Stress-Relieving Breathing Exercises

Video Transcript

"Hi my name is Dr. Laura Grashow, and I am a child psychologist in private practice here in south Florida. So in this clip I am going to show you some stress-relieving breathing exercises with your child. Before we even get to that though we want to prime them by doing some basic stretching first. So let's put our hands up in the air, and try and touch the ceiling. Reach high, high, high, high, high, high. Now let's just do it with your right hand, up, up, up. That is okay it does not matter which hand you use, up, up, up. And the other one, up, up, up. Can you touch your toes? So the second tip I am going to give you for breathing exercises has to do with the way we think about our lungs. And basically what you want to do is explain to your child that your lungs are like balloons, and when you breathe you need to fill them up with air. So basically if you put your hands on your stomach you should experience when you inhale that your hands go a little out to the side, and a little forward. Oftentimes when we engage in shallow breathing we are not really filling our lungs up with air, and our shoulders tend to go up like, like this. So the third tip involves lying down on the floor, and showing children exactly how to breathe. What I want to do is lie down, and take the stuffed animal, and put it on my belly. This way I can be really clear, and show children how the air is going in and out of their lungs. So if I am doing a breath properly the stuffed animal should rise and fall with my breath like this. When we are not breathing properly we wind up breathing like this, and as you can see the stuffed animal doesn't rise and fall. So that is a great way to show children. So in closing remember deep breathing can really help alleviate stress in children. It is very important to explain to them that their lungs are like balloons that fill up with air so that they should be able to put their hands on their stomach or a stuffed animal on their stomach, and watch it rise and fall as they take breaths. Often when we are anxious we do shallow breathing, and we move our shoulders, and we are not getting enough air. Three deep breaths can really help children calm down. This has been Dr. Laura Grashow, and thank you for watching."