautions here are the strictest in this library.
If you live with PTSD, complex trauma, a dissociative condition or a history of abuse, do not do this alone. AVOID it as a solo practice and raise it with a therapist first. Turning attention toward early experience without support can bring up more than a recording can hold, and being alone with that is the specific risk.
If you are in crisis, in an unstable period, or currently unwell with depression, skip this collection for now and use something undemanding. It asks for reserves and gives nothing back quickly.
Stop the session at once if you feel distressed in a way that is escalating, unreal, or detached from the room, and come back to the present: eyes open, feet on the floor, something to look at. If a session leaves you distressed for more than a short while afterwards, stop using it and speak to a doctor or a therapist. Nothing here is therapy or a substitute for it.
See our full Health & Safety Disclaimer.
Common questions
Is the inner child a real thing?
It is a metaphor. What it points at is real: responses formed early that still run in situations that no longer warrant them.
The imagery feels silly to me. Can I still do this?
Yes. Address the feeling rather than a younger self and the practice is the same. The imagery is a device for reaching kindness, not a requirement.
Is this therapy?
No, and it is not a substitute for it. If there is something significant behind the patterns, that belongs with a therapist and this belongs alongside.
Should I be remembering things?
Not deliberately. Going looking is the part to leave alone when practising by yourself.
What if a session upsets me?
Stop, come back to the room, and do something ordinary. If it happens more than once, stop using the collection and raise it with someone qualified.
