By Kacy Barron

Looking to add a little calm or winding down into your routine? Do not underestimate the power of a mindfulness or meditation activity. Meditation can be a great way to regulate our emotions, combat stress and anxiety, and gain clarity. With some instruction and support, kids can also benefit from these practices- plus you’ll be able to reap the rewards of a few minutes of peace. “Ommm” never sounded so good, am I right?

Now, if goat yoga is a bit too crazy for you, I’ve gathered five of my favorite meditation and mindfulness strategies you can use with your kids to start sharing sacred and meaningful time with them. And, I can speak from experience, I still remember the days when my mom sat me down and meditated with me… these memories and practices can truly impact your kids’ lives.

Here are my top five ways you can teach your kids meditation and mindfulness:

1. Feeling the Breath
2. Affirmation Cards
3. Using Imagination
4. Prompted Journaling
5. Yoga Poses

Now, let’s get into this so you can start feeling like the supermom you are…

Activity #1: Feeling the Breath

This is a super simple technique that will place you in a state of calm and regulation. While sitting up or laying down, place one hand on your heart and one hand on your belly. Have your child do the same. When you breathe in, you should feel your belly expand, and when you breathe out, feel it come in. This is actually the “right” way to breathe (many of us are breathing out of our chest, and the area below our collar bones will rise and fall, instead of our bellies!), so take some time to see if everyone is breathing with their bellies and not their collar bones! I recommend breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. 

Once everyone is breathing and feeling their breath, close your eyes. For 3-5 minutes and eventually longer (you can set a timer if you’d like), just feel the breath expand your belly, and when it leaves, hear it leave your mouth and throat. Breathe in for 3-4 seconds and breathe out for 5-7 seconds. 

This practice places us in our bodies and helps us stay in the present moment (instead of yesterday, last year, or tomorrow, if you catch my drift). Learning to breathe like this also is good for our oxygenation and overall health. Having our hands on our heart and belly help connect us to this practice.

Activity #2: Affirmation Cards

A fun daily routine you can implement is the pulling of an affirmation card. There are many different kinds, and even some free printable ones you can find with a simple google search. Personally, I really like these ones by Don Miguel Ruiz that partner with his book, The Four Agreements.

To use the cards, I recommend pulling one per day with your kids and having a simple conversation about what the phrase or saying means to them. 

It’s amazing where conversations can go when there are prompts that encourage us to think positively, expansively, and have mindfulness in the forefront.

Activity #3: Using Imagination

Children often have wonderful imaginations! And having the skill of being able to picture something in your mind (also called visualization) has been found to be a great skill for kids to develop that will help them with reading, comprehension, and academics!

With your eyes closed, picture any place. Let your imagination run wild. What would your favorite secret hiding spot look like? What does your future home look like? Do this in silence in a relaxed position or with some soft meditation music in the background. After the meditation, ask your children what they “saw” in their imagination. Talk about what it looked like, smelled like, felt like. Ask them who was there. You can share your visualizations with them and also guide them during this practice. 

For example, you can say something like this: “Now close your eyes, and take a few deep breaths. And I want you to picture yourself walking into the best theme park you’ve ever seen. What rides are there? What food do you smell in the air? What clothes are you wearing?” and so on.

Activity #4: Prompted Journaling

This activity can be done in private or as a family. I recommend everyone having their own notebooks or journals they can write in or draw in. If a child is not yet writing, they can color and draw in their journals as they respond to the journal prompts.

Journaling encourages self-reflection and mindfulness, as well as can be helpful for managing and understanding emotions.

Using prompts can be very helpful to help someone begin to learn how to journal, and they can include prompts such as “If you could buy anything, what would you buy?” Or, “If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?”

Encourage your child to expand on their journaling, and you can even ask more questions for more introspection. The goal here isn’t to write something perfect or even work on academic skills, but for self-expression and self-reflection. 

Activity #5: Yoga Poses

Yoga is a very centering process, and is great for the body as well as the mind! Together, you can find yoga pose cards (I found this set by Annie Buckley) and try them out. 

Yoga is a wonderful tool for calming the mind and having it focus on bodily movements and sensations. You can incorporate yoga poses into your routines and even practice one pose per day.

Yoga is also great for physical health including strength, flexibility, and balance.

Cultivating Peace Doesn’t Have to be Complicated

It’s my hope that these five mindfulness and meditation practices help you cultivate more peace in your household for the entire family.

Sometimes all it takes is a few minutes of something every day to make a huge difference in the long run!

To cap it off, the five practices included:

1. Feeling the Breath
2. Affirmation Cards
3. Using Imagination
4. Prompted Journaling
5. Yoga poses

So, here’s to more calm and centeredness, and creating memories together!

About the author:

Kacy Barron is a meditation expert and spiritual business coach. Kacy currently serves clients through courses, meditations, group coaching programs and 1:1, where she helps them activate their spiritual gifts, master their mindset, and create a feminine business. She lives in Yulee, Florida and enjoys meditating on the beach, international travel, and spending time with her family. You can find Kacy on her website at KacyBarron.com and on Instagram, at @Kacy.Barron (link). For any inquiries of how to work with Kacy, email her at KacyB@KacyBarron.com.