Mindful Moments: How to Teach Mindfulness to Busy Kids

When it comes to kids and their lives, it can often seem like they are going at a 100 kilometres an hour. From school to extra-curricular activities, to special interests, and hobbies, it can be at times overwhelming for children and parents alike, even if these activities are the things that young people enjoy. Many kids want to do it all, and when it comes to neurodivergent young people, life can feel a whole lot busier – whether this is due to their capacity, or their desire to engage in as many activities as possible. As a preventative remedy, mindfulness and mindfulness-based skills can help to reduce the stress and overload that comes from busyness and busy lives, as well as enhance a child’s experiences with their activities.

Mindfulness is the practice of being aware of yourself in the present moment, with non-judgemental acceptance of what is being experienced – including thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations, and the environment and situation surrounding you. Mindfulness centres one on the present, focusing on being curious and kind to yourself, to help process you and the world around you a little bit better. Mindfulness can be used to reduce stress, helping prevent undesirable events like panic attacks and break downs. It can also be used to understand your thinking patterns more and discover the base motivations that inform the way you make decisions. It can also help you to enjoy and engage in the activities you are partaking in, as opposed to dwelling on the past and future. This is especially beneficial in the classroom, where numerous distractions, worries, and activities are often occurring at once. Additionally, for a neurodivergent young person, a classroom environment may not always be conducive to a safe or comfortable working environment. Mindfulness in this situation helps to increase concentration, slow down racing thoughts, and to organise complex and overwhelming sensory input in one’s mind.

When it comes to teaching mindfulness to a young person, a major focus should be on guiding and modelling mindfulness techniques in the home and in your own life. For younger children or children more dependent on parental or carer attachment, co-regulation and practicing mindfulness techniques together can support this awareness of body, mind, and place. For older children, or those more independent, providing information on and implementing these techniques for yourself in the company of your young person can give them the tools to inhabit an independent state of mindfulness. Teaching mindfulness is guiding someone to understand their own self and assisting them to discover what works best for them, both in capacity to complete regularly and/or in times of need, and in effectiveness.

Some mindfulness techniques benefit from regular implementation and are more preventative in nature. Mindfulness techniques such as these are beneficial for the start of days, before a big event or activity, or as part of a bedtime routine. For example, some evidence-based mindfulness techniques include:

Progressive muscle relaxation

1.     Find a quiet, safe place, where you can sit or lie down comfortably, closing your eyes if preferred.

2.     Take note of your breathing, inhaling deeply and controlled, holding for a few moments,  and exhaling slowly.

3.     Imagine tension leaving your body with each breath, focusing on a singular muscle group at a time.

       i.          Begin with your toes, tensing and curling your toes while inhaling and slowly relaxing and releasing the tension on the exhale.

       ii.          Repeat for other muscle groups including lower legs, upper legs, buttocks, stomach, chest, back, neck, and face.

4.     Tense your entire body with a deep inhale and slowly relax the entire body at once with the exhale.

5.     Remain in this state for a moment and bring yourself back to awareness by slowly moving those same muscle groups again one by one.

Mindful walking

1.     Find some time and a place to go for a walk.

2.     Start by remaining still, slowing down your breathing to a comfortable pace.

3.     Begin to walk, slower than your regular pace.

4.     Notice sensations such as the feeling of your feet in your shoes as it touches the ground. Engage your interoceptive senses and be aware of the movement of your legs, arms, and shifting of weight in each foot.

5.     Take one sense at a time and take note of that which is occurring around you

       i.     Sight: Observe what is around you, through a macro and micro lens. Observe colours and visible textures.

        ii.     Sound: Notice sounds, natural and man-made occurring around you. Notice the sounds that your body is making.

        iii.     Smell: examine if there is any smell in the air.

6.     Be mindful in where you are walking and when your focus drifts and wanders. Acknowledge this attentional drift without judgement and try to bring your focus back to your senses and your surroundings.

Other techniques are beneficial in times of stress or distress. These can be encouraged to be used in classrooms, in dance studios, in gyms, and in after-school clubs. Kids may need help with identifying when they need to implement mindfulness strategies, especially when separated from their parent. Communicating with extra-curricular leaders and teachers to establish a safe person that can assist your young person in identifying these moments, can especially help neurodivergent young people and those that easily get overwhelmed. An evidence based, psychologist recommended example is:

Box Breathing

1.     Close your eyes if comfortable or preferable to reduce from visual stimuli.

2.     Imagine a box that is traced by the actions of your breathing and place your arms over your stomach.

3.     Breathe in for four seconds, feeling your belly fill with air and your arms rising.

4.     Hold for four seconds.

5.     Exhale for four seconds.

6.     Hold for four seconds.

7.     Repeat.

Mindfulness techniques take time to establish and understand, and it is totally normal if a child doesn’t engage in every technique and/or takes time to find their preferred activity. For example, for some neurodivergent young people, encouraging strict breathing and inward thinking can induce panic and overstimulation. As such, understanding your young person’s own coping style and sensory reactivity will help tailor these techniques to each and every individual. Modelling and finding your own techniques are incredibly beneficial, as it helps you deal with life’s stressors and events, and your young person will see that mindfulness can work for people. Engaging in more mindfulness helps us be aware of our senses that we want to engage in and can help us understand and find our techniques. Mindfulness techniques are not as intuitive as they may seem, and in modern day society, taking a moment to pause and identify your inner mechanisms can be incredibly difficult. They take time, and as such, when working with young people and neurodivergent young people alike, repetition and consistent instruction is your best friend. Just like most skills in life, when it comes to mindfulness, practice makes perfect!