Easy stress-busting breathing exercises for the whole family

Photo above by madison lavern via Unsplash. 

On a recent episode of the Kidsburgh Podcast (season 2, episode 5), we spoke with two behavioral health educators from AHN’s Chill Project, Paige Cholewinski and Chloe Scott, about ways that families can manage stress.

In that episode, Paige and Chloe shared several strategies including three easy, helpful breathing exercises that the Chill Project uses. We wanted to share with you the details on all three:

Box Breathing: This popular breathing strategy (also known as “four square breathing”) is easy enough for small kids to learn but impactful for the whole family. It has just four steps that each last for four seconds. Do the four steps several times and your body will be in a calmer state.

• Breathe in counting to 4
• Gently hold your breath counting to 4
• Breathe out counting to 4
• Gently hold your breath counting to 4

Star Breathing: This technique involves breathing deeply in and out while visualizing a star.

• As you breathe in, you imagine tracing one side of the star.
• Then you visualize tracing along the next side of the star as you breathe out.
• You keep breathing in and out as you imagine traveling around the star.

This video from Michigan State University shows what you imagine during star breathing.

Rainbow Breathing: This approach is a favorite of many kids, since it’s very visual. You can start by creating a picture of a rainbow or downloading one (here are some free printables).

• Once you have your rainbow picture, breathe in slowly while tracing your finger along the first color band of the rainbow.
• Then breathe out slowly while tracing your finger along the next color band of the rainbow.
• Continue moving all the way through each of the colors of the rainbow.

If you don’t have a picture of a rainbow handy, you can still do rainbow breathing by picturing a rainbow in your mind and imagining that you are tracing along the colors.

Learn more about managing stress and get much more great information and inspiration on the Kidsburgh Podcast.