If you have a busy kid with a big imagination, dragon breathing can help them get extra energy out and allow them to focus on breathing, without it being boring. Getting creative with breathing when it comes to teaching kids mindfulness can help kids engage in the self-regulation skills they need to learn while still bringing the fun, interest and engagement of play.

When you combine creativity with mindful breathing, your child gets an opportunity to gain some brain-building skills. Mindful breathing and creativity can work together to calm and release stress. When you and your child do creative, mindful breathing together, like Dragon Breath breathing, you teach your child skills that have a life-long impact on their mental and physical health.

According to Dr. Bryan Bruno, Founder and Medical Director at Mid City TMS, “Meditation is one of the healthiest activities that a parent can do with their child. Meditation affects different parts of the brain, including the parietal lobe. Activity in the parietal lobe slows down during meditation, and children are able to process information more clearly.”

We may understand how important meditation is to a child; however, getting them to practice may be the greater challenge. Often, we expect that children’s meditation and mindful breathing should look like an adult’s practice. What our children are willing to do can be a sharp contrast. 

“Erin, I understand why I need to help my child learn to breathe mindfully, but they just don’t want to do it.” - signed, parents everywhere.

Does the above statement sound familiar. I bet it does because I hear it so often when I speak and coach. That is why bringing an element of creative, imaginative play to breathing can be so beneficial. Choose something your child is interested in, and turn that interest into a mindful breathing activity. This can help your child bridge the gap and create some beneficial stress relief all at the same time. 

In this freebie breathing exercise, we use the creative idea of breathing like a dragon. Most children are interested in the ideas of dragons and welcome the chance to use their imaginations to pretend to be one. The fun of having a parent or teacher join them in using imagination to become a fire-breathing dragon will almost surely outweigh any apprehension about practicing mindful breathing. You can think of it like sneaking veggies into brownies. 

Just like Mary Poppins says, “In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun, you find the fun and snap, the job’s a game”. Helping your child find the fun in mindful breathing by changing the expectation that it always needs to be silent or still can help build a practice that your child can lean on in times of stress or when self-regulation may be necessary. So, go ahead, get a little out of your comfort zone and back to that child-like state of imagination to help the kids in your life learn these valuable skills.