Recently Karen Beveridge, Neuro-Developmental and Sound Therapist, has very kindly shared tips on Mindfulness and on Tapping that can help children and the entire family to manage stress and anxiety. Karen has produced two videos for ESMS, the first “Blow the Candle” teaches children how to practise mindful breathing in order to calm down and the other “Changing State” demonstrates how to practise tapping, the emotional freedom technique that helps you or your children feel more grounded and calm in moments of panic.
Karen works with her clients, both children and adults, and teaches them healthy stress management techniques so they learn how to manage their stress and anxieties from an early age.
Mindful breathing is one of the techniques she teaches. It can be difficult for children to understand the concept of mindful breathing. Sometimes they breathe too hard and, instead of making them feel calm, this can actually make them feel more stressed and tense. Blow the Candle teaches how to do calm, rhythmic breathing using a couple of props that can easily be found at home. You can watch Karen talk us through this technique here.
Tapping is another technique that Karen teaches her clients. When we are anxious, angry or frustrated, whatever emotion is coursing through us, it creates a real stress response and the body goes into fight or flight mode. Tapping can help change that state and is quiet and easy to learn. In order to tap, you need to be aware of what emotion you are feeling in that moment, in order to change it. Karen discusses how to do this in Changing State, available to watch here.
We are very grateful to Karen for providing these videos for us and hope you and your family find them useful.
