Mindfulness of the Heart: Compassion, gratitude, and appreciation

Our four categories of activities teach the basics of mindfulness, with each section covering a fundamental skill to help introduce wellbeing techniques to children. All four sections work together to create a thorough introduction to mindfulness. This blog covers the final category if activities, mindfulness of the heart, that teach children the basics of compassion, gratitude, and appreciation.

Introducing mindfulness of the heart

So, what exactly is Mindfulness of the heart? It’s all about connecting deeply with the present moment and the world around you with an open heart. It involves feeling a sense of gratitude and appreciation for your life and its blessings by anchoring yourself in the here and now. Connecting with your senses, practicing patience, and visualising positivity as you move through your day.

And why is it so important for children? By engaging in mindful exercises that focus on the heart, children can develop a lifelong habit of focusing on the good, that in turn promotes overall wellbeing and peace. The positive outlook developed through this appreciation is helpful for them when facing stress or challenges, helping them stay positive and appreciate day to day moments.

Stix activities for mindfulness of the heart

Our mindfulness of the heart activities focus on promoting positive emotions and attitudes in children. They concentrate on building compassion, gratitude, and appreciation. The aim is to help children develop a deeper connection with themselves and others by concentrating on being present, content and patient.

1. Ball of Light

This is a calming activity that uses visualisation practices to promote relaxation, teaching children gratitude and a compassion for themselves and others.

After encouraging calm by a focus on breathing, the instructor will begin the activity by asking children to use their imagination to ‘visualise a small ball of light’. They will then be asked to that the golden flight that ‘shines so brightly’ and imagine that it is in the centre of their chest with ‘warmness filling up your body’. 

The visualised ball will then get bigger and ‘fill your heart with its healing energy’. By using visualisation techniques, children can use their natural ability to imagine and create positive experiences, which can be soothing and empowering. The warm golden light helps children focus on feelings of safety, warmth, love, and self-worth.

The Stix voice will then ask children to feel the warm light in their belly, arms, and legs, encouraging a full body meditative experience. It then goes on to push children to share this healing light with ‘those at home, those on your street, in your city and then everyone in the whole world, with the forcefield covering the whole of the earth’.

Finally, they will be asked to imagine the massive golden ball of energy and showering everyone with fairy dust, spreading happiness throughout the world. By imagining their light spreading happiness to others, they engage in the practice of kindness and generosity, which can lead to improved relationships in the family home and at school.

As children are asked to open their eyes after completing the activity they will be reminded that this light will always be there, reading to be shared and used when times get tough or stressful.

2. Mindful colours

This activity combines breathing techniques with a colour wheel of lights. Children will learn how every colour makes them feel as they go through the colour wheel, building patience and appreciation.

The exercise is introduced as a practice of mindful waiting which cultivates patience as the colours of the lights on your Stix remotes change through a colour wheel. Children will be encouraged to be patient as they flow through the colour wheel, appreciating each colour and ‘noting how it makes you feel, without worrying about the next light’. The practice of mindful waiting encourages them to delay gratification and to stay present.

Children are then asked to focus their attention on the shifting lights. The lights blend from purple to blue, green, and yellow over a fifteen second period. This is then repeated with breathing instructions intersecting the periods of focus and patience.

Finally, the instructor will ask children to ‘close your eyes for a few moments and tune in to how your body is feeling. What can you physically feel right now? What can you hear?’. By tuning into bodily sensations at the end of the exercise, children are guided to become more aware of their physical and emotional states and feel gratitude for these moments.

3. Senses

This activity teaches children about the five basic human senses, getting them to notice and appreciate the environment around them. We have noticed that many of the children using Stix have enjoyed this activity in nature, as a way to connect and fully immerse themselves in their surroundings. This will also lead to a gratitude for nature, their environment and the senses involved in experiencing it.

The senses activity begins by introducing the five basic human senses: sight, touch, sound, smell and taste. A sense of calm and focus is then promoted by asking children to breath in through the nose and out through the mouth multiple times. The instructor will then guide children through each sense, questioning and encouraging them to really consider them. This helps them to feel appreciation for the current moment and shift their attention away from distractions, worries, or future concerns.

Sight: The instructor will ask children to look around the room. Then question ‘what can you see?’, ‘Are you in a messy space’. Finally, they will be asked to list five things in the room.

Touch: The instructor will ask how the Stix remotes feel in their hands. When designing the Stix remotes, we made sure that the silicone sleeves on the remotes increased tangibility and promoted children’s connection to touch. Children will then be asked to put the Stix remotes down and use their hands to name four things that they can feel right now. This can be particularly effective and enjoyable in nature, where children can feel rocks, trees, grass, and river water.  

Sound: Next, the children will be asked to shift their focus to what they can hear. The Stix remotes will question if there ‘are people talking or birds singing? What sounds are around you?’. Children are then asked to find three different noises from their environment - they could be a plane passing overhead, the sound of the wind or a distant siren or car.

Smell: To test children, they will be questioned on what sense your nose uses - smell of course! Continuing to promote active use of their senses, they will be asked ‘what smells can you pick up from around you?’. They could smell cooking, flowers, or freshly mown grass.

Taste: Lastly, children will be asked if they can ‘taste anything right now?’. If they cannot, the instructor will encourage them to consider what they can taste next time they eat. A focus on taste is important as it encourages mindful eating, paying attention and appreciating the experience of eating as opposed to rushing eating with a focus on TV or phones. It is also useful to focus on the texture of the food when practicing mindful eating.

Mindfulness of the Heart is the perfect category of activities to round off our programme of exercises to help support children's mental wellbeing, and also to teach them about the wellbeing of others, making them more compassionate, empathetic and loving.

But that's not all!

We will soon be announcing the release of 18 new activities (totalling 30 activities). These activities, which will each have 3 levels to them, will focus on the specific challenges that families face; from dysregulated emotions, to anxiety, poor focus and self-confidence.

We're currently in the beta testing phase with families, so if you are interested in taking part, please get in touch!