Mindfulness is the art of paying attention to life on purpose. A great exercise to practice this is through our breathing. Since we take our breath with us everywhere, this is a useful technique for children to learn so that they can center themselves even in stressful situations.

This is how you practice mindful breathing with your child (Adapted from Act On Purpose):

• Sit in a quiet place in a comfortable position.
• Ask your child to close his or her eyes. If your child does not want to close their eyes, you can tell them to just look down at the floor without focusing on anything.
• Now bring your attention to your breath. Notice how it feels leaving your body and entering it. Pay attention to each breath as it goes in and out.
• Now pay attention to your breath at your belly. Notice how your belly goes in and out with each breath. Let your child touch their belly to feel that movement.
• Let your child know that their mind may wander and that is okay. When your mind wanders, tell yourself ‘good job for noticing’ and bring your attention gently back to your breath again.
• Ask your child to take three deep breaths and ask them to notice with each breath how their body feels when they exhale and inhale.
• Then ask them to slowly open their eyes and stretch their arms and legs.

Good questions to ask children at the end of the exercise are “what did you notice when doing this exercise?”, “how is this type of breathing different than how we normally breathe?” and “how do you feel after practicing mindful breathing?”.

You can let your child know that in situations where they feel that they are getting upset, they can take a step back and practice three mindful breaths. It will help them to get centered and calm before they react to what is upsetting them.

We want to teach children that it is okay to wait to respond. It is okay to think before reacting.

This is a great practice for all of us!

(Image via diego cervo/bigstock.com)