Written By: Emily Swogger, OTR, M.S.
Mindfulness refers to paying attention to the present moment while still calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations. Because mindfulness requires you to quiet your mind it can be difficult for children and for adults. The practice is so vitally important because it is through mindfulness that you really get to know your own body and emotions. By simply ignoring these emotions you end up storing them inside but they find a way to make it to the surface anyways through your body. Your body reacts to the stress by causing stomach aches, headaches, and tension in the muscles in your body. Being stuck in your own thoughts prevents you from noticing the joy in every day moments. It can leave you dwelling in the past or worrying about the future. By practicing daily mindfulness it can help you live more in the present which can help reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. I can also help in your social life as well making you more emotionally resilient. Research has confirmed that for children, mindfulness can:
- Mitigate the effects of bullying (Zhou, Liu, Niu, Sun, & Fan, 2016);
- Enhance focus in children with ADHD (Zhang et al., 2016);
- Reduce attention problems (Crescentini, Capurso, Furlan, & Fabbro, 2016);
- Improve mental health and wellbeing;
- Improve social skills when well taught and practiced with children and adolescents.
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