Children benefit greatly from learning basic breathing techniques. This particular exercise helps to calm children through focusing on lengthening their inhalations and exhalations. It will also help to reduce stress, improve oxygen intake, and provide a refuge from a sometimes chaotic world.
When speaking with a special education expert he mentioned that this technique is self-employed by many of his students when they are feeling worked up. They simply say, “I’m gonna Take 5″ and retire to a quiet corner to spend a few minutes breathing and calming down. In this way children learn to recognize stressful situations and find a more productive way to dealing with the stress than thru tantrums, panic, aggression or meltdowns.
I will often use Take 5 at the beginning of a yoga class to teach how to take a complete breath and to prepare all participants for their yoga practice. Once children have learned this breathing technique, a simple reminder “How about you Take 5″ is often all that is needed for them to realise their emotions are taking over and they need to remember to breathe.
Take 5
Sit comfortably. Lift one finger at a time as you breathe in through your nose and count in your mind: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Pause for a second. As you exhale, count backward (5, 4, 3, 2, 1) putting down a finger for each number. Repeat 2 or 3 times.
At first younger children may find it very difficult to count all the way to five, so start with counting to three and build from there. Kids may also find it hard to control the exhale, wanting it to explode out, instead of gradually releasing the breath. Keep trying and Take 5 will get easier with practice.
Question: What techniques do you use to help your children to handle stressful situations, meltdowns and tantrums? How do you handle the same situations?
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One of favorite breaths here at ChildLight Yoga as there is nothing more powerful than deep, conscious breathing to calm the parasympathic nervous system for calm.
Funny story – I asked the kids once what it meant to ‘take 5′. One 5 year boy got right on the floor and started doing push ups. Ha! His dad was in the military – very cute.
A couple of related posts at The Kids Yoga Resource:
Bumble Bee Breath for Kids: http://www.thekidsyogaresource.com/2010/01/bumblebee-breath-for-kids.html
Breathing the Tears Away: http://www.thekidsyogaresource.com/2009/12/breathing-the-tears-away-1.html
Thanks for another great post Donna. Always inspiring!
Lisa
yesterday I had a child, who just turned 6, have a complete meltdown in an adult and child class I teach. He was not willing to do any type of breathing exercise. He was really attached to the tantrum behavior.
It was really stressful for all of us there – so the yogic breathing actually helped me and the other participants stay calm.
I tried ignoring the screaming and not giving it any energy, but it just felt weird pretending it wasn’t happening. His nanny was trying to deal with him.
Luckily it was close to the end of the class so we finished up. As the class dispersed he began to quiet down and almost fell asleep on the mat. His nanny said he was having sleeping problems and had been very tired lately. Eventually he got up quietly and left.
The energy of the tantrum stayed with me for a while and I had to remind myself to not take it personally. I plan to talk with him before the next class to work out a strategy.
But I’d love to hear other’s suggestions about full blown tantrums where there is no reasoning with a demanding child.
I have not done yoga with my children but it looks like something that could help them relax. Stopping by from the twitter comment club. Hope you will stop by my blog also!
Hi, maybe you could bring a teddy bear with you to classes, when everybody is feeling good you could present him and tell the children that whenever they feel tired or sad or mad at classes they can embrace him to feel better because he represents the hug of a friend. So whenever somebody is misbeheaving or feeling sad or angry at your classes you could lend them the teddy bear.
Marcela