Balloon Breath

One of my favorite tools to teach children is balloon breath. We start teaching this as young as one years old. At this age, it takes repetition but they eventually get it and start utilizing it. It is awesome! For balloon breathing I bring in an actual balloon to make it fun! I ask children where they might have a balloon in their bodies. Depending on the age, we talk about how our lungs inflate with air when we breathe in.. we take air into our lungs.. it expands like a balloon, and our lungs deflate when we breathe out. I show this as I breathe into the balloon my belly gets bigger and I hold the balloon next to my belly as an example.. and as I breathe out the balloon gets smaller and I let go of the air in the balloon as I breathe out and my belly gets smaller.

This teaches proper breathing technique and is important for adults and children alike! When we reverse breathe (breathe in belly gets smaller, breathe out belly gets bigger)or breathe fast, it triggers our body into fight or flight nervous system response. It makes us believe that we are not safe and can bring on a panic response. Back in the day, when we were cave men this was important to keep us safe. We might be in danger and being chased by a wild animal and fight or flight response helped our bodies kick into action to stay alive. Nowadays, its much more important that we can oscillate back into rest and digest nervous system quickly- this is where we should mostly reside. This is not the case for most people. We live in a high stress world, where an image or words on a screen can trigger us. Without the tools to shift back into peace, we are left in high alert and overwhelm. We become used to this when we actually deserve peace!

Balloon breath gives children (and adults) the tool to not only have awareness of their breath, but also regulate their breathing and bring a more regular sense of peace. When children know how to access peace from a young age it will become second nature to access peace throughout their lives!