A recent study by researchers from the University of Michigan has found that there is a link between mindfulness and error making. In their article published in the Brain Sciences journal, the researchers found that meditation can help people make fewer mistakes.
The study was undertaken with 206 participants with no prior mindfulness training experience. After a 20-minute meditation exercise, participants’ brain activity was measured.
The study found that even those participants who did not mediate on a regular basis (only one mediation session) showed a slight increase in their ability to detect errors.
While the authors rightly state that further research is necessary to determine the actual impact of meditation, this study joins others that have found that meditation is a powerful practice that can impact behavior, performance and daily functioning.
Mindfulness is a powerful practice, but few studies have found conclusive results about the practices that work best with children.
The problem is that most mindfulness studies have focused on adults, and researchers are only now shifting their interest to the benefits of mindfulness in children.
That being said, the studies that have been undertaken to date suggest that mindfulness and meditation can reduce your child’s anxiety and stress and improve their health, psychological well-being and creativity.
Today, many classrooms, including Montessori-inspired classrooms, have incorporated mindfulness activities into their teaching programs.
We now know that mindfulness is beneficial for kids, but it’s almost an “unnatural” activity. In reality, this practice requires children to do the opposite of what they are accustomed to, that is, to be still and focused. The good news is that there are easy ways to help your child practice mindfulness.
3 mindfulness practices that your child will love
Different types of mindfulness practices can have a different impact on your child’s behavior and well-being. Here are three easy ways to get started.
1) Mindfulness of breathing
Many mindfulness programs focused on children have found that breathing exercises are highly beneficial in helping children focus on the present moment. Here are easy tips you can use to help your child practice deep breathing:
- Ask your child to pick a comfortable spot
- Tell them that they can open their eyes or keep them closed, whatever they feel most comfortable with
- Explain to them that the breathing exercises are going to help them slow down their breathing
- Ask them to place one hand at the top of their stomach
- Tell them that when they breathe in, they should feel their abdomen and hand rising and when they breathe out, these should fall back.
- Let your child practice breathing in and out for a few moments
- Tell them that you are now going to count and that they should inhale for a count of four (1-2-3-4), and exhale for a count of four.
- Repeat the exercise for three to five minutes.
When working with young children, visual breathing exercises are especially helpful. For example, a different breathing exercise could involve taking brightly colored feathers, placing them on a table, and asking your child to move the feathers across the table with their breadth.
2) Mindfulness of body parts
The 5-4-3-2-1 mindfulness exercise is one of the best known mindfulness exercises that also works especially well with children. It a grounding technique that requires people to practice breathing exercises and then acknowledge:
- FIVE things that they see around them
- FOUR things that they can touch around them
- THREE things that they can hear around them
- TWO things that they can smell around them
- ONE thing that they can taste.
This mindfulness exercise is especially powerful with children and can also help distract young kids when they start acting out!
Another easy mindfulness activity is to ask your child to stand on one leg while focusing their attention on a specific point just below their eye level.
You can either decide to set a specific time during which they should hold the position, or just see how long they can hold it. Once they are done with one leg, switch to the other one.
The visual version of the 5-4-3-2-1 mindfulness exercise below is available as a free download.
3) Mindfulness of thoughts
As its name suggests, mindfulness of thoughts is about helping your child pay attention to their thoughts. Here is an easy strategy to get started:
- Ask your child to pick a comfortable spot
- Tell them that they can open their eyes or keep them closed, whatever they feel most comfortable with
- Ask them to think of someone they like or admire and who also likes them in return (friends, grandparents, aunts, etc.)
- Ask them how that makes them feel
- Ask them to send that person a kind wish
If your child is comfortable with this practice, you can gradually move to thoughts about neutral people or even people they may be in conflict with.
The easiest and most effective way to introduce mindfulness practices into your family routine is to incorporate brief “mindfulness moments” on a regular basis.
If you need more help, books such as Breathe Like a Bear: 30 Mindful Moments for Kids to Feel Calm and Focused Anytime, Anywhere, Pengwee’s Breath, and Sitting Still Like a Frog: Mindfulness Exercises for Kids (and Their Parents) are great options for teaching your child about the importance of focusing on the present moment and on how mindfulness can help them find calm.
This article was first published on ParentMap.
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