Calm Breathing For Children
Why is calm breathing important?
Calm, or deep, breathing is an important coping skill that children can use in many situations when they feel anxious or afraid. Children who learn healthy coping skills, such as calm breathing, can become more confident and resilient. They will also be more resilient and able to manage stress in healthy ways as adults.
When we are calm, our breathing and heart rate is normal and our muscles are relaxed. This is what is happening when you are relaxed and reading or watching something on TV. But this all changes when we feel nervous, anxious or afraid. Imagine if a lion suddenly strolled into the room! This would trigger a ‘fight or flight’ response. Our heart rate would increase, our stomach would stop digesting, and our breathing would become faster and shallower. These changes prepare our bodies to deal with the threat in front of us. We experience similar responses whenever we feel anxious or afraid, even if the source is not physically present.
It is known that we can use calm breathing to return ourselves from the ‘fight or flight’ state, to our usual calm state. Exactly how this works is not fully understood, but recent studies have indicated that breathing patterns may determine whether the arousal systems in the brain are activated or not. This confirms that how you breathe can influence your state of mind. Deep, calm breathing can help you be calm and lower stress.
So calm breathing can make a big difference to how children (and adults) cope with stressful situations.
What is calm breathing?
Calm breathing is using slower, deeper breathing to calm the body and mind. By learning to take long, slow, deep breaths, children can learn how to calm themselves down when they feel anxious or afraid.
Often when we breathe, we take shallow breaths using our chest. Calm breathing means breathing much deeper than that, using our diaphragm (the thin muscle at the base of your chest that controls the air coming into, and going out of, your lungs). You can tell when you are using your diaphragm well because your stomach will expand and deflate like a balloon under your ribcage as you breathe in and out. You can feel this by putting your hand just under your ribcage as you breathe.
Helping children learn calm breathing
Many children (and adults!) have difficulty learning how to take deep breaths properly. When asked to take a deep breath they might start hyperventilating or take a big breath in…without letting it out again.
Luckily there are many ways we can help children of all ages learn how to take slow, deep, calm breaths using their diaphragm (make sure their stomach is rising and falling), and most children can find a method that works for them. Some methods for getting started include:
Blowing bubbles
There are two ways blowing bubbles can be used to practice calm breathing:
1. Blowing ‘soap’ bubbles is fun, but children have to concentrate and blow slowly and gently to create the bubbles, helping them to take deep breaths.
2. Blowing bubbles through a straw into a glass of water can also be used to encourage slow, deep breathing.
Soft toy helper
If the child lies on their back, they can place a favourite soft toy on their stomach. They can then try and breath so that when they breathe in the toy rises, and when they breathe out, the toy goes down.
Make it move
Have the child blow a hanging ribbon, feather, tissue paper or windmill slowly for as long as they can. They can make their own craft item to blow.
Imagination help
Rainbow breathing: This breathing technique is all about painting the colours of the rainbow across the sky. The child starts with their arms down beside their body, then they
1. Breathe in as they slowly raise both arms straight up above their shoulders.
2. Hold their breath and arms up for 3-5 seconds.
3. Slowly lower their arms until they are level with their shoulders, while breathing out.
Snake breathing:
1. Breathe in.
2. Hold for 3-5 seconds.
3. Make a hissing sound when breathing out for as long as possible.
Ocean Breathing
1. Take a deep breath in and imagine the wave gathering height
2. Breathe out for as long as possible, and imagine the wave onto the beach with a ‘shhhhhhh’ noise.
Colour Breathing
1. Take a deep breath in, and imagine a happy and calm colour filling their body.
2. Breathe out for as long as possible, and imagine a colour that represents all their worries and fears leaving their body.
Breathing using shapes
Calm breathing can be guided using several shapes. Two of the most simple are:
Triangle breathing: Imagine a triangle and move around the shape. Along the first side, inhale to the count of 4. Along the next side, hold your breath for a count of 4. As you move along the final side of the triangle, exhale to a count of 4. This is one deep breath.
Square breathing: This is sometimes taught in schools. It is similar to triangle breathing, but imagine a square and, on the fourth side, hold your breath again for a count of 4.
Breathing using numbers
4-7-8 Breathing
1. Breathe out all the air in their lungs through their mouth.
2. Breathe in silently through their nose for four seconds (count silently to four).
3. Hold their breath for seven seconds (count silently to seven).
4. Breathe out through their mouth making a ‘whooshing’ sound for eight seconds (count silently to eight).
Count to 10
· Breathe in ONE
· Breathe out TWO
· Breathe in THREE
· Breathe out FOUR
· Breathe in FIVE
· Breathe out SIX
· Breathe in SEVEN
· Breathe out EIGHT
· Breathe in NINE
· Breathe out TEN
Use your own imagination to come up with more ideas that suit your child’s interests!
Whichever method is preferred, make sure that children are breathing so that their stomach moves as well as their chest. It helps to be sitting up straight too. Encourage children to use their calm breathing when they feel worried. Practicing calm breathing exercises regularly (5-10 mins per day) can train a child to be calmer, and respond better, when feeling anxious or afraid.
Apps and videos
There are also Apps and videos (YouTube) that will help guide children through many of these methods.
Some examples of appropriate Apps:
Calm
Smiling Mind
Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame
Headspace
Stop, Breath and Think Kids
