As more people come to explore mindfulness, more and more people are also looking for ways to share mindfulness with their family—hoping it may reinforce their relationships, while bringing a little serenity, clarity, and peace into the lives of those closest to them. The joy of practicing with a child. The poignancy of meditating with a parent. The healing power of practicing together. And while it isn’t always fruitful—even with the best of intentions—to tell someone else why they should practice mindfulness, inviting someone to practice with you is different.
One approach that serves us well in this context is the SoBe Mindful method. It makes mindfulness highly accessible by drawing upon familiar aspects of the natural world around us. Just as this method lets us ground ourselves by connecting with nature—especially amid a pandemic, when so many of us have been staying indoors—it opens a doorway to practicing with loved ones and is adaptable for all ages and needs.
The Elements of Mindfulness
The SoBe Mindful method draws upon the elements of nature to help us connect with ourselves and our shared humanity. Four of these elements are the tree, the wind, clouds, and the sun. These were selected because they are found everywhere in the world. If it is daytime, take a look or walk outside and you are likely to see a tree, notice the wind blowing, witness clouds passing across the sky, and perceive the illumination and warmth of sunlight.
Each of these four primary elements are also found in us, as has been expressed through metaphor by many of the world’s wisdom traditions. Looking within reveals:
The Body—strong, steady, and alive—like a tree,
The Breath—flowing and animating the world—like the wind,
Thoughts and Feelings—arising and passing away—like clouds, and
Awareness and Warmth—spreading effortlessly—like the sun.
The symbolic connections between us and the natural world are endless. With children, these fundamental elements of nature—already part of early childhood learning—can inspire creative and fun games that cultivate focus, regulate emotions, and connect deeply to the world around us. For older children, teenagers, and adults, especially those new to mindfulness, the SoBe Mindful method can be an easy way to learn and remember the structure of basic mindfulness practices. It is also a way to practice without being guided by a teacher in the usual sense. Instead, we are guided by nature itself.
The symbolic connections between us and the natural world are endless.
I’d like to share with you a few different ways you can practice and adapt these principles to suit your mindfulness practice—simply for yourself, or for you and your family.
How to Practice: The Coming Together of Doing and Being
With mother nature as our teacher, each element cues two ways of relating to the present moment: doing and being. The first involves doing something that engages intention and helps settle the mind and body. For example, taking a few slower, deeper breaths. The second invokes a more observational lens with which to witness experience. For example, observing the sensations of the breath. The applications of this approach can vary widely depending on age, needs, ability, and depth of practice.
1. SoBe Mindful Together
Below is an example of a SoBe Mindful Breath Awareness practice that you can do with young children that tracks the four elements, moving from doing to being. It can be practiced sitting or standing and be as playful and dynamic or as structured and steady as you choose. Creativity and imagination—yours and your child’s—can inspire different movements and conversations. Practicing while outside in nature can be especially powerful. Take your time and savor each of the elements.
Sit upright and stable like a tree. Gently wiggle the toes, like roots digging into the soil. Slowly lift the arms to the side, as if they were branches and enjoy a gentle stretch. Wiggle the fingers like slowly fluttering leaves. Raise the arms like the uppermost branches of a tree, and sway from side to side.
Lower the arms, bringing them to rest just above the belly, as if holding a ball. Slowly move the hands outward as you take a slow and deep in-breath. Bring the hands back toward the belly as you exhale, slow and steady. Repeat this two times.
Lift your hands to eye level, one above the other and gently sweep them to the right and then the left, like clouds drifting across the sky, arising and passing away. Repeat this motion three times.
With palms facing out and fingers outstretched, lift your hands above your head, and then out to your side, spreading the warmth of sunlight. As you do, either out loud or just thinking the words, wish someone “May you be happy.” Then, the hands retrace their path back up and then down along your body as you wish yourself “May I be happy.” Finally, the hands lift up and out as they did the first time as you spread warmth and y