I’ve noticed mindfulness has been cropping up a lot in the media recently. Some people have even referred to it as the latest fad. However mindfulness is over 2,500 years old.
It is based on Buddhist teachings and was secularised in the1970s by Jon Kabat Zinn at the University of Massachusetts’ medical centre. He developed a structured mindfulness based programme, which was found to have many psychological and physical benefits for patients with chronic health conditions. This 8 week programme became known as Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction or MBSR. Research has shown that mindfulness training has many benefits including improving health and wellbeing and reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression. It is being increasingly used in hospitals, schools, business and sport.
Mindfulness involves deliberately directing our attention to our moment by moment experience as it unfolds with kindness, curiosity and acceptance. Rather than focusing on what has happened or what might happen, mindfulness trains us to respond more skillfully to whatever shows up in our present experience, be that good or bad.
We are all inherently mindful. Simply observe how a young child is naturally mindful, bringing a sense of wonder and curiosity to their immediate experience and to the world. As adults we may experience mindfulness when absorbed in a hobby or feeling at one with nature. Unfortunately this can be a fleeting state, particularly when under a lot of stress. We tend to operate most of the time in a mindless state, often referred to as “automatic pilot”. In this state we are unaware of the here and now, are living in our heads either ruminating about the past or planning the future. There can be a disconnection between the body and mind when in this mindless state. This can lead to missing warning cues from the body that we are stressed (e.g. muscle tension, headaches). Cultivating mindfulness can help us become more aware of our inner experience and learn to respond rather than react to stressful situations.
Introducing Mindfulness with Children
The best way to introduce mindfulness to children is to be mindful with them. This makes sense given we know children learn more from those close to them and through watching and imitating rather than being told what to do. By practicing mindfulness yourself and being mindful when interacting with children they will learn mindful attitudes such as patience, non-judging, acceptance and kindness from you.
It is also possible to teach children specific ways to be more mindful. The following are some tips for introducing mindfulness with children.
Ten Tips for Introducing Mindfulness with Children
- Mindfulness with children begins with you. You wouldn’t attempt to teach a child to swim if you had never been in the water yourself.
- You know your child best – use your knowledge and intuition to guide you as to their readiness to learn mindfulness practices.
- Explaining mindfulness using a snow globe – when the mind is busy or stressed it’s like a shaken up snow globe and we can’t see clearly. But if we wait calmly (focus on our breath), the snow (mind) will settle of its own accord and we can see more clearly.
- Keep mindfulness practices short – a rule of thumb is one minute per year of their age.
- Never force a child to meditate. It’s not another thing for them “to do”. It’s about being. Creativity, play and a light touch will encourage their curiosity about mindfulness.
- Exploring the breath – e.g. blowing bubbles and windmills are simple fun ways to help younger children discover their breath. Older children report counting their breaths useful – e.g. breathing in to the count of 7 and breathing out to the count of 11.
- Choose age appropriate practices– for toddlers and preschoolers try “belly breathing” – the child lies down with their favourite teddy on their belly and focuses on it moving up and down as they breathe in and out. * Older children may wish to place their hand on their belly to connect with the breath sensations while they count their breaths. N.B. – mind wandering happens to everyone and is not a problem – just bring the attention back to the breath with kindness.
- Some children with breathing difficulties (e.g. asthma or panic attacks) may find focusing on the breath uncomfortable. Let them choose another part of the body to focus on such as the hands or soles of the feet.
- It’s not all about sitting still – we can bring mindfulness to movement by paying attention to the body when we are walking, running, dancing, playing sport.
- We can also bring mindfulness to our everyday activities such as eating, showering, brushing our teeth by paying attention to all the senses involved (rather than thinking about the activity). This can help us to be more present and slow down.
Useful Resources:
- Inner Kids video – Susan Kaiser Greenland on YouTube
- “The Mindful Child” by Susan Kaiser Greenland
- mindfulnessinschools.org
- smilingmind.com.au
- headspace.org
- mind-shift.com
- mindfulness.ie (mindfulness courses for adults)
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