namaste: yoga and mindfulness in speech therapy

I listened to a webinar today about mindfulness in speech therapy. Mindfulness and meditation is something that I have been trying to incorporate into my own life practices, so I thought it would be pretty interesting! 

For my own mindfulness practices, I have been using the Headspace App (visit their site here: headspace). Through the app, 10 minute guided mindfulness practices are offered. They start off with the basics and then build your practices from there. I love it. I am not as consistent in using it as I want to be, but still think its really great when I do practice! The first 10 sessions are free and after that, it is relatively cheap to continue. Plus, Andy, the British voice that leads these meditations is super soothing and nice.

Now, how do I take these mindful practices and incorporate them into my therapy? The truth is, I already had been implementing these practices along with yoga in my fluency groups. Fluency has such an anxiety component, that it seems like a natural pair.

At the beginning of the year, I teach my kids about belly breathing and how to use a strategy for smooth speech. We start each session with 3-5 deep belly breaths. Some of the kids love it and some think it is weird. It is totally worth a try either way!

The next strategy I usually talk about in fluency is feeling when our bodies are tight vs relaxed. I have the kids practice making their bodies tight and loose by scrunching the face, squeezing the hands, stiffening the arms and then becoming like a noodle. This is also a perfect moment to practice body scans. Have the kids focus on belly breaths and then scan through the body head to toe and feel areas of tension and relaxation.

During the webinar it dawned on me, "why am I not incorporating these practices into my other groups?". Mindfulness practices can improve self regulation, working memory, mood, attention and anxiety just to name a few things. All my speech kids could benefit from this practice!

I also liked that in the webinar, they talked about storybook yoga. It was easy to incorporate yoga poses into a story book sequence. How cool to practice a language skill of sequencing and retelling with yoga poses. I bet pairing a part of the story with a motor sequence helps in recall as well! I'm sure someone has studied it.....I'm just guessing.

So, my goal for the next 9 weeks is to be more consistent with implementing mindfulness practices into all of my therapy sessions. Maybe I'll just start with belly breathing before starting a session and choosing 1 book to pair with yoga! Baby steps. Namaste :)