Is blowing up a balloon like a new mindfulness meditation?
Yes. And, you don’t actually need a balloon. Yes. A New Mindfulness Meditation method before it was a go to tool.
Dr. Mindy McNeal shares how “I’m a Balloon” became her hero’s rallying call — one that helped a troubled autistic boy create the calm space in his mind and body to handle the pressures of school.
Mindfulness was not a thing when Dr. McNeal put this technique to work, nor was biofeedback an easy to use, visually entertaining option for kids, especially those in the adhd or autistic spectrum. Now biofeedback can be part of teaching children of all backgrounds to use breathing, the visual image of being a balloon and even affirmations within those balloons.
Here is set of biofeedback games which uses Mindfulness, Affirmations and Balloons to teach smooth breathing and positive re-labeling techniques.
For a compelling article, I encourage you to go here:
I’m a Balloon!, Dr. Mindy McNeal — providing solutions for families living with ADHD…
…as you’ll learn how a special education teacher re-organized to “meet the highly individualized needs of her students in order to design lessons and techniques for remediation”.
Now, ‘mindfulness’ has become one of the special needs buzz words.
So, too, will biofeedback based learning become the new, go to technique — is it time for you to learn the what, where, why, and how of ‘mindfulness biofeedback?’
Can biofeedback become the mindfulness tool which most easily helps your children?
Here is the final Lesson learned…as Dr. McNeal states in her article:
Hmmm…sounds a lot like my “I’m a balloon” was actually a mindful practice. It’s not my purpose to train people in the art of mindfulness.
What I really want to do is open the eyes of parents and teachers to the possibility of a strategy/technique that could help them change…in a good way! All too often I have seen a new or different technique ridiculed because it goes against the familiar.
I caution parents and teachers to not reject, but investigate, and, if needed, create your own methods. Complex children have complex problems and sometimes ideas that seem out-of-the-box are really the solution to your child’s needs. As a college freshman, Eric no longer chants “I’m a balloon,” but still mindfully uses breathing techniques to calm and center himself.