Mindfulness Breathing Activity

Learning and teaching mindful breathing is providing yourself, and your children with a skill that will be with them for life, in every situation they will ever encounter. This exercise will take five minutes, it can be done in your home, or if you are a teacher, in your classroom.

How to do this exercise:

• Children can stand or sit for this activity.
• Ask children to put both hands on their belly.
• Children should close their eyes, or look down to their hands.
• Guide the children in taking three slow deep breaths in and out to see if they can feel their hands being moved.
• You may like to count “1, 2, 3” for each breath in and “1, 2, 3” for each breath out, pausing slightly at the end of each exhale.

Encourage children to think about how the breath feels, answering the following questions silently, in their mind.

 * What is moving your hands? Is it the air filling your lungs?

 * Can you feel the air moving in through your nose?

 * Can you feel it moving out through your nose?

 * Does the air feel a little colder on the way in and warmer on the way out?

 * Can you hear your breath?

 * What does it sound like?