Breathwork
When you first think of breathwork, what comes to mind? Is it meditation? Is it yoga? Or is it the practice of deep breathing? For me, breathwork sounds kind of intimidating. It seems like it would take a lot of practice to find success or feel effective. But, in reality, that’s not the case.
Today, I’m talking about introducing basic breathwork to your child to help them reset. I love this analogy that I read the other day-when we’re experiencing computer issues, we often are encouraged to first reset the computer. A simple reset can typically fix many of the tech issues we’re having. Now, consider what we do as humans to reset ourselves when our “systems” are overwhelmed. We, too, need a reset. And this reset button is found hidden at the bottom of our lungs.
Benefits
There are many benefits to breathwork for everyone but let’s focus on how deep inhalations and exhalations specifically help your child or teen.
Helps Your Child Relax Their Muscles
As noted in the above analogy, when children learn to inhale and exhale slowly, their change of breathing is positively impacting the entire body. A reset is occurring, helping the nervous system move towards a calm, relaxed state. And, when the body is calm, it functions more effectively. For instance, if we’re anxious constantly, we typically see the negative impact show up in our body in how our muscles feel, how we eat, how we sleep, etc.
Helps Stretch Out the Lungs
There are many acute and chronic conditions that have an impact on a child or teens’ lung capacity. For example, children with cystic fibrosis have poor lung function due to the mucus that builds up in their body. Children with allergies and asthma can also present with difficulty breathing when exposed to environmental or food allergens, changes in weather, etc. Therefore, breathwork can be highly impactful in helping these children with conditions better improve their lung function and help healthy children maintain their lung capacity.
Improves Focus
Children and teens already have a lot on their plate when they’re developing; they’re trying to do well in school, discovering who they are as individuals, making new friends, and maybe even navigating their first romantic relationship. All of these things require presence and a level of concentration if they want to find success in these different areas. Beyond these developmental milestones, children who are sick are trying to juggle even more. They have to remember to take their medicine, show up to doctor appointments, be vigilant with their treatments, and try to maintain a positive mindset in the process.
When these young individuals take initiative and practice breathwork, they are able to improve their focus and concentration. As a result, they are also able to achieve a sense of control. And, as I have said many many times, a sense of control is what every child or teen needs when they are battling an illness or disease. They have SO much being done to them that they need to feel like they have choices and options. When they have choices, they feel empowered which is what EmpoweringKidz ‘s mission is all about.
Improves Sleep
Last but certainly not least, when children are practicing their breathwork, they sleep better! Naturally, if we are more relaxed before bedtime, we can turn off our brains and drift off to sleep quicker. We also remain in a deep state of sleep if our mind is clear.
However, this isn’t to say that in order for your child to sleep better, they have to practice their inhalations and exhalations right before bed. Continued practice of breathwork helps maintain a restful, relaxed state throughout the day and night. Unlike nose-breathers, if your child is a mouth breather during sleep, their nervous system is activated rather than relaxed. This leads to more waking in the night and disrupts the quality of sleep. Because sleep is so important to the healing process, breathwork can be very valuable to any child struggling with a physical or mental condition (i.e. anxiety, grief, etc.).
Child-Friendly Breathwork Exercises
There are many different types of exercises you can introduce to your child. Below are just a few that can be initiated early on in development, with children as young as 2 years old.
Smell the Flowers, Blow off the Pedals
Help your child practice inhalations and exhalations by using a flower as a prop. First, ask them to take a deep breath in to smell the sweet scent of the flower. Then instruct them to blow out, encouraging them to try and blow the pedals off the flower.
Stuffed Animal Breaths
Put a small stuffed animal onto your child’s tummy as they lay horizontally. Next, instruct your child to try and make the stuffed animal rise and fall with your belly breaths. Encourage them to take slow breaths with the goal of keeping the stuffy successfully on the belly.
Using Bubbles As A Tool
Introduce breathwork through the use of bubble play. I recommend using a larger bubble wand so your child can easily see the bubble solution. Then, encourage him/her/they to take a deep breath before blowing to make their bubble. Their goal with the deep breath is to be able to blow out long enough to make multiple bubbles.
P.S. If you’re active on Instagram, check out @abc.breathworkforkids for great tips and tricks on initiating breathwork with children of all ages. As I learned from her, breathwork exercises don’t have to be longer than 5 minutes to be effective with your children. :)