Home Sweet Home: Yoga & Mindfulness at Home

Winter months and their unpredictable weather can bring a little extra family togetherness! If you find your family inside due to bad weather or winter exhaustion keeps you home then consider this a great opportunity to incorporate yoga and mindfulness into your lives.

Mindfulness simply means awareness! Being aware of how something feels, smells, and tastes and being aware of what we are hearing and what we are noticing right now. It is important to remind our children that there is no right or wrong answer or judgment towards our feelings and thoughts when talking about the sensations we feel through mindfulness.

Mindfulness and Yoga improves children’s attention, helps them regulate their emotional responses and brings a sense of calm and confidence to everyone in the family. It can be done anywhere, it’s a great bonding experience and can bring a little peace and calm to your "Home Sweet Home"!

It can be done anywhere, it’s a great bonding experience and can bring a little peace and calm to your "Home Sweet Home"!

CHECK OUT : YouTube Video’s: Mindfulness Month for Kids and Families

There are over 50 short videos, led by amazing kids yoga teachers from around the world that will showcase easy-to-learn yoga poses, breathing exercises, and mindfulness activities.

Go To: Youtube.com and search "Mindfulness Month for Kids and Families"

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mindfulness+month+for+kids+and+families

Try One Of These Activities:

*The Bell Listening Exercise

Ask children to sit with a mindful body which is quite and calm.

Ring a bell and ask the kids to listen closely to the ringing sound. Tell them to raise their hands when they no longer hear the sound of the bell. Then tell them to remain silent for one minute and pay close attention to the other sounds they hear once the ringing has stopped. After, go around in a circle and ask the kids to tell you every sound they noticed during that minute. This exercise helps them connect to the present moment

*Breathing Buddies

Each child gets a stuffed animal or other soft small object.(or another small object). Have the children lie down on the floor and place the stuffed animals on their bellies. Tell them to breathe in silence for one minute and notice how their Breathing Buddy moves up and down, The presence of the Breathing Buddy makes the meditation a little more fun and visual.

*Squeeze & Relax Meditation

Kids are lying on their backs with their legs extended and arms long by their sides. Ask them to close their eyes and take a couple deep breaths. Now ask them to squeeze their toes and feet, then relax them. Squeeze the muscles in their legs all the way up to their hips then relax. Squeeze in their bellies and relax. Squeeze their hands into fists and relax. Squeeze their shoulders to their ears and relax. Squeeze their mouth and relax and squeeze their eyes and relax. Now ask them to squeeze everything super tight and hold it for a few seconds and then release and relax. Now they can lay still for a minute or more in a mindful meditation. This helps them learn to be present and prepares them for stillness.

*Smell & Tell

Pass something fragrant to each child, such as a piece of fresh orange peel, a great smelling soap or a fragrant herb or flower you have in your house. Ask them to close their eyes and breathe in the scent, focusing all of their attention only on the smell of that object. Scent can be a very powerful tool for anxiety-relief.

*The Beauty Of Touch

Give each child an object, such as a squishy ball, a feather, a stone, etc. Ask them to close their eyes and describe what the object feels like. Then have the partners trade places. This practice teaches kids how to isolate their senses from one another, and helps develop mindfulness by

*Heartbeat Exercise

Have the kids dance, jump up and down, run in place for one minute. Then have them sit back down and place their hands on their hearts. Ask them to close their eyes and feel their heartbeats, their breath, and see what else they notice about their bodies. Then ask them to take 8 - 10 deep breaths in and out and notice how easy it is to quiet the body with the breath.