imagine you’re a bear hibernating for
the winter when bears hibernate they
take long slow deep breaths in and out
through their noses take a long breath
in through your nose let it all the way
out take another long breath in through
your nose let it all the way out keep
breathing like this and feel how relaxed
and warm and safe you are in your cozy
bear cave once more take a long breath
in through your nose and let it all the
way out now imagine this is how teachers
lead the first minute of math class for
first graders all across the country the
room becomes calm and the teacher is
able to start the lesson on time with
the focused attention of the students
bite-sized mindfulness short
kid-friendly practices when they’re done
consistently can be a powerful tool to
help our kids lead healthier happier
lives they’re simple to do they take
very little time and they cost nothing
and in a world that’s increasingly fast
paced where kids are bombarded with
media and screens where they have less
and less down time to just be these
practices can teach kids essential
skills how to calm themselves how to
focus and pay attention how to manage
their behavior and emotions and how to
practice compassion and kindness they
can also help kids cope with and release
anxiety and stress and anxiety is a
serious problem among our kids when I go
into schools to help them bring yoga and
mindfulness into the school day I hear
over and over from teachers and
principals and school counselors our
kids are stressed out they say even very
young kids are displaying more anxious
behaviors than they’ve ever seen before
so I did some research the National
Institute of Mental Health looked at
10,000 adolescents in this country and
found that one in every four to five of
them meets the criteria for a serious
mental health disorder
of those disorders the largest category
was anxiety disorders with a median age
of onset of age 6
the researchers conclusion was that this
shows a need for a shift from treatment
of these types of issues in our young
people to prevention and early
intervention anxious kids have a hard
time in school and in life they can have
difficulty focusing and paying attention
they can have behavioral and emotional
issues they’re not ready to learn and
the greatest teacher in the world can’t
get a lesson across if students aren’t
ready to learn the teachers time is
taken up helping the anxious student
other kids don’t get the attention they
need and the negative effect can ripple
outward but we have the tools to help
them and to help every child who will
undoubtedly at some point suffer from
stress and anxiety bite-sized
mindfulness practices let me tell you
about one more research study this one’s
showing the benefits of mindfulness
practice with kids an organization
called mindful schools looked at 400
elementary school students in four areas
of classroom behavior paying attention
participation self-control and respect
for others the kids did a simple
mindfulness program three times a week
for five weeks
they found significant gains in all four
of those areas just think about this for
a minute
improvements in self-control and respect
for others a total gift to teachers
everywhere but also critical skills kids
need to learn just to get along in life
and paying attention and classroom
participation these lead directly to
academic gains they benefit not only the
students in that classroom but that
teacher that school will perform better
and the positive effects ripple outward
so three elements of bite-sized
mindfulness short kid-friendly practice
consistently first nobody has any extra
time right parents are going every which
way and the teachers that I know say I’m
to my eyeballs in lessons I have to fit
in in a certain amount of time please
don’t give me one more thing to do I
totally get that but we all know it just
takes a few slow deep breaths to help us
feel so much calmer the theory behind
that is that controlled breathing sends
the brain a signal that all is well and
it begins to calm the nervous system and
slow the body’s stress response so my
reply is take that one minute for
consistent mindfulness practice and
you’ll get it back and then some
your classroom will be calmer your
students will be better able to pay
attention the lesson will go more
smoothly there’s a kindergarten teacher
I know who uses my mindful moments for
kids which is a collection of these
bite-sized mindfulness exercises she
gets her kids for math directly from the
cafeteria which is crowded and noisy and
so her job becomes not so much teaching
the map but settling them down so she
can eventually teach them math she puts
one minute of mindfulness at the
beginning of that math class every day
and over time the kids settled into it
they began to look forward to it they
calmed themselves quickly and she said
it has transformed her ability to teach
that class kid-friendly so when I
mentioned mindfulness maybe it brings up
a picture in your head of someone
sitting on a cushion meditating with
incense and candles that’s not what
we’re talking about it all here there’s
no special equipment needed these
exercises can be done sitting in a desk
standing even walking it’s an approach
that works for all young kids most of
whom have ants in their pants it would
not sit still on a cushion anyway and
when I say all young kids I mean all
young kids I’ve seen this work in all
kinds of families and I’ve done this
work in all kinds of schools with
varying demographics and at every point
on the socio-economic spectrum but in
order for these practices to work the
kids have to like doing them so they
have to be built around concepts that
kids enjoy they have to be fun
so for example we take our cup of hot
chocolate but it’s much too hot to take
a sip right now so we have to blow on it
to cool it off and we take a long breath
in and we blow toward our hot chocolate
we repeat that six or seven or eight
times or we see a big beautiful flower
we’ve never seen before we’re curious
how it smells so we bring it up close
and we take a long sniff in let it all
the way out and we repeat that five or
six or seven times when I go into a
school to present an assembly and I have
300 super Wiggly kids sitting in front
of me all smushed together on the gym
floor and I lead them in bare breath or
flower breath and they become totally
engaged and quiet and still
the teachers are generally pretty
astounded but they’re not quiet and
still because I taught them the benefits
of deep breathing on their central
nervous system or because they’ve been
reading up on how trendy mindfulness is
they’re quiet and still because it’s a
concept that speaks to them and because
it feels good because it works
consistency like any other skill
consistent practice is the key to its
effectiveness paying attention is a
skill we constantly ask kids to pay
attention but we don’t teach them how
and we don’t have them practice but the
act of paying attention over and over to
our breath coming in and out of our
bodies teaches kids to pay attention to
other things so consistent practice
means for families attaching it to
something in the routine that you
already do every day maybe that’s
getting in the car to go to school in
the morning for schools it means fitting
it into the schedule at a non-negotiable
time same time every day everybody knows
what to expect a school that I work with
puts three mindful moments during every
day school-wide the first one is
broadcast over the PA after the morning
announcements everybody knows it’s
coming and no matter where anyone else
is in the school even in the middle of
the hallway they stop and they
participate
one minute but it sets a calm and
positive tone for the school day bite
size mindfulness is also an incredible
vehicle for teaching kids what are
called social-emotional skills these are
skills like self awareness self
regulation which is managing your
behavior and emotions and practicing
social and relationship skills like
empathizing showing compassion and
kindness and respect I do one with kids
I just call send good thoughts we
breathe in we breathe out and as we
continue breathing like this I ask the
kids to think of someone they love
picture that person in their mind you
can do it too if you want and think of
something kind they could say to that
person say it quietly in your mind and
then I ask them to think of a different
person someone who they know might be
struggling or having a hard time or who
doesn’t feel well and to think of
something kind they could say to that
person say it quietly in your mind now
we breathe in and we breathe out it
takes one minute but over time it begins
to build kids muscles for practicing
compassion and kindness this isn’t an
enrichment program it’s not another in a
long line of extracurricular activities
to choose from as these kids grow up
they need to be able to not only cope
with the challenges of the world but
hopefully to make positive changes and
any positive change we make out there
begins in here so for these kids
learning to calm and control themselves
to manage their behavior and emotions
these aren’t extras this is essential
think of a child who’s caught in a cycle
of acting out and discipline and
punishment in school she disrupts the
classroom she’s removed from the class
she misses the lesson and gets behind
she gets frustrated she acts out some
more her grades slip she eventually
gives up on school altogether this
happens all the
time now imagine if that child had a
grown-up in her life a grand parent a
teacher a school counselor a parent who
consistently taught her simple
mindfulness practices tailored right to
her age and over time she learns to calm
herself she becomes self-aware
so she recognizes when she’s about to
act out and can stop it in its tracks
she practices showing kindness to other
people she’s able to stay in the
classroom keep up with her studies
graduate and go on to be a force for
good in the world this one simple tool
can literally change the trajectory of a
child’s life now think of this effect
multiplied by hundreds by thousands by
millions of kids and you begin to see
it’s so simple but it can be so powerful
imagine self-regulation being taught
alongside academics in all our schools
imagine a whole generation of kids who
are self-aware enough to make thoughtful
choices who have grown up practicing
compassion and kindness but we don’t
need to wait for the school system to
change we can’t wait for the school
system to change because kids need to be
learning these skills now so we start
now with the kids in our lives there are
incredible organizations out there
bringing mindfulness to children
holistic life foundation mindful schools
childlike yo kid
mindful practices the list goes on and
if you can attend a training or take an
online course or bring their wonderful
people into your school or home
absolutely do it but most families and
most schools whether because of time or
resources or something else are not in a
position to do that right this minute so
we start with baby steps but they’re
powerful baby steps because you don’t
need any special training it doesn’t
need to cost any money there are
resources readily available everywhere
to help you bring simple mindfulness to
children there
online in your library at your local
bookstore you can create your own we’re
not talking about families rearranging
their lives or schools searching for
money in an already tight budget to ramp
up to the launch of a big new program or
having to send their teachers to a long
training we’re talking about an approach
that can be implemented in every home
and every school tomorrow morning so
congratulations you are all now experts
you know everything you need to know to
start sharing this essential gift with
the children in your lives now thank you
you
the winter when bears hibernate they
take long slow deep breaths in and out
through their noses take a long breath
in through your nose let it all the way
out take another long breath in through
your nose let it all the way out keep
breathing like this and feel how relaxed
and warm and safe you are in your cozy
bear cave once more take a long breath
in through your nose and let it all the
way out now imagine this is how teachers
lead the first minute of math class for
first graders all across the country the
room becomes calm and the teacher is
able to start the lesson on time with
the focused attention of the students
bite-sized mindfulness short
kid-friendly practices when they’re done
consistently can be a powerful tool to
help our kids lead healthier happier
lives they’re simple to do they take
very little time and they cost nothing
and in a world that’s increasingly fast
paced where kids are bombarded with
media and screens where they have less
and less down time to just be these
practices can teach kids essential
skills how to calm themselves how to
focus and pay attention how to manage
their behavior and emotions and how to
practice compassion and kindness they
can also help kids cope with and release
anxiety and stress and anxiety is a
serious problem among our kids when I go
into schools to help them bring yoga and
mindfulness into the school day I hear
over and over from teachers and
principals and school counselors our
kids are stressed out they say even very
young kids are displaying more anxious
behaviors than they’ve ever seen before
so I did some research the National
Institute of Mental Health looked at
10,000 adolescents in this country and
found that one in every four to five of
them meets the criteria for a serious
mental health disorder
of those disorders the largest category
was anxiety disorders with a median age
of onset of age 6
the researchers conclusion was that this
shows a need for a shift from treatment
of these types of issues in our young
people to prevention and early
intervention anxious kids have a hard
time in school and in life they can have
difficulty focusing and paying attention
they can have behavioral and emotional
issues they’re not ready to learn and
the greatest teacher in the world can’t
get a lesson across if students aren’t
ready to learn the teachers time is
taken up helping the anxious student
other kids don’t get the attention they
need and the negative effect can ripple
outward but we have the tools to help
them and to help every child who will
undoubtedly at some point suffer from
stress and anxiety bite-sized
mindfulness practices let me tell you
about one more research study this one’s
showing the benefits of mindfulness
practice with kids an organization
called mindful schools looked at 400
elementary school students in four areas
of classroom behavior paying attention
participation self-control and respect
for others the kids did a simple
mindfulness program three times a week
for five weeks
they found significant gains in all four
of those areas just think about this for
a minute
improvements in self-control and respect
for others a total gift to teachers
everywhere but also critical skills kids
need to learn just to get along in life
and paying attention and classroom
participation these lead directly to
academic gains they benefit not only the
students in that classroom but that
teacher that school will perform better
and the positive effects ripple outward
so three elements of bite-sized
mindfulness short kid-friendly practice
consistently first nobody has any extra
time right parents are going every which
way and the teachers that I know say I’m
to my eyeballs in lessons I have to fit
in in a certain amount of time please
don’t give me one more thing to do I
totally get that but we all know it just
takes a few slow deep breaths to help us
feel so much calmer the theory behind
that is that controlled breathing sends
the brain a signal that all is well and
it begins to calm the nervous system and
slow the body’s stress response so my
reply is take that one minute for
consistent mindfulness practice and
you’ll get it back and then some
your classroom will be calmer your
students will be better able to pay
attention the lesson will go more
smoothly there’s a kindergarten teacher
I know who uses my mindful moments for
kids which is a collection of these
bite-sized mindfulness exercises she
gets her kids for math directly from the
cafeteria which is crowded and noisy and
so her job becomes not so much teaching
the map but settling them down so she
can eventually teach them math she puts
one minute of mindfulness at the
beginning of that math class every day
and over time the kids settled into it
they began to look forward to it they
calmed themselves quickly and she said
it has transformed her ability to teach
that class kid-friendly so when I
mentioned mindfulness maybe it brings up
a picture in your head of someone
sitting on a cushion meditating with
incense and candles that’s not what
we’re talking about it all here there’s
no special equipment needed these
exercises can be done sitting in a desk
standing even walking it’s an approach
that works for all young kids most of
whom have ants in their pants it would
not sit still on a cushion anyway and
when I say all young kids I mean all
young kids I’ve seen this work in all
kinds of families and I’ve done this
work in all kinds of schools with
varying demographics and at every point
on the socio-economic spectrum but in
order for these practices to work the
kids have to like doing them so they
have to be built around concepts that
kids enjoy they have to be fun
so for example we take our cup of hot
chocolate but it’s much too hot to take
a sip right now so we have to blow on it
to cool it off and we take a long breath
in and we blow toward our hot chocolate
we repeat that six or seven or eight
times or we see a big beautiful flower
we’ve never seen before we’re curious
how it smells so we bring it up close
and we take a long sniff in let it all
the way out and we repeat that five or
six or seven times when I go into a
school to present an assembly and I have
300 super Wiggly kids sitting in front
of me all smushed together on the gym
floor and I lead them in bare breath or
flower breath and they become totally
engaged and quiet and still
the teachers are generally pretty
astounded but they’re not quiet and
still because I taught them the benefits
of deep breathing on their central
nervous system or because they’ve been
reading up on how trendy mindfulness is
they’re quiet and still because it’s a
concept that speaks to them and because
it feels good because it works
consistency like any other skill
consistent practice is the key to its
effectiveness paying attention is a
skill we constantly ask kids to pay
attention but we don’t teach them how
and we don’t have them practice but the
act of paying attention over and over to
our breath coming in and out of our
bodies teaches kids to pay attention to
other things so consistent practice
means for families attaching it to
something in the routine that you
already do every day maybe that’s
getting in the car to go to school in
the morning for schools it means fitting
it into the schedule at a non-negotiable
time same time every day everybody knows
what to expect a school that I work with
puts three mindful moments during every
day school-wide the first one is
broadcast over the PA after the morning
announcements everybody knows it’s
coming and no matter where anyone else
is in the school even in the middle of
the hallway they stop and they
participate
one minute but it sets a calm and
positive tone for the school day bite
size mindfulness is also an incredible
vehicle for teaching kids what are
called social-emotional skills these are
skills like self awareness self
regulation which is managing your
behavior and emotions and practicing
social and relationship skills like
empathizing showing compassion and
kindness and respect I do one with kids
I just call send good thoughts we
breathe in we breathe out and as we
continue breathing like this I ask the
kids to think of someone they love
picture that person in their mind you
can do it too if you want and think of
something kind they could say to that
person say it quietly in your mind and
then I ask them to think of a different
person someone who they know might be
struggling or having a hard time or who
doesn’t feel well and to think of
something kind they could say to that
person say it quietly in your mind now
we breathe in and we breathe out it
takes one minute but over time it begins
to build kids muscles for practicing
compassion and kindness this isn’t an
enrichment program it’s not another in a
long line of extracurricular activities
to choose from as these kids grow up
they need to be able to not only cope
with the challenges of the world but
hopefully to make positive changes and
any positive change we make out there
begins in here so for these kids
learning to calm and control themselves
to manage their behavior and emotions
these aren’t extras this is essential
think of a child who’s caught in a cycle
of acting out and discipline and
punishment in school she disrupts the
classroom she’s removed from the class
she misses the lesson and gets behind
she gets frustrated she acts out some
more her grades slip she eventually
gives up on school altogether this
happens all the
time now imagine if that child had a
grown-up in her life a grand parent a
teacher a school counselor a parent who
consistently taught her simple
mindfulness practices tailored right to
her age and over time she learns to calm
herself she becomes self-aware
so she recognizes when she’s about to
act out and can stop it in its tracks
she practices showing kindness to other
people she’s able to stay in the
classroom keep up with her studies
graduate and go on to be a force for
good in the world this one simple tool
can literally change the trajectory of a
child’s life now think of this effect
multiplied by hundreds by thousands by
millions of kids and you begin to see
it’s so simple but it can be so powerful
imagine self-regulation being taught
alongside academics in all our schools
imagine a whole generation of kids who
are self-aware enough to make thoughtful
choices who have grown up practicing
compassion and kindness but we don’t
need to wait for the school system to
change we can’t wait for the school
system to change because kids need to be
learning these skills now so we start
now with the kids in our lives there are
incredible organizations out there
bringing mindfulness to children
holistic life foundation mindful schools
childlike yo kid
mindful practices the list goes on and
if you can attend a training or take an
online course or bring their wonderful
people into your school or home
absolutely do it but most families and
most schools whether because of time or
resources or something else are not in a
position to do that right this minute so
we start with baby steps but they’re
powerful baby steps because you don’t
need any special training it doesn’t
need to cost any money there are
resources readily available everywhere
to help you bring simple mindfulness to
children there
online in your library at your local
bookstore you can create your own we’re
not talking about families rearranging
their lives or schools searching for
money in an already tight budget to ramp
up to the launch of a big new program or
having to send their teachers to a long
training we’re talking about an approach
that can be implemented in every home
and every school tomorrow morning so
congratulations you are all now experts
you know everything you need to know to
start sharing this essential gift with
the children in your lives now thank you
you
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